ADA – After originally being scheduled to start the 2018 season at Ken Turner Field, the East Central University baseball team will hit the road to start the year, with a four-game series at Southwest Baptist, Feb. 1-3.

The teams will start with a single game, Thursday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m., play once again on Friday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. and wrap up the series with a double-header, Saturday, Feb. 3 at 12 p.m.

The Tigers finished the 2017 season with an 11-29 overall record and a 10-22 mark in the Great American Conference (10^th).  ECU was picked to finish 11^th in the 2018 GAC Preseason Poll, with only nine players returning for the 2018 campaign.

Of the nine returners for the Tigers, six are relief pitchers.  Senior Kiyaannii Bohan saw the most action in 2017, with 11 appearances, 11.0 innings pitched, 17 hits and 17 runs allowed and six strikeouts.

The top returning fielding player is senior Connor Stevenson.  Stevenson earned a .296 batting average, 27 runs, 40 hits, five doubles, seven home runs, 34 RBIs and a .917 (10-12-2) fielding percentage.

The Bearcats finished the 2017 season with a 30-21 overall record and an 18-9 mark in the MIAA.  SBU returned 19 total players, nine of which are pitchers.

Andrew Meijer is the top fielding player returning, hitting .408, and recording 29 runs, 58 hits, 28 RBIs and a .966 fielding percentage.  Drew Wagner brings the most experience back to the mound, throwing in 20 games in 2017 and earning a 5-3 record.  Wagner garnered a 4.59 ERA, allowed 84 hits and 49 runs and struck out 58 batters in his 68.2 innings.

This will be the second season that the Bearcats will open the season against a GAC team, after going 3-0 against Southern Nazarene a year ago.

The Tigers and SBU will be facing each other for the first time since at least 1999 (when year-by-year results are available).