Blue Devils head south for opener

Trips to Florida in January are usually vacations, but the young baseball team won't have much time to relax this weekend. Duke opens its season with games against three top teams, Central Florida, sixth-ranked Rice and South Alabama, in the Olive Garden Classic in Kissimmee.

Three freshmen and three inexperienced sophomores will see significant playing time this year for the Blue Devils. Only four members of Duke's starting lineup have seen regular action for at least a full season, and the youngsters won't waste any time getting a taste of big-time college baseball.

"What we want to do is get on the field against outstanding pitching, just get out of the blocks and know what it feels like," said Duke coach Steve Traylor. "They'll get an idea of what's to come. It'll be an eye-opening weekend.... The main thing we want to get out of it is serious game experience against high caliber teams."

Senior staff ace Stephen Cowie will take the mound tonight at 7 p.m. to face Central Florida, which has reached the NCAA Regionals three out of the last four years. But the real test for the Blue Devils may be tomorrow night versus the highly ranked Owls. Rice has appeared in the NCAAs each of the last four seasons and will start lefty Mario Ramos, a preseason second-team All-American who went 12-2 in 1998, against Duke.

The Blue Devils will counter with sophomore Brent Reid, who emerged as a top-line starter a year ago.

"We're a young team [offensively]," Traylor said. "But we have good experience in pitching. Hopefully those guys will keep us in games."

Traylor will choose Sunday's pitcher based on how much his other hurlers work out of the bullpen during the first two games. Whoever gets the nod will face South Alabama. Like Central Florida, the Jaguars don't boast Rice's ranking but have had their share of success, including a Sun Belt Conference championship last season.

"They're all pretty much the same caliber," Traylor said of Duke's opponents. "[The tournament] will be a good preview of an ACC weekend for us. It's like going to Florida State to play three times or going to Clemson.... All three of them are going to be awfully tough games."