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Storylines

• UNC Greensboro will kick off their 2009 baseball season on Friday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium with a three-game series against No. 18 Kent State. The Spartans and the Golden Flashes will meet at 4 pm on Friday and again at 1 pm on Saturday before wrapping up the series at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon.  Kent State holds a 3-5 series lead between the two squads, but last season the Spartans took two of three games from the Golden Flashes to begin the 2008 season.

• UNCG wrapped up their 2008 season with a 33-27 overall record and went 15-12 in the Southern Conference.  The Spartans went 2-2 at the SoCon Tournament before falling to eventual champion Elon.

• The Spartans were picked seventh by both the coaches and media in the SoCon preseason poll.  Corey Overholtzer was also recognized by the league coaches, as he was named to the preseason All-SoCon second team as an outfielder after a stellar sophomore campaign last season.  Last year, he had a .350 batting average, which was second-best on the team, and 44 RBI. He also had the second-most hits on the team with 78.

• UNCG head coach Mike Gaski is entering his 19th season at the helm of the Spartans.  He owns a career record of 558-431-1 in his 18 seasons.  He is also 13-5 in season openers, including last year's 12-3 victory over Kent State in the opener last season.

• This season Spartan fans will see plenty of new faces on the 2009 squad.  UNCG bolsters only seven upperclassmen this season after losing 10 players to graduation last year.  The Spartans will take the field this season with 11 true freshman, four redshirt freshman and eight sophomores.

• Despite the lack of experience on the team, the Spartans have a very experienced outfield this season.  The trio of senior Pedro Leon, junior Corey Overholtzer and sophomore Drew Gehringer have combined to play in 212 career games out of a possible 240 games since they have joined the team.  They have also started in 189 of those 212 games.

• Senior Greg Martin returns to the weekend rotation after a great 2008 season.  Last year he went 7-4 in 15 appearances, despite not picking up a decision in his first three starts after only allowing three earned runs in those starts.  For his efforts he was named to the second-team All-SoCon team.

• Assistant coaches Jamie Athas and Dustin Ijames also return this season for the Spartans. Both coaches enter their second year as part of the UNCG coaching staff.