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MACON, Ga. – The 2022 season begins for the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team on Friday with a three-game series at Mercer University.
 
Friday's series opener is set for 6 p.m., game two on Saturday will start at 2 p.m. and Sunday's series finale will get underway at 1 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
-  Mercer leads the all-time series 5-4.
 
-  The teams last played March 16-18, 2018 with the Bears sweeping a three-game series in Macon.
 
THE COLONELS
-  EKU finished the 2021 season with a 21-32 record and a 13-17 mark in the conference.
 
-  Six position starters return from last season's team – Will King (catcher), Charlie Ludwick (first base), Logan Thomason (shortstop), Santiago Peralta (third base), Max Williams (left field) and Kendal Ewell (right field).  The 2022 squad includes 38 new players.
 
-  Relief pitcher Will Brian was chosen to the NCBWA Preseason All-America Team.  The redshirt junior lefty was selected to the third team.  He was also chosen to the ASUN Conference Preseason All-Conference Team.  Brian had 10 saves and went 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 2021.  He struck out 48 in 32 and two-thirds innings.
 
-  D1Baseball.com ranked EKU outfielder Kendal Ewell as the No. 1 prospect in the ASUN Conference for the 2022 MLB Draft.  He hit .303 with 11 doubles, seven home runs, 34 RBIs and 31 runs scored.  Ewell is also one of only 44 players from across the nation on the watch list for the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award, which is based on performance at the plate, academics and personal integrity.
 
-  Three other Colonels are ranked by D1Baseball.com among the top prospects in the ASUN for the 2022 MLB Draft.  Brian is ranked as the fifth-best prospect, infielder Jalen Jones is ninth and Thomason is rated at No. 22.
 
-  King was strong defensively throughout much of 2021.  He finished his first campaign leading the Ohio Valley Conference with 24 players caught stealing.  King threw out more than 40 percent of stolen base attempts against him, which was better than 12 of the 17 semifinalists for the 2021 Buster Posey National Catcher of the Year Award.
 
-  The 2021 Colonels set a new program record for best fielding percentage (.972).
 
-  Three sophomore right-handed newcomers will start on the mound this weekend for Eastern Kentucky.  Michael Schuler will get the ball for game one, Rese Brown is scheduled to start game two and Rian Yates will start game three.  Schuler began his collegiate career at Florida Atlantic before playing last season at Hillsborough Community College.  He had 60 strike outs and just 17 walks last year.  Brown made one appearance for South Florida in 2020 before playing at Seminole State College of Florida in 2021.  He went 7-3 with a 3.92 ERA.  Yates played two seasons at Kirkwood Community College before coming to EKU.  He was 4-2 with 39 strike outs in 36 innings last season.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
-  Mercer was 35-22 overall in 2021 and 18-9 in the Southern Conference.  The Bears tied for the second-best record in the SoCon.
 
-  The SoCon coaches and D1Baseball.com picked Mercer to finish second in the conference in 2022.
 
-  D1Baseball.com picked outfielder Colby Thomas as the No. 1 prospect in the Southern Conference for the 2022 MLB Draft.  The organization picked outfielder Treyson Hughes as the No. 1 impact freshman in the SoCon for 2022.  Thomas batted .247 with 10 home runs, 37 RBIs and 40 runs scored last season.
 
-  Outfielder Bill Knight also returns after hitting .325 with 10 home runs, 50 RBIs and 59 runs a year ago.
 
-  Closer Luke Sutko is back after finishing the 2021 season with 12 saves and a 4.31 ERA.  He struck out 58 batters over 48 innings.
 
-  Josh Harlow, a freshman right-hander who transferred from Pitt Community College, will start in game one.  Fred Wilson, a sophomore lefty, will get the ball for game two.  He made 15 appearances and nine starts in 2021, finishing 1-3 with a 7.07 ERA.  Tanner Hall, a left-handed graduate student, is scheduled to start game three.  He did not play in 2021 but went 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA in 2020.