Appalachian State University baseball opens its second season of Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a three-game series against longtime rival Georgia Southern at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.

SCHEDULE CHANGE
First pitch for Friday's series opener has been moved up to 4 p.m. due to forecast for rain on Friday evening.

The final two games of the Sun Belt series remain scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Smith Stadium.

TICKETS
Tickets for all three games can be purchased online at appstatesports.com/tickets, by phone at (828) 262-2079 or in person at the Smith Stadium gate beginning one hour prior to first pitch.

APP STATE TV
All three games of this weekend's series will be streamed live on App State TV. Click HERE to become an App State TV premium subscriber.

Please note that this weekend's video streams will feature natural sound from Smith Stadium with no on-air commentary, as the Appalachian IMG Sports Network's radio coverage of App State baseball makes its 2016 debut on Tuesday, March 22 vs. UNC Asheville and the student crew from WASU-FM is on spring break.

NOTING THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES
• Appalachian State's pitching staff comes into the weekend riding a wave of momentum. The Mountaineers have tossed two shutouts in their last four games — last Friday vs. Stony Brook in Elon, N.C. (4-0) and Tuesday vs. UNC Asheville in Forest City, N.C. (8-0) — marking the first time since 2012 that Appalachian has blanked two opponents in a four-game span.

• After compiling a 7.17 ERA and .297 opponents' batting average over the first seven games of the season, App State's pitchers have put together a 3.00 ERA and .211 opponents' batting average over the last six contests.

• Appalachian's bullpen has been particularly impressive of late. Over the last four games, Mountaineer relievers have combined for a 1.59 ERA and .162 opponents' batting average. Coming into this weekend's series, the bullpen has turned in 7.2-consecutive scoreless innings.

• As good as Appalachian State's pitching staff has been over the last six games, Georgia Southern's has been one of college baseball's best over the first three weeks of the 2016 season. GS leads the Sun Belt Conference in ERA (2.61) and opponents' batting average (.196) and has struck out 106 batters while issuing only 46 walks.

• If the Eagles' pitching staff has a kryptonite, it is the long ball. Georgia Southern has served up a Sun Belt-high 11 home runs in 13 games this season.

• On paper, it appears that this weekend's series will feature pitchers' duels throughout. While the teams boast two of the Sun Belt's top pitching staffs, both squads are struggling offensively. Georgia Southern and Appalachian State are the bottom two hitting clubs in the conference this season with .215 and .214 team batting averages, respectively.

• Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are renewing their rivalry on the baseball diamond for the 18th-straight season. Conference mates since 1993 (Southern Conference, 1993-2014; Sun Belt, 2015-pres.), the Mountaineers and Eagles have played a three-game series each year since 1999.

• Georgia Southern holds a commanding 61-20 lead in the all-time series between the two schools, dating back to 1967.

• In their first matchup as members of the Sun Belt, the Mountaineers and Eagles locked horns in a three-game battle last season in Statesboro, Ga. Georgia Southern swept the three-game series but won two of the three games in walkoff fashion (a 5-4 victory in the series opener and a 6-5, 10-inning triumph in the finale) and claimed the middle game by a narrow 3-1 margin.

• Appalachian State is hosting Georgia Southern for the first time in three years this weekend. The last two regular-season series between the clubs (the last series as members of the SoCon in 2014 and the first as members of the Sun Belt in 2015) were played at J.I. Clements Stadium in Statesboro, Ga.

• The last time the Mountaineers hosted the Eagles at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium, Appalachian came up one inning short of claiming a three-game series sweep. App State won the first two games, 9-5 and 2-0, and took a 7-5 lead into the ninth inning of the series finale. However, Georgia Southern rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth and averted the sweep with an 8-7 win.