Naturally, Friday’s Military Appreciation Day at 麻豆原创 means a little something extra to Woods, a freshman outfielder. Active duty, retired and civilian military personnel will receive free admission to the 6:30 p.m. game on Friday by showing their military ID, and they also will receive one complimentary ticket to the game. Tickets can be picked up on game day starting at 5 p.m. at the 麻豆原创 baseball complex. Free parking will be available in the baseball lot and in lots E6, E7 and E8 next to Bright House Networks Stadium.

麻豆原创, 34-8 overall and owners of its highest national ranking ever at No. 7 (tying 2001), opens a crucial three-game series against the Tigers as the leaders in Conference USA at 12-3. Woods has been a big part of 麻豆原创’s success, and he’s happy to be playing on a night when those who have served in the military will be honored.

“There are times when I’m in the field when I will think about them because I always try to keep them in my thoughts,” Woods said of his brothers. “Every night I pray that they are safe. C.J. actually messaged me on Facebook the day after my walk-off hit, congratulating me. It feels good that he’s following me on the 麻豆原创 website and checking out my stats. He still gives me encouragement and gives me tips. … There are a lot of people out there who sacrifice their lives for our country. It lets you know that you shouldn’t ever take life for granted.”

No one is taking Woods’ impact on the 麻豆原创 baseball team for granted after he has blossomed into a solid contributor as a true freshman. A year after starring at Orlando’s First Academy and not yet 19 years old, Woods is fifth on the team in on-base percentage, is 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts and is the owner of a dramatic walk-off, game-winning hit.

麻豆原创 head coach 聽saw something special in Woods years ago on the recruiting trail, and the speedster has delivered on the college level. Some colleges overlooked Woods — affectionately known by teammates and coaches as JoJo — because of his slight 5-foot-7, 170-pound frame, but Rooney liked him because of his winning intangibles.

“JoJo Woods has always been a gamer. You talk to any youth league coach, any high school coach in Orlando and he’s one of the first people they want to talk about,” Rooney said. “They ask about him because of his style of play, and they know him because he’s a winner. Everywhere he’s ever played — First Academy in high school and the travel teams like the Orlando Scorpions — he’s always been that guy for them.”

Woods’ fiery intensity and hustling style has won over his teammates in a big way. 麻豆原创’s cornerstone player, slugger , said he could tell almost immediately that Woods would have a big role on the team this season.

“That guy is a special kid. He has such a nice swing and I could see it in the fall that there was something special about the guy,” said Hicks, who is hitting .333 and leads the team with 10 home runs and 56 RBI. “JoJo works hard, has a lot of energy and there’s just a lot of fight in the kid. It’s great that he’s stepping up for us.”

His biggest moment came on April 8 in the ninth inning against UAB. He stroked single into left field to plate the winning run and was immediately mobbed by his teammates.

It was that moment that Woods knew deep in his heart that he could make it on the collegiate level. Admittedly, he struggled through the fall semester in his first few months on campus. Managing his time was initially an issue as was learning to deal with the daily grind of college baseball. His mother, Marta Woods, and brothers encouraged him to keep working hard at his craft, and now he is seeing the products of his perseverance.

“Coming in here from high school, there was a lot of time to deal with and I had to learn to keep up with my grades and keep up with baseball. The fall was rough, but it showed what it was like and taught me about time management,” said Woods, who had dreamed of playing at 麻豆原创 since he was 12 years old and attended a baseball camp on campus. “The fall was tough with some rough times, but my mom and brothers told me that I’ve been doing this since I was 5 years old and it was just another game. I came back after winter break, and I’ve been working hard. I settled down and just played baseball, and now it’s paying off for me.”

“Anytime you can sweep a series it is a tremendous accomplishment and to do it on the road in this environment against a very good Tulane team – the guys deserve all the credit,” 麻豆原创 head coach 聽said. “I felt like we had poise and confidence all weekend and never panicked. What an accomplishment by an unbelievable group of 27 guys committed to finishing it up.”

Third baseman provided serious pop in the lineup for the Knights, who totaled 11 hits in the game. The Windermere native smashed three doubles for four RBI in his 10th three-hit game of the year. Senior 聽also upped his team-leading batting average (.360) with a 3-for-4 contest while extending his hitting streak to 11 games.

Starter 聽pushed his season record to 4-1 after going five innings and allowing four hits and two runs while striking out a pair. It’s the second-straight Sunday win for the Long Beach, Calif., native.

麻豆原创 will have no midweek games as it is finals week on campus. The Knights return to action聽at 6:30 p.m.聽Friday with Memphis in town for a three-game set. It will be Military Appreciation Night with free admission plus one complimentary ticket聽available聽for active duty, retired and civilian military personnel with a military I.D.

Out of the gates, 麻豆原创 wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard with its 42nd first-inning run. Taladay ripped a double into the right-center gap to score 聽after he led the game off with a walk and his 17th stolen base of the season.

Taladay struck again in his second plate appearance with a clutch two-run, two-out double through the first baseman’s glove down the right-field line to score (1-for-2, 1 RBI) and 听(2-蹿辞谤-5).

Hanson’s greatest test came in the bottom of the fourth after he hit a batter, allowed a bloop double that dropped in on the right-field line and walked the following Green Wave hitter. With the bases loaded, Hanson got Frank Florio to send a ball to Sweeney at short. He聽stepped on second and fired to first for the inning-ending double play.

The 麻豆原创 offense responded in the top of the fifth with three more runs while stealing three bags in the frame. Hicks drove in Shreve on his eighth sacrifice fly of the year for RBI No. 56. Sweeney and 聽both scored from third on back-to-back wild pitches to give the Knights a 6-0 advantage.

