CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College baseball team will get the 2015 season underway this weekend as they host Tougaloo College for a three-game series beginning with a single game at 4:00 pm on Friday. The two teams will close out the series on Saturday with a doubleheader at noon.

The Choctaws are coming off a 2014 season that saw them finish with a 21-19 record and an 18-15 mark in their final season in Division III and the American Southwest Conference. They finished 5th in the league, but were ineligible for postseason play due to their transition back to Division II and the Gulf South Conference.

In 2012, the Mississippi College Board of Trustees voted for the university to seek to return to Division II of the NCAA in the fall of 2013. The Choctaws and Lady Choctaws are looking to rejoin a division and a conference they were a part of from 1972-95.

The 2015 Choctaws will have a new look with only three returning starting position players in the field. Senior Marty Stringfellow comes back to man first base after leading the team with a .362 batting average last season. Also returning to the field is sophomore Hunter Bolin, who started 35 games in his rookie season, batting .298 with a team-high 13 stolen bases.

The Choctaws have more experience returning on the mound as seniors Brooks Fortenberry and Jayme Monroe were a part of the starting rotation last season. Fortenberry finished 4-4 last season, but his 2.21 ERA was the 8th-best single-season mark in school history. Monroe was 5-5 with a 3.28 ERA and pitched two one-hitters in victories over Concordia Texas and Howard Payne.

Seniors Andy Olmsted and Grady Turman also return on the mound after solid seasons as relievers in 2014. Olmsted came back from a collapsed lung in preseason and allowed just three hits and two earned runs over 4.2 innings. Turman pitched 12.2 innings out of the bullpen and went 3-2 with a two saves.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SERIES
The Choctaws and the Bulldogs have met nine previous times with MC holding a 9-0 advantage in the series. Head Coach Brian Owens earned a 9-0 victory over Tougaloo in his first career game on February 10, 2007.

The teams have not faced off since the 2011 season when MC swept a two-game season series. They picked up a 5-3 victory on April 12th in the closest game of the series history. The Choctaws roared back for a 17-0 victory on April 26th. That game, Brandon Benton went 2-for-3 with a home run and six RBI.

RECORD WATCH
Head coach Brian Owens is on the verge of a major milestone as he is just seven wins away from 200 in his career. After opening his career with the big win over Tougaloo, the former Mississippi State reliever has had a succesful run with the Choctaws. In 2010, he led MC to a 39-11 record and got the team within one game of the Division III World Series. His 100th career win came on April 20th of that season, a come-from-behind victory over Millsaps, 7-6.

Fortenberry has been a part of the starting rotation for the past two seasons and is climbing the lists in the record books at MC. With 146.0 career innings pitched, he is just 25 away from breaking into the top 10, while his 126 career strikeouts is just 14 away from getting into the career record books.

NEWCOMERS TO WATCH
Juniors Kyle Cumlander and Hunter Hall were named to the Gulf South Conference Top Newcomers List, recognizing the top first-year players in the league. Cumlander is a right-handed pitcher that transferred from Mississippi Gulf Coast CC, while Hall is a shortstop from Pensacola State College.

The Choctaws have several new faces in the lineup as they will most likely trot out six new position players on the field in the season opener. Stringfellow and Bolin are projected as the only returning starters on Friday against Tougaloo.