TIFTON — It’s time to break out the bats. Tift County baseball players have sharpened their spikes and oiled the gloves and ready to get the season started.

The Blue Devils scrimmage Perry Thursday at 5:30 p.m., opening the lid of the 2019 campaign.

Times are good for head coach Kyle Kirk right now. Perhaps too good.

“In 22 years of coaching,” he said, the beginning of this season is “my smoothest start.” Like baseball people always are, Kirk is superstitious, worried that even thinking about how well things are going will jinx it.

Kirk described the varsity roster as “senior and junior heavy.” That’s a slight understatement. Only one player on the roster is younger, that being sophomore Bryce Stephens.

Stephens will man the middle infield, along with Tyler Gay, Cory Frazier, Mason Avant, Ben Brock and Owen Manning. Thad Weldon will handle catching duties, a role Manning can also handle. Outfielders include Reece Watson, Jake Pettis, Gauge Domingue, Trey Barfield and Avant.

Nearly everyone is available to pitch. Trey Barfield, Joseph Pittman, Frazier, Avant, and Parke Johnson are the main returnees. Kirk also lists Watson, Brock, Domingue, Manning, Colby Gann and Stephens as possibilities.

Kirk described the lineup as “very fluid.”

Pettis is currently nicked up, but should be ready Thursday. He spent a portion of last season injured, which was a big blow to the team. When on the field, Pettis hit .275 and scored five runs.

Avant, still only a junior, had the highest average for the Blue Devils last year at .405. He drove in 10 runs and scored 11. Watson, at 10, ranked among the runs leads and Weldon also drove in 10, tying Avant for the most among returnees.

“We have a little speed,” he said, “a little power.” Kirk said Tift will run the bases aggressively. He also believes power numbers will increase from last year. Keenan Webb hit two home runs, 100 percent of their total.

The varsity roster will probably expand during the season. Kirk said he expects a few sub-varsity players to move up, including Alan Moretz, Cody Williamson and Bailey Booth.

After the scrimmage, Tift will make its regular season debut next Monday at Veterans High in Kathleen. They will play at neutral sites against Pike County (at Cook) and Frederica Academy (at Valdosta State) and Hillgrove (at Colquitt County) and road games at Valdosta, Coffee, McEachern, Walton and Berrien until finally coming home Feb. 27.

Kirk said his schedule contained “no pushovers.” Frederica Academy was a GISA finalist last year. Berrien was, too, in GHSA’s Class AA. The Atlanta-area schools are perennial powers. In Region 1-AAAAAAA, he described all his opponents as solid.