Baseball | 10/20/2016 3:13:00 PM

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Baseball Head Coach Rodney Hennon has announced the team's 2017 schedule. The new season starts on February 17th with a three-game series against Middle Tennessee State. The 2017 Sun Belt Baseball Championships are coming to Statesboro with a new format which starts on Tuesday, May 23rd, at J.I. Clements Stadium.

"Our team is looking forward to the challenge of another competitive schedule in 2017," said Coach Hennon. "As always, we try to build a schedule with quality non-conference opponents to complement our always strong Sun Belt Conference slate. This is an outstanding baseball conference that will only get deeper and stronger with the addition of Coastal Carolina. I believe our league has the potential to be a top-5 RPI conference on the national level."

Twenty-nine home games highlight the schedule, which includes eight-straight to open the season. Georgia comes to Statesboro on February 24-25-26 for a three-game series while the traditional Georgia Tech home-and-home midweek series returns to the slate. Non-conference trips to Memphis and Elon set the table for league play.

The Eagles welcome South Alabama to the friendly confines to open league play on St. Patrick's Day Weekend, March 17-18-19. Subsequent home league series against UL Monroe (March 31-April 2), Appalachian State (April 13-14-15), Little Rock (April 28-29-30) and Arkansas State (May 12-13-14).

In league play, the Eagles will visit the defending national champions with an April 21-22-23 trip to Coastal Carolina. The Eagles will face UL Lafayette on May 5-6-7 in the heart of Acadiana and close the regular season at Georgia State on May 18-19-20. Other league road trips include UT Arlington (March 24-25-26) and Troy (April 7-8-9).

Midweek opponents include College of Charleston, Campbell, The Citadel, Savannah State, Kennesaw State and Mercer. 2017 will also mark the first time since 1996 that the Eagles do not have a game scheduled to be played in Florida.

The 2017 Eagles return 24 players from last year's squad including starts at seven of eight field positions, all three weekend starting pitchers and most of the bullpen. Senior first baseman Ryan Cleveland hit 15 home runs last season to go with 55 RBIs and enters the season as one of the league's most feared hitters.

The Eagles traveled 1,000 miles last season for the Sun Belt Baseball Championships, entering as the sixth-seed. A 13-4 win over No. 3 seeded Little Rock opened the tournament. The Eagles bested seventh-seeded UT Arlington 6-0 in a two-day, rain interrupted marathon behind seven innings of relief pitching from Landon Hughes. A 4-0 win over No. 2 seed South Alabama in the Saturday semifinal round sent the Eagles to their first Sun Belt Championship Game. A 5-0 loss to top-seeded UL Lafayette ended the season and a magical week in San Marcos, Texas.

The 2017 Eagles won't have to deal with the travel since the league's top teams come to Statesboro for a week of baseball at J.I. Clements Stadium.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to host the Sun Belt Conference Tournament here at JI Clements Stadium/Jack Stallings Field May 23-28," said Hennon. "This should be great event not only for the players and coaches but also for our fans, the Statesboro community, and Georgia Southern University." 

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