Blue Raiders Set for Opening Day

Friday, February 13

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:30 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

Jacksonville

2/12/2015 9:15:00 AM | Baseball

First Meeting with Jacksonville

By: @MT_Athletics

MURFREESBORO, TENN. – The Middle Tennessee baseball team opens up the 2015 season with a three-game series at Jacksonville this weekend in the first ever meeting between the two schools. Friday's first pitch at John Sessions Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET, with Saturday and Sunday afternoon tilts set for 2 p.m. ET and 1 p.m. ET, respectively.

The Blue Raiders will send out senior LHP Johnathan Frebis (4-6, 4.07 ERA in 2014) Friday night against JU senior RHP Justin Russell (6-3, 4.56 ERA). Frebis, a former Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American, is the clear-cut ace for the Blue Raiders with 45 career starts under his belt.

Game two will feature RHP Kooper Kessler (2-2, 3.28 ERA) versus Dolphins' lefty Josh Baker (3-5, 4.90 ERA), with the series finale pitting RHP Heath Slatton (2-1, 5.97 ERA) against JU freshman RHP Michael Baumann.

Middle Tennessee enters its second season as a member of Conference USA after finishing fourth (31-27, 17-13 C-USA) in the regular season standings last year. The Blue Raiders haven't made an NCAA appearance since 2009, but five seniors will provide third-year skipper Jim McGuire's lineup with plenty of experience. Preseason all-league selection Jared Allen (.257, 10 HR, 33 RBI) will anchor the lineup after topping the C-USA home run chart last year.

Jacksonville is coming off a sub-par 21-33 season in 2014, but the Dolphins proved to be a dangerous threat after posting wins over Florida, TCU, Indiana and Kennesaw State. Second-year head coach Tim Montez has added depth with 13 newcomers joining 20 returning letterwinners.

A live audio broadcast of all three games will be available on 92.5 FM (WMOT-2) in Murfreesboro, and worldwide at GoBlueRaiders.com. Follow @MT_Baseball for the latest news on Blue Raider baseball.

NOTES

MT IN SEASON OPENERS
The Blue Raiders are 20-21 on Opening Day since 1974 and 10-5 in openers since the turn of the century. MT is undefeated in season openers under head coach Jim McGuire. MT prefers to open the season at the friendly confines of Reese Smith Jr. Field with an 11-7 record in home openers, compared to a 9-14 mark in road openers.
OPENING DAY RECORD IN NCAA TOURNEY YEARS
MT holds an overall ledger of 6-8 on Opening Day in years that the Blue Raiders have appeared in NCAA postseason play.
NOTHING LIKE THE FIRST TIME
The Blue Raiders and Dolphins will meet on the diamond for the first time in the schools' history during Friday night's season opener at John Session Stadium. JU is one of three opponents that MT will face for the first time in 2015 (Valparaiso & Western Illinois).
CONSISTENCY THE KEY
McGuire has preached consistency as the key to success this spring. In his first season at the helm of the Blue Raiders, McGuire's squad started off 9-2 but struggled in the next 21 games going 7-14 through March and part of April. Last year's team got off to a slow start at 5-10, but really picked up the pace in league play finishing 12-6 down the stretch.
BLUE RAIDER LEGACY
This spring marks the 102nd season of Blue Raider baseball in Murfreesboro and the second as a member of Conference USA. MT has an overall program record of 1430-1109-8 based on available records dating back to 1957.
BLUE RAIDER BASEBALL GAINING NATIONAL EXPOSURE
The Blue Raiders have never played a regular season contest on national television, but the 2015 MT baseball season is set to make history with three home contests set to air nationally across two networks. American Sports Network has selected two Saturday matchups, including March 28 vs. Old Dominion (3:30 p.m.) and May 16 vs. Southern Miss (Noon), while Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the WKU series opener on May 1 (7 p.m.).
BLUE RAIDERS VOTED EIGHTH IN C-USA PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
MT was picked to finish eighth among the league's 12 teams in the 2015 preseason coaches' poll. The Blue Raiders finished fourth last spring, picked up a series win over C-USA champion Rice, and won the first C-USA tournament game in program history after being voted ninth in last year's poll.
FREBIS TIME
Senior ace Johnathan Frebis will make his first career Opening Day start against the Dolphins after being a primary weekend starter throughout his Blue Raider career. Frebis has started the sixth-most games in MT history and needs four more wins on the mound to crack MT's top-10 list for career victories. He has struck out at least one batter in all but one career appearance.
ALLEN GARNERS PRESEASON RECOGNITION
Jared Allen was named Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and was MT's lone representative on the preseason all-conference team. The 2014 First Team All-C-USA performer returns for his senior season after leading the league in home runs (10) last spring.
BRYANT AND DELGADO DURABLE DUO UP THE MIDDLE
Seniors Austin Bryant and Dustin Delgado return as the durable duo up the middle and were tabbed as "Players to Watch" by Collegiate Baseball. Delgado started 56 games last season at shortstop and in the leadoff spot, while Bryant started all but three games at second base. The pair combined to hit .296 with 24 doubles and produced 55 runs.
KESSLER & SLATTON JOIN ROTATION
Senior Kooper Kessler and junior Heath Slatton are slated to fill out the weekend rotation heading into the season. Kessler went 2-2 in 35.0 innings with a solid 3.28 ERA out of the pen last year. He has four career starts, including two appearances last season where he went 1-1. Slatton, the nation's 119th-rated prospect by D1Baseball.com, brings a power arm to the rotation and should provide some excitement on Sundays. The junior went 2-1 with a 5.97 ERA in mostly relief work last spring.
STAYING CLOSE TO HOME
At least one Rutherford County native has been on scholarship every season since 2002, while this year's roster contains 19 student-athletes originally from the state of Tennessee.
MCGUIRE TABS DAVIS NEW PITCHING COACH
JP Davis joined the MT baseball coaching staff last fall after most recently spending the past two years as an area scout in the Mid-South for the Chicago Cubs. Prior to his work in Chicago, Davis was the head coach of the Northwestern State Demons for five seasons. During his tenure, he compiled a 131-139 (.485) overall record and a 82-75 (.522) record in the Southland Conference.
SAIN ADDED AS VOLUNTEER ASSISTANT COACH
Chase Sain came to Murfreesboro after spending last summer as the hitting coach for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Bolivar native spent the past year as hitting coach and recruiter for Victory University in Memphis. Prior to his one-year stint at Victory, Sain served as student assistant coach at the University of Memphis for two seasons.