GEORGIA STATE (0-0) vs. No. 14 WEST VIRGINIA (0-0)
GSU Baseball Complex

Friday, Feb. 19, 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 20, 1:00 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, Feb. 21, 12:00 p.m.

Live Audio & Statistics: GeorgiaStateSports.com

PLEASE NOTE: Fans are welcome at the GSU Baseball Complex. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, fans will be required to wear masks and are encouraged to bring their own seating to help with social distancing. Admission and parking at the GSU Baseball Complex are free.

LEADING OFF
> Georgia State opens its second season under head coach Brad Stromdahl by hosting No. 14  West Virginia (11-5 in 2020) for a four-game series at the GSU Baseball Complex.

> Coming off a 9-7 record in the abbreviated 2020 season, the Panthers are taking the field for the first time in 345 days. GSU defeated UNC Asheville 10-7 on March 11, 2020.

> Facing perhaps the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, Georgia State opens the season with five straight home games, and then plays 13 straight road games, all against SEC and ACC foes.

> The Panthers return a total of 24 letterwinners from a year ago, including all nine starting position players and every pitcher who started a game or recorded a decision or save in 2020.

> Second-year head coach Brad Stromdahl took over the Georgia State program in 2020 after seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia Gwinnett, where he started the program from scratch in 2013 and compiled a record of 328-104. He led the Grizzlies to the Avista-NAIA World Series three times, including the last two years. Before going to Georgia Gwinnett in November 2011, Stromdahl spent five seasons (2007-11) as an assistant coach at Georgia State.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES FOR ELIAN MEREJO
> The Panthers' top returnee is fifth-year senior outfielder Elian Merejo, a Preseason Third-Team All-America by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and a first-team Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selection. 

> In 2020, he led the team with a .407 batting average, five homers and six doubles, along with 13 RBI. He ranked in the Top 5 in the Sun Belt in average (3rd), homers (4th), slugging (.763/2nd), on-base percentage (.527/T-2nd) and walks (15/T-2nd) and was named the Sun Belt's "Breakout Player" by D1 Baseball.

SERIES NOTES
> Georgia State and West Virginia are playing on the Opening Weekend in Atlanta for the second time in three years. In 2019, the Mountaineers participated in the Atlanta Challenge and won 8-2 in the only previous meeting.

> West Virginia is one of two Big 12 teams to play at Georgia State in recent years, along with Oklahoma, which defeated the Panthers 5-4 in 2017.

> Ranked as high as No. 14 by D1 Baseball, West Virginia is the highest ranked team to play at Georgia State since Ole Miss (No. 6 by PG) in 2018.

> The Panthers' last win over a ranked team was a 3-2 victory at No. 16 Coastal Carolina in 2018, while GSU last defeated a ranked team at home in 2016 with a 7-4 win over No. 23 South Alabama.

NATION'S TOUGHEST SCHEDULE? Georgia State faces what is certainly the most challenging schedule in program history and what could be the toughest non-conference slate in the nation.

> GSU faces eight different teams that are ranked in at least one Preseason Top 25 for a total of 20 games, including 11 road tests, highlighted by trips to consensus No. 1 Florida and 2019 national champion Vanderbilt.

> The Panthers play 20 games against opponents from Power 5 conferences, 14 of them on the road. GSU faces SEC foes Florida, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky, ACC programs Georgia Tech and Clemson and West Virginia of the Big 12.

> GSU opens the season with 18 straight non-conference games against Big 12, SEC and ACC foes, including 13 straight road tests.

Ranked Opponents (Games) - Highest Rank
Florida (1 road) - Consensus No. 1
Vanderbilt (4 road) - No. 2 by CB. No. 6 or higher in all polls.
Georgia (1 & 1) - No. 12 by CB
Georgia Tech (1 & 1) - No. 15 by D1 
West Virginia (4 home) - No. 14 by D1 
Tennessee (3 road) - No. 16 by USA Today
Clemson (1 road) - No. 25 by CB
Coastal Carolina (3 home) - No. 23 by CB

OPENING DAY
> Georgia State is opening the season at home for the 11th straight year, and the Panthers have won their Opening Day game in seven of the last eight years.

> Last season on Opening Day, Elian Merejo homered, drove in three runs and scored the winning run on Daino Deas' walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Panthers a 9-8  victory over Cincinnati in head coach Brad Stromdahl's debut. That win sent GSU to a 3-0 start.

> GSU has played extra innings on Opening Day the last two years and four times in the last seven seasons, including three victories. The Panthers defeated Illinois 5-4 (10) in 2014 and Western Michigan 3-2 (12) in 2016 and lost to Richmond 13-6 (10) in 2019 before last year's walk-off win.