STATESBORO, Ga. ? Georgia Southern Baseball will play host to the Eagle Invitational in 2009, part of a 32-game home slate that highlights the 2009 schedule.
The Eagles open 2009 on Friday, February 20th, against Presbyterian as part of a three-game series and stretch of 12 straight at J. I. Clements Stadium to start the season. The Eagles play host to Georgia Tech in a two-game midweek series then Coppin State the following weekend (Feb. 27-March 1). Another midweek game against Winthrop on March 3rd precedes the Eagle Invitational.
Indiana, LeMoyne and East Carolina will travel to J.I. Clements on March 6-8. The Eagles hit the road for the first time on March 10 at Jacksonville. The following day GS plays Bethune-Cookman at home, then begins Southern Conference play at UNC Greensboro.
That series begins a week-long roadtrip. The Eagles play midweek at North Carolina A&T (March 17) and Winthrop (March 18) before traveling to Appalachian State (March 20-22).
“The Eagle Invitational should be a great weekend of baseball. You have Indiana, LeMoyne and East Carolina coming in,” said head coach Rodney Hennon. “Winthrop is back on the schedule this year, they are another good baseball program.”
After a home game against Kennesaw State (March 24), the Eagles will travel to South Carolina, renewing their rivalry against the Gamecocks (March 25).
On Friday, March 27, Georgia Southern plays host to Elon in a three-game series which begins a seven-game homestand. The Eagles face North Florida (March 31) and College of Charleston (April 3-5) at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Georgia Southern finishes the four-game series against Tech (April 7-8) playing two games in Atlanta followed by a SoCon series at Western Carolina (April 10-12) and game at North Florida (April 14).
A midweek game versus Jacksonville (April 15), followed by a conference series against Davidson (April 17-19) and a non-conference game versus Charleston Southern (April 21) caps a five-game stretch at Clements Stadium.
The remaining SoCon schedule includes: at The Citadel (April 24-26), versus Furman (May 2-3), at Samford (May 9-10) and versus Wofford (May 15-17).
Following the Samford series the Eagles travel to Auburn (May 12) for their first game against the Tigers since the 2000 NCAA Regionals.
This season the SoCon Tournament (May 20-24) moves to Greenville, South Carolina to play at the Class A Greenville Drive stadium Fluor Field at West End, ending a streak of 19 straight years in Charleston.
“I'm excited about it (the change in location); I think our players are excited about it. We've had a great run as a league in Charleston, but it has been there quite a while,” said Hennon. “They have a beautiful park in downtown Greenville, it's set up similar dimension-wise to Fenway Park. There are a lot of things right around the ballpark for our fans.”
In all the Eagles face five teams that advanced to the NCAA Regionals (Georgia Tech, South Carolina, East Carolina, Elon and Bethune-Cookman).
“Once again this is another challenging schedule. The Southern Conference continues to get stronger each year and it will be no different in 2009,” said Hennon. “I am excited about our opportunities outside the league. We have Georgia Tech again for four games on a home-and-home series. We added South Carolina to the schedule this year and have an opportunity to play in their new stadium this year, and they'll return the trip in 2010. We also catch Auburn on the way back from Samford at the end of the season. We've always prided ourselves on playing a tough schedule and we're looking forward to the challenges this year.”
