GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro baseball team opens its 2019 season this weekend when it plays host to Quinnipiac at the UNCG Baseball Field.
THE SCHEDULE
-UNCG begins the season with a 4 p.m. contest on Friday, Feb. 15. The second game of the series is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16. The two teams wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. clash on Sunday, Feb. 16.
FIVE KEYS TO KNOW
-UNCG is 5-1 in season openers under head coach Link Jarrett. The Spartans won the first four straight season openers under Jarrett from 2012-16, scoring at least nine runs on three occasions, before fourth-ranked South Carolina ended the streak with a 7-1 victory in Columbia, S.C., on Feb. 17, 2017. UNCG returned to its winning ways in the season opener under Jarrett in 2018 with a 10-3 victory over visiting Appalachian State.
-One year after winning the Southern Conference regular season title, the UNC Greensboro baseball team was picked second in the 2019 preseason coaches and media polls that were released on Thursday, Feb. 7. The Spartans, which won their second regular season league title in program history since joining the Southern Conference in 1998, were 39-15 overall and 18-3 in conference action a season ago.
-Along with the distinction of being picked second as a team, junior infielder Caleb Webster was named as the league's Preseason Player of the Year and teammate Austin Embler was selected First Team Preseason All-SoCon in a vote by the panelists. It marks the second time in as many seasons that Webster has been named to First Team Preseason All-SoCon and the first time in his career that he drew Preseason Player of the Year accolades. Embler, a redshirt senior from Southern Pines, N.C., was named to the First Team Preseason All-SoCon for the second time in as many seasons.
-No other team in NCAA Division I action either tallied more triples or averaged more three-baggers in 2018 season than UNCG. During a year in which the Spartans won the Southern Conference regular season title with an 18-3 record in conference play, the offense – which averaged 7.3 runs per contest – collected a total of 30 triples.
-UNCG will play 11 games in the state of North Carolina between Feb. 15 and March 3 before leaving the state on March 5 to take on Winthrop in Rock, Hill, S.C.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS
-The Bobcats wrapped up the 2018 season with a record of 26-30 overall and were second place in the Metro Athletic Atlantic Conference with a mark of 16-8.
-Quinnipiac baseball senior outfielder Liam Scafariello was selected as the MAAC Baseball Preseason Player of the Year
-The Bobcats were selected to finish fourth in the MAAC with 91 points in the preseason coaches' poll, just behind Canisius (104 and five first-place votes), Monmouth (104) with three first-place votes) and Marist (102) with three first-place votes.
-The Bobcats open the season with 18 straight games on the road before the MAAC and home opener against Saint Peter's on March 23.
