Baseball | 1/28/2016 5:05:00 PM

STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern Baseball's Evan Challenger and Ryan Cleveland have been named Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference by CollegeSportsMadness.com. Challenger was named First Team All-Sun Belt Conference last season while Cleveland clubbed 10 home runs a year ago.

Challenger started 14 games last year and posted a 5-3 record on the bump during his redshirt sophomore season. He ranked second in the Sun Belt with a 2.03 ERA and fanned 58 batters. Challenger did not allow an earned run in four appearances and struck out nine batters at UL Lafayette.

Cleveland enters his junior campaign after starting 45 games last season at first base. He hit .244 while slugging .477 with 10 multi-hit games. He ranked sixth in the Sun Belt with 10 home runs and logged a pair of four hit games against Texas State and Clemson. As a freshman in 2014 Cleveland was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team.

Fans can join Georgia Southern Baseball for the unofficial season kickoff at the Evening with the All-Stars on Feb. 11 at Nessmith-Lane Conference Center. Atlanta Braves legend Terry Pendleton will be the featured speaker at the event which is presented by the Georgia Southern Dugout Club. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 1-800-GSU-WINS.

The 2016 season opens on Feb. 19 as the Eagles travel to face Georgia in Athens for a three-game series. Georgia Southern is back home on Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. for the home opener against Georgia Tech. Purchase your season tickets by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS.

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. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets.