BOCA RATON, Fla. – Nine months after their season ended short of expectations, the Delta State baseball team is eager to hear that familiar phrase.

“Play ball!”

The Statesmen, ranked No. 23 in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll, begin their quest for a return trip to the NCAA tournament when they visit No. 10 Lynn University for a two-game series Thursday and Friday.

The two-game series in Boca Raton is part of a four-game Florida swing that will also take the Statesmen to Nova Southeastern. Both teams, members of the Sunshine State Conference, are perennial powers, and the Fighting Knights of Lynn are the defending national champions.

The Statesmen, who must replace several graduated seniors, may take their lumps with their early non-conference schedule, but it can also prepare the team for tough competition down the road.

“I think playing that good caliber of competition has always prepared our teams well,” head coach Mike Kinnison said in an interview earlier this year. “If we can get to that postseason level then we've got a pretty good bit of confidence that we've gotten there by playing tough people.”

Delta State is looking to return to the NCAA Regionals after missing out in 2009 when the Statesmen's season ended at the postseason Gulf South Conference tournament. The Statesmen had qualified for the Regional tournament in 2007 and 2008.

The Statesmen and the Knights open the season Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The two teams will meet again Friday, with that game also scheduled for 2 p.m.