Baseball Opens Season at Home vs. Bethune-Cookman

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GA. SOUTHERN EAGLES (0-0) vs. BETHUNE-COOKMAN WILDCATS (0-0)
LHP Evan Challenger (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Keith Zuniga (0-0, 0.00)
RHP Adam Kelly (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Alex Seibold (0-0, 0.00)
LHP Connor Simmons (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Kevin Griffey (0-0, 0.00)

GAME INFORMATION
Dates: Friday-Sunday, February 13-15, 2015
Times: 4 p.m., 2 p.m., 1 p.m.
Site: Statesboro, Ga./J.I. Clements Stadium
Rankings: GS - None, BCU - None
GS Head Coach: Rodney Hennon (621-403-1/18th)
BCU Head Coach: Jason Beverlin
TV/Video Stream: GS All-Access
Radio: Georgia Southern Radio Network/GS All-Access
Twitter: @GSAthletics, @GSAthletics_BSB
Facebook: facebook.com/GSAthletics
Live Stats: www.gseagles.com

EAGLES AT A GLANCE

The Georgia Southern Eagles open the 2015 campaign and their first season in the Sun Belt Conference Friday against Bethune-Cookman.
The Eagles went 40-23 and won the 2014 Southern Conference Tournament Title a year ago. GS went on to knock off #5 national seed Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional.
GS returns six position starters and one starting pitcher from last year's squad.

STORYLINES

GS opens its first season in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats won the MEAC Tournament a year ago and advanced to an NCAA Regional.
Teammates at Western Carolina, Head Coaches Rodney Hennon and Jason Beverlin reunite on the field and will square off in opposite dugouts this weekend.
The Eagles are 32-23-1 all-time in season opening games and are 6-9 in the Hennon era.
Evan Challenger will make his return to the mound Friday. The start will be his first appearance since 2013.

2014 SEASON RECAP

Georgia Southern won five-straight games after dropping the Southern Conference Tournament opener to win their 10th conference tournament title.
The Eagles went on to defeat #5 national seed Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional for their 40th win of the season.
GS posted 40 wins for just the 10th time ever in program history and third time under Head Coach Rodney Hennon.

FORMER TEAMMATES REUNITE

Teammates at Western Carolina University, Rodney Hennon and Jason Beverlin will face each other in opposite dugouts this weekend.
After a professional baseball career that ended in 2007, Beverlin joined Hennon's staff at Georgia Southern for two seasons and helped the Eagles to a 2009 NCAA Regional appearance.
Hennon and Beverlin meet in Statesboro in 2012, an 8-6 Eagle victory, and were set to face off again last season but the contest was rained out.

RUBBER ARM RICHMAN

Jason Richman led the NCAA in pitching appearances last season after throwing in 47 of the team's 63 games.
Richman pitched in all six Southern Conference Tournament games and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after allowing one earned run over a combined 13.1 innings.
The now junior was a All-Southern Conference Second Team selection, Jewish Sports Review All-American and a Tom Walter/Pete Frates College Baseball Inspiration Award winner.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT

Junior college transfer Aaron Mizell made an immediate impact on the Eagles last season and led the team in home runs (13) and RBI (53).
Mizell slugged a team-best .537 a year ago and tallied 19 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games.
He ranked 16th in the nation in home runs and 41st in RBI in 2014.
Mizell has been named Preseason All-Sun Belt, a 2014 All-SoCon Second Team selection, a 2014 All-SoCon Tournament Team pick and was honored as a member of the Sun Belt Commissioner's List in 2014 for maintaining a 3.5 GPA or higher.

CHALLENGER RETURNS

After battling injury his freshman season and having to sit out the 2014 season due to surgery, Evan Challenger is healthy once again.
The redshirt sophomore will have big shoes to fill as he makes the opening day start on Friday. The Eagles 2014 season opening starter, Sam Howard, was drafted in the third round by the Colorado Rockies.
As a freshman, Challenger went 1-1 with a 4.23 ERA in 17 games. He made five starts on the mound and struck out 24 batters in 38.1 innings.

NEW CONFERENCE

The baseball team was the first GS team to play in the SoCon when the team joined the league in 1992 but will be the last to open Sun Belt Conference play in 2015.
The baseball team has been a member of three conferences during its NCAA history. GS joined the TAAC in 1980, the SoCon in 1992 and the Sun Belt in 2015.

HOME COOKING

A year ago Georgia Southern posted their eighth 20 plus win season since the renovations of J.I. Clements Stadium in 2005.
The Eagles went 21-10 at home in 2014 and posted a season-long 9 game home winning streak.
GS won 20 or more at home for the first time since 2011.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, call 1-800-GSU-WINS or visit GSEagles.com.

Schedule

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Players Mentioned

Evan Challenger

Sam Howard

Adam Kelly

Aaron Mizell

Jason Richman

Connor Simmons

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