ATLANTA – Georgia State’s second trip through the Sun Belt Conference, games against every Division I program in the state, and a non-conference game at Auburn highlight the Panthers’ 2015 baseball schedule, announced today by head coach Greg Frady.
New to the schedule this year, Georgia State will open the season by hosting the Atlanta Challenge in conjunction with Atlanta-area rivals Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State. St. John’s, Liberty and Fordham will play one game at each of the three Atlanta schools on the opening weekend. Georgia State will host Fordham for opening day on Friday, Feb. 13, following by Liberty—a 2014 NCAA tournament team—on Saturday and St. John’s on Sunday.
“This is year one of what we hope will be an annual event,” head coach Greg Frady said of the Atlanta Challenge. “We’ve already scheduled year two, and we’re working on year three. Hopefully it will be something our fans can identify with as we open the season, and our players get a chance to see a lot of different teams.”
The 56-game slate includes 33 home contests at the GSU Baseball Complex.
“We’re excited about this year’s schedule,” Frady said as he enters his ninth season at the helm. “We are completely focused on trying to be competitive in the Sun Belt, and we need games where our opponents test us but we can find our way to an overall positive result. We’ve got a lot of home games early in the season, and with more than half of our team being new players, that will help us get these guys acclimated.”
Georgia State returns 16 letterwinners, led by all-conference honorees in junior infielder-pitcher Matt Rose, junior catcher Joey Roach and senior infielder Caden Bailey, and the Panthers have added 21 newcomers.
