A scheduling conflict has led the Western Illinois Baseball team to change plans for their 2010 season-opening series this weekend. Western, which was slated to play a three-game series at Alabama State, will now open the season at Furman.
The three-game series in Greenville, South Carolina, will begin with a 12 noon (Central) doubleheader on Saturday (Feb. 27). The series finale will take place Sunday at 12 noon. All games will be played at Latham Stadium. This marks the first-ever meeting between the Fighting Leathernecks and Paladins.
"We were set to play three games at Alabama State, however, after talking with their coaches we found out they had a scheduling conflict at their stadium with high school games so the likelihood of getting all three games in was not good," said Western Illinois first-year head coach Mike Villano. "Furman had a series cancellation and was willing to play. The Paladins play in one of the top conferences in the country with a challenging non-conference schedule, so this will be a good test for our team to start the year."