STATESBORO –Georgia Southern Baseball opens the 2019 season this weekend with a trip to face Auburn. The Eagles face the Tigers for the first time in a weekend series this weekend and face a squad who came one run shy of a trip to Omaha last year. Seth Shuman will get the ball for the Eagles on opening day with first pitch set for 7 p.m. (ET) / 6 p.m. (CT) on SEC Network + and the Georgia Southern Sports Network.

Season and single game tickets are now available at GSEagles.com/Tickets, giving fans the opportunity to beat the lines on gameday. Tickets can also be purchased on gameday at the J.I. Clements Stadium Box Office, located directly behind home plate at the stadium's main entrance.

GAME NOTES
Georgia Southern (PDF)
Auburn (PDF)

FRIDAY (2.15.19)
Georgia Southern at Auburn
7 p.m. (ET) - Plainsman Park (Auburn, Ala.)
RADIO - Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO - SEC Network+
LIVE STATS
GS - RHP - Seth Shuman
AUB - RHP - Davis Daniel

SATURDAY (2.16.19)
Georgia Southern at Auburn
3 p.m. (ET) - Plainsman Park (Auburn, Ala.)
RADIO - Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO - SEC Network+
LIVE STATS
GS - LHP - Braden Hays
AUB - RHP - Tanner Burns

SUNDAY (2.17.19)
Georgia Southern at Auburn
2 p.m. (ET) - Plainsman Park (Auburn, Ala.)
RADIO - Ga. Southern Sports Network
VIDEO - None
LIVE STATS
GS - RHP - Daniel Collins
AUB - LHP - Kyle Gray

QUICK HITS
- The Eagles open the 2019 season this weekend with the program's first weekend series against the Auburn Tigers. The series is the first of two for the Eagles to be played in the Yellowhammer State along with the May 3-4-5 set against Troy.
- Georgia Southern was eliminated from the 2018 Sun Belt Baseball Tournament on a 12-0 run-rule defeat to South Alabama. The Jags scored nine runs in the opening two innings and added three more in the seventh to send the Eagles back to Statesboro.
- Georgia Southern is 0-2 all-time against the Tigers, dropping a 2000 postseason game (11-5) and a midweek contest in 2009 (8-6).
- This weekend's series marks the fifth time in the last 10 years that the Eagles have opened the year against an SEC team. Georgia Southern took two of three from Georgia in 2013 and 2014. The Eagles took the middle game of the series with Georgia in 2016 and 2018.
- In the four recent series against SEC foes to open the year, Georgia Southern has sent out six pitchers to make their Georgia Southern debut. The Eagles are 3-3 in those games. This weekend Braden Hays and Daniel Collins will make their debut outings with the Eagles.
- After posting an 8-5 record in 2018, Seth Shuman claimed his second-straight Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference nod. Shuman recorded a 4.41 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 98.0 innings of work.
- After earning the third spot in the 2017 and 2018 Sun Belt East Division Preseason Polls, Georgia Southern fell to fourth place in the 2019 poll, just behind Troy which earned an At-Large bid to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
- Georgia Southern enters 2019 with a full house of returners. The Eagles bring back nine of 10 position starters and two of four starting pitchers.
- To Georgia Southern fans, the name Erk Russell stirs True Blue emotions, but the venerable coach, who led the Eagles to three FCS National Championships, got his start on the Plains. Russell lettered in four sports, hit .154 for the Tigers in 1949 and coached Auburn for four seasons (1959-62), posting a 59-37-1 record. He left the Tigers in 1963, working a year at Vanderbilt before becoming the Defensive Coordinator at Georgia in 1964, where he served until 1980. He came to Statesboro in 1981, restarted a football program that lay dormant for 40 years, and turned the Eagles into a football powerhouse. When he retired after the 1989 season, Russell owned an 83-22-1 record, and FCS Championships in 1985, 1986 and 1989.

UP NEXT
After opening the season on the road, Georgia Southern is back home for 11 of their next 12 games including home series against West Virginia and Georgia. The 2019 Home Opener is set for Tuesday night when Georgia Tech rambles down to Statesboro for a 6 p.m. tilt at the friendly confines. Get your tickets now at GSEagles.com/tickets.