Delgado Community College will open its 2012 baseball campaign this Thursday, February 9 with its annual Louis “Rags” Scheuermann Memorial Invitational. This year’s Opening Weekend features Delgado, Bishop State Community College (Mobile, Alabama) and Pensacola State College (Pensacola, Florida).
 
Delgado will open the season with a single game against Bishop State on Thursday at 6:00 Thursday and continue the weekend series against Pensacola State College on Friday (6:00), Saturday (1:00 DH), and Sunday (noon). All games will be played at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. Later schedule highlights include the team’s annual trip to Orlando next month to participate in the Walt Disney World Spring Warm-Up and Miss-Lou conference action against Meridian Community College and Baton Rouge Community College in April.
 
As usual, the Delgado roster is composed of a majority of local talent, including players from up to twenty local high school programs as well as players from across the south. Top returning sophomores include centerfielder Sean McMullen and infielder Daniel Brockhoeft who lead a strong freshman recruiting class of local talent.
 
Delgado Community College Baseball was ranked #19 in the first NJCAA pre-season poll of the 2012 season, released on December 20 by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper in conjunction with the National Junior College Athletic Association Coaches’ Association. The annual poll names the top twenty teams in the nation based on their previous season’s record and the team’s projected outlook for the season.
 
The 2011 Delgado team finished the season 42-17, capturing the Miss-Lou Conference/Region XXIII tournament championship and finishing second in the South Central District Championship, falling to Jefferson College in extra innings of the championship game last May in New Orleans.
 
The Dolphins finished the 2011 campaign as one of the Top 25 teams in the nation.
 
For more information about Delgado Baseball, visit www.delgadoathletics.com. The new site, which debuted last fall, includes player pictures and bios, rosters, schedules, news, and more. For the first time this season, all Delgado games will be streamed live through the site.