Week Preview: The No. 20 University of North Georgia baseball team opens the 2020 season with a three-game set against Auburn Montgomery at Bob Stein Stadium at Cottrell Park.
Probable Starters: Friday - Parker Morrison vs. Troy Jones; Saturday - Steven Bower vs. Micah Henderson; Sunday - Cade Heil vs. TBA. Probable starters are predictions based on 2019 statistics.
Rankings: North Georgia is ranked No. 20 in the preseason NCBWA national poll, released Thursday afternoon. In the association's preseason regional poll, UNG came in at No. 3, sitting behind Catawba and North Greenville, respectively. The Nighthawks are receiving votes in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll, released back in December
Nighthawks on the Web: Nighthawk fans not able to make it to the UNG Convocation Center Saturday afternoon can follow along through streaming on YouTube and Facebook, local cable television (Windstream cable channels 78.12 and HD channel 890), live statistics on UNGAthletics.com and on all social media platforms. Fans can also follow the action through Twitter by following the baseball team (@UNGBaseball).
Last Season: The Nighthawks went 33-20 a season ago, winning a share of the Peach Belt Conference regular season championship. The league crown was the third regular season title in the last five years for the Nighthawks.
Scouting Auburn Montgomery: Auburn Montgomery is entering its first season as full fledged members of NCAA Division II and are now eligible for postseason play for the first time since their NAIA era concluded. Picked eighth in the Gulf South Conference preseason poll, the Warhawks went 27-22 and 14-15 in league action. AUM returns 20 players from last year's team and an offense that batted .281 a year ago as well as senior pitcher Troy Jones who struck out 73 batters over 70 innings of work. North Georgia is 18-9 all-time against AUM, winning each of the last four games. The two teams have not played a three-game set since 2005, the last year that UNG was in the NAIA.
Preseason Accolades: Steven Bower and Crews Taylor were each named to the NCBWA Preseason All-Region Second Team, the association announced earlier this week. Bower went 8-3 in 15 appearances a year ago, while Taylor hit .319 with 30 extra base hits in the 2019 season. The Nighthawks were tabbed as the preseason favorites to win the Peach Belt Conference regular season crown, the conference office announced last week. In addition, the league announced that Bill LeRoy and Crews Taylor were each named Preseason All-Conference.
Season and Home Openers: North Georgia is 8-6 in season openers since beginning the NCAA era back in the 2006 season. The Nighthawks have won three of the last four season openers with the lone loss coming in 2018, a 7-4 loss to Florida Tech at Bob Stein Stadium. The Nighthawks are 10-4 in home openers in the NCAA era, winning four of the last five with the loss again coming in 2018.
Cantrell Milestone Watch: Head baseball coach Tom Cantrell is nearing a coaching milestone as he is just four wins away from 900 wins in his coaching career. The skipper went 177-52 at DeKalb College before restarting the North Georgia program in 2000, winning 719 games in Dahlonega over 20 seasons.
Cottrell Park Renovations: In addition to the season opener, the University of North Georgia will unveil the newest addition to its outdoor facilities in the form of a new scoreboard that doubles as a video board. In November, Lynn Cottrell donated $1 million to fund new scoreboards at all three outdoor facilities on campus.
