WALTHAM, Mass. – Bob DeFelice will begin his 48th season as the only head baseball coach in Bentley University history Friday night at the University of Tampa (6 pm) in the opener of a three-game series with the defending NCAA Division II national champions.

DeFelice, whose time as Bentley's head coach dates back to the 1969 season when the college was only months removed from its move from downtown Boston to Waltham,  is tied with Texas' Augie Garrido for longest tenure nationally among active college baseball coaches.

This is the fifth straight year that Bentley will make its season debut against Division II's premier baseball program, one that has seven national championships to its credit with last year's title its second in three years. The two clubs will also play Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. Links for live stats and results will be available at www.bentleyfalcons.com.

DeFelice has six of last year's top seven hitters back this season, a group that includes first baseman Ryan O'Connor (Newburyport/Newburyport HS) and center fielder Mike Muir (Bridgewater/ Xaverian Brothers HS), two of the team's three graduate students. The third is right-handed pitcher Bill Sullivan (Carver/Carver HS) who led last year's squad in ERA at 3.40.

O'Connor, who earned All-Northeast-10 honors as a pitcher in 2014 before becoming an everyday player, is the team's top returning hitter. He's coming off a .307 season in which he had a .404 on base percentage and four triples. Muir, a national Rawlings Gold Glove award winner in 2014 for his defensive prowess, hit .268 last year and recorded eight outfield assists.

Other returnees include seniors Bryan Rocha (Rehoboth/Dighton-Rehoboth HS) and Zachary Littman (Abington/Abington HS), along with two members of last year's Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie Team, outfielder Nick Neshe (Waltham/Waltham HS) and infielder Mike Samko (Arlington/ BB&N School). Rocha enters this season with 117 career starts, including 70 behind the plate the last two years. Littman, in his first Falcon season, hit .242 with a team-best 31 runs scored last spring. Samko had a .351 average with runners in scoring position and Neshe hit .305 in 17 April games.

Junior lefty Evan Walsh (Arlington/Arlington Catholic HS) was the team's winningest pitcher last spring, finishing 4-3 with a 3.53 ERA. Senior righty Will Alden (Westford/Westford Academy) has come in from the pen 23 times over the last two seasons, pitching to a 3.41 ERA.

Tampa, ranked number one nationally preseason, only has two players back from  last year's starting lineup, second baseman Cody deNoyelles (.367, 77 hits, 9 HR) and Gold Glove center fielder Casey Scoggins (.352, 15 SB).

The returnees on the mound include Michael Calkins, who pitched a complete game in the national championship and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.  Brad Hencke was 8-1 in 16 starts in 2015 and David Heintz finished with a 3-2 record.

This week's three-game series will be the first of 16 that the Falcons are scheduled to play in Florida this season. They'll be back in the Sunshine State Feb. 12-14 for a three-game series at Rollins College.