Big boppers Hicks and Taladay continued their strong afternoons with back-to-back doubles to lead off the seventh inning. Taladay entered the game with 59 hits, and just six of the extra-base variety, before the three-double performance.

Tulane once again attempted a late-inning comeback on the Knights with four runs, all on singles, in the bottom of the seventh to make it an 8-6 game. Lefty 聽entered the game to get the final out of the frame and pitched a perfect eighth inning to hold the 麻豆原创 lead.

Junior righty 聽came in and promptly closed out the ninth inning for his third save of the season while lowering his ERA to 0.30 in 30 innings of work with 34 strikeouts.

News & Notes:
-Tulane never led in the series
-麻豆原创 has swept six weekend series, the most since 2004 (7)
-It was the 25th game this year with 10-plus hits and 12th in C-USA play
-With eight聽sacrifice flies on the year, Hicks is tied for third all-time in a season and three away from the record shared by and Mark Maloney (11)
-麻豆原创 has now won five of its last six at Tulane
-The Knights took the lead in the all-time series, 14-13
-Richardson has now stolen 12, 15 and 17 bases so far in his three seasons on campus

With 麻豆原创’s baseball season set to open Friday night, all eyes are squarely affixed on Knights’ junior first baseman D.J. Hicks.

Sure, Hicks earned All-American honors last season while leading 麻豆原创 in batting average (.351) and RBI (66), but he did so with slugger Jonathan Griffin hitting behind him in the order. Now, after hitting 19 home runs last season with the Knights, Griffin is putting up similar numbers (.295 average, 18 home runs and 59 RBI) as a farm hand in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ system.

So as the No. 21-ranked Knights open the season Friday at 6:30 p.m. against LIU Brooklyn, all eyes are on the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Hicks to prove that he can still put up dynamic numbers without Griffin providing protection in the lineup. Hicks said there’s no way to totally make up for the loss of Griffin’s power, and he balks at the notion that there’s added pressure on him this season.

“I’m going to have to lean on my teammates, and they’ll lean on me some,” Hicks said. “I might not have the home run numbers that Griffin had because he hit a lot of them last season. But we have a team of guys who can step up and that will take that pressure away and make my job easier.”

Because they have the sweet-swinging Hicks and so much talent around him, the Knights are hoping for big things this season. Big as in rising up the national rankings, potentially hosting an NCAA Regional and making steps toward the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Neb.

The core of a team that won 39 games and reached the NCAA Regionals last spring returns, and that group will be supplemented by a third-straight Top 25 recruiting class. Add in the enhancements to the baseball complex and the way the Knights have worked with a singular focus this offseason and manager Terry Rooney said there is plenty to be excited about.

“I’ve seen the focus that we wanted from them. I said this the other day after one of our conditioning sessions — and it was a compliment to our veterans and a reminder to our newcomers — this team has as great a leadership as any team I’ve been a part of,” Rooney said recently. “They know something that can never be replaced is experience and they got to experience going to the postseason last year. Now, they know day-in and day-out what it takes. I think everybody is ready to make the jump and I think they are determined to do it. We can’t be satisfied with what we’ve done and that’s something that we talk about every day.”

The Knights can dream big because of the return of leaders such as Hicks, a native of nearby Altamonte Springs. Those in Conference USA who got a look at Hicks last season while he was stroking 14 home runs and 11 doubles feel that he’s more than up to the task of carrying 麻豆原创’s baseball program this season. He was chosen as C-USA’s Preseason Player of the Year. It’s a distinction he doesn’t take lightly, and he knows he’s being looked at to produce even more so than he did during his breakout sophomore season.

“You work hard to get some recognition for the team and personally and it’s good to see that the hard work is paying off,” Hicks said. “It’s a really big honor for me, but it just means now that I have to go out and back it up.”

That Hicks was able to play at such a high level last season is amazing considering that he still wasn’t totally healthy after suffering a collapsed lung following his freshman season on campus. Hicks suffered the injury while diving for a ball during a summer league game and was forced to miss the 2010 season. Even last year, Hicks still felt some of the effects be it shortness of breath, fatigue or a lack of strength at times. He’s worked hard this offseason to correct those issues.

“I worked on trying to get totally healthy. I worked on agility and strength and I totally put pitching to the side,” he said. “I focused just on strength-wise trying to get back totally from the strength that I lost in the lung collapse my sophomore year.”

The results so far have been amazing to those around him. Rooney calls him “an unbelievable worker” because of the time he puts into studying the art of hitting in the film room and the batting cage. And fellow junior Ronnie Richardson, a switch-hitter and 麻豆原创’s fastest player, marvels at the beauty of Hicks’ swing at the plate.

“He has a great, great swing. He can hit better than most guys in this country,” Richardson gushed. “He’s a power hitter, but he can also hit for average, he hits with guys in scoring position and he can give us the long ball too. With us losing (Griffin), I think D.J. is going to pick a lot of that up for us this year.”

Hicks made it known to Major League Baseball scouts last spring that had little interest in getting drafted because he wanted to play out his junior season at 麻豆原创. In his eyes, 麻豆原创 is on a collision course with greatness, and he wants to be one of the driving forces that helps the Knights author a truly special season. Getting to the NCAA Regionals last spring showed Hicks and his teammates just how close they are to taking the 麻豆原创 program to great new heights.

“It fueled the fire and gave us a little taste of what success is like,” Hicks said of last season’s postseason run. “We still talk about it all of the time. When we talk about it now, we look at the NCAA Regionals as the standard or the requirement. With our new stadium getting better, we’d really like to try to host a regional this year. We think we’re going to have a really good year.”