The No. 10 Chipola Indians will host the Division II LSU-Eunice Bengals for four games starting Friday in the final non-conference weekend series before the start of Panhandle Conference action next week.
The Bengals come in ranked No. 2 in the Division II poll after being the national runner-up at last year's Division II World Series.
It's a program that has earned the respect of Chipola coach Jeff Johnson, with the Bengals winning four Division II national championships during coach Jeff Willis' 11 years at the helm, and he said they'll provide exactly the kind of test his team needs before beginning its league schedule.
"Coach Willis and his staff have done a heck of a job building that program into a national contender year in and year out. They do a great job of teaching their team fundamentally how to play the game and play with great intensity," he said. "It will be a great challenge for us and it gets us in a conference-type atmosphere game a week before we get into that.
"Our pitchers will see good hitting and our hitters will see good pitching. They'll probably expose some things we're not doing as well as we need to and give us a chance to correct those things before conference starts."
The Indians haven't shown a great deal of vulnerability in the pre-conference season thus far, winning 17 of 21 games, including six straight after going 5-0 against Grand Rapids last weekend and winning a weather-shortened road game against Alabama Southern on Tuesday.
But Johnson has said that, while he likes the talent and potential of this team, there is still a lot of growth needed for the Indians to compete for a Panhandle championship and beyond.
"We've won games, but I've tried to tell the kids to not get caught up in wins and losses. Get caught up in the way you play and learning how to play the game the right way. All the rest of it will take care of itself," he said. "The good thing about (playing LSU-Eunice) is that they're probably as good as anyone in the conference and they'll show us that conference-level intensity and we'll see if we can match it and see where we are and how far we've got to go.
"That's why we try to play good people. I just hope the guys come to play and compete like we're supposed to and match their intensity. That's what you play for, to see yourself get challenged and see what happens."
Sophomore pitcher Michael Mader will start Friday's game at 5 p.m., with fellow sophomore Taylor Lewis taking to the mound Saturday at 1 p.m. for the first of a doubleheader.
Who starts second game Saturday and in Sunday's 1 p.m. game is up for grabs, with Tucker Simpson, Tom Watson, Palmer Betts, Adonis Hernandez, and Chris Mosley all fighting for positions in the rotation behind the two standout sophomores.
Johnson said he likes the arms he has as well as the talent of his lineup, but what he wants to see more of throughout the entire roster is the consistency necessary to traverse through a grueling and difficult conference schedule.
"I think the talent level is fine here. I think our issue is just bringing it every day," he said. "That's the key to this group. Can we bring it every day and keep making the fundamental strides to get better? I'm confident in our team and I like our team, but we're not as thick-skinned or as aggressive as I'd like us to be right now. That can all come with time and that's why you put them in position to be exposed like this. That makes them listen a lot better."