The Seahawks, picked by CAA Coaches to win the regular season title in 2018, open it's slate by hosting the Hughes Bros. Challenge. Eastern Kentucky will be the opponent at 4 PM on Friday, Feb 16, followed by Butler at 2 PM on Saturday and Lehigh at 2 PM on Sunday.

A pair of juniors, RHP Alex Royalty and C Ryan Jeffers, are the headliners for the 2018 Seahawk squad. Both were picked to the preseason CAAl All-Conference team, and Royalty was named to the Collegiate Baseball preseason All-American team. Royalty posted a 9-2 record and 3.20 ERA last season, and led the CAA with 106 strikeouts. He will be the Friday starter all season, and the opening day starter against Eastern Kentucky. Jeffers, meanwhile, batted .328 with 10 HR and 32 RBI last season, while also scoring 44 runs.

Other key players for the '18 squad include the following:

* SS Greg Jones (freshman): A 17th round pick out of High School, Jones was ranked 133rd nationally and 6th in North Carolina among prospects by Perfect Game. He hit .469 as a junior and .429 as a senior at Cary High School, and is expected to be the fastest athlete UNCW has ever had, besting even Steven Linkous.

* RHP Austin Easter (senior): Made 28 appearances as a junior, leading the team in the category. He also had the most strikeouts out of the bullpen, with 48.

* RHP/OF Clark Cota (junior): Recorded 4 saves and held opposing batters to just .156 batting as a sophomore. Cota also went 9-33 at the plate (.273) with 3 HR.

* LHP Zarion Sharpe (sophomore): The walk-on southpaw had a tremendous freshman campaign, winning 6 games en route to reaching the CAA All-Rookie team.

* RHP Breydan Gorham (r-sophomore): Gorham is a transfer from Appalachian State who led the staff with a 4.21 ERA. Over the summer, he went 6-2 with 3.14 ERA with the Wilmington Sharks, also striking out 51 batters in 57.1 innings.

* OF Kep Brown (r-sophomore): The highly recruited outfielder out of High School, who was expected to be a 1st round pick until injuries temporarily derailed his plans, Brown batted .279 with 11 HR and 35 RBI for the successful Spartanburg Methodist program that also produced Zack Shields and Kennard McDowell.