Elizabeth City State’s baseball team will kick off the 2011 season with the inaugural 1st Pitch Gala at the K.E. White Graduate Center on Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m.

The banquet will feature former major league pitcher Wayne Gomes as the guest speaker.

A native of Hampton, Va., Gomes played college baseball at Old Dominion. He became the highest Monarch player ever selected in the baseball draft when the Philadelphia Phillies chose him with the fourth overall pick in 1993.

Gomes played with the Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox during a six-year career that spanned between 1997 and 2002.

Also expected to speak is legendary ECSU basketball coach Bobby Vaughan as well as ECSU baseball coach Terrance Whittle, who is entering his 13th season leading the Vikings.

The gala will serve as a fundraising initiative for the Viking baseball program, which includes the construction of a baseball field.

Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. For more information contact the ECSU baseball office at 335-3392.

The Vikings open the season with a doubleheader at Knobbs Creek on Saturday against Ohio Valley University, starting at 1 p.m. The two teams will play a third game on Sunday at noon.