ON THE DIAMOND
The Georgia Southern softball team travels to Gainesville, Florida, to participate in the Aquafina Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida. The Eagles open the event on Friday at 9 a.m. against Iowa State and then play Illinois State at 2 p.m. On Saturday, GS takes on Maryland at 9 a.m., and then turns right around to play Illinois State at 11:30 a.m. On Sunday, the Eagles wrap up the weekend with a game against No. 1 Florida at 1:30 p.m.

LAST WEEKEND
The Eagles claimed a share of the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational, going 4-1 on the weekend. GS opened play with a 4-2 win over Jacksonville State before falling 9-4 to Monmouth. The Eagles went on to win their next three games, downing UMKC 4-0, Abilene Christian 5-3 and Eastern Michigan 5-0. The Eagles enter this weekend with a 7-2 record on the young season.

FACILITY INFO
This weekend's event will take place at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on the UF campus. The address is 2880 Hull Rd, Gainesville, FL 32608

Ticket information for UF Softball can be found here.

Live stats will be run through GSEagles.com's StatBroadcast site. The game against Florida can be heard online through this link.

THE WEEKEND FORECAST
Here's the forecast for Gainesville, Florida. Be sure to follow Georgia Southern softball on Twitter (@GSAthletics_SB) for any potential schedule changes this weekend due to the weather.

QUICKLY
Florida is 10-1 after taking two of three from fellow Sun Belt member Louisiana last weekend on the road to ascend to No. 1 in the county according to the USA Softball poll. They swept Oakland in mid-week action. GS is 0-1 all-time against the Gators, falling 7-6 in 2001 at home.

Illinois State is 4-6 on the young season after going 3-2 at the Littlewood Classic last weekend in Tempe, Arizona. The Redbirds went 1-4 at the USF DeMarini Classic their opening weekend with their lone win that tournament coming against Georgia State. This will be the first meeting all-time between the two schools in softball.

Iowa State started the season with three losses at the Kickin' Chicken Classic, including two to fellow Sun belt member Coastal Carolina, but rebounded last weekend to go 4-1 at the Marucci Desert Classic in Las Vegas. The Cyclones of the Big 12 will enter the weekend with a 6-4 record. The Eagles are 1-1 all-time against ISU, falling 9-6 in 1999 and beating the Cyclones 2-1 in 2000.

Maryland is 2-7 after going 1-3 at the Auburn Invitational last weekend. In their opening event, Maryland went 1-4 at the UCLA Tournament. GS is 2-4 all-time against the Terps. The two programs last met in 2006 with UM taking a 5-2 decision.

AGAINST NO. 1
This will be the third time in program history the Eagles will take on the top-ranked team in the country. In 2013, GS fell 2-1 to No. 1 Alabama in nine innings in Fort Myers, Florida. The Eagles took a 1-0 in the top of the ninth on an Alabama error, but in the bottom of the ninth, Danae Hays' double to the gap won it for the Tide. In 2014, the Eagles again dropped a one-run decision to the top-ranked team, this time a 1-0 loss at home to Tennessee. The Lady Vols got a second inning home run from Melissa Davin and held onto the lead behind a two-hit shutout from Ellen Renfroe.

UP NEXT
Georgia Southern will head to Music City next weekend to play in the Purple & Gold Challenge, hosted by the Lipscomb in Nashville.