(Updated 9:15 p.m. Friday) Mother Nature forced Austin Peay State University's baseball team to both change its opponent and hit the road for its season-opening weekend. The Governors, who were originally scheduled to play Maryland Eastern Shore in Clarksville, now will open 2018 with a three-game weekend at Saint Louis University's Billiken Sports Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Governors will first face South Dakota State in two games – a 1 p.m., Friday contest and a 3 p.m., Saturday affair. Austin Peay then will close the weekend with a 3 p.m., Sunday contest against Illinois. Friday and Sunday's games, as currently scheduled, will be available on the Governors Sports Network. 

Austin Peay, picked seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference's preseason coaches poll, will meet a South Dakota State squad picked second in the Summit League preseason coaches poll. The Governors return nearly their entire starting pitching rotation and four position starters from last season's squad. Meanwhile, the Jackrabbits feature a revamped pitching staff, with Game 1 starter Brady Stover the lone holdover among starters, but return six position starters.Illinois returns First-Team All-Big Ten outfielder Jack Yalowitz to anchor an experienced defensive unit while the Fighting Illini pitching staff will look to find its way behind returning starters Ty Weber and Cyrillo Watson.

FIRST HACKS

The 2018 Governors offense will be a collectively young group with only 15 years of Division I experience between the 20 available position players entering the season… Sophomore first baseman Parker Phillips, an Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer selection last season, is the Govs returning leading hitter with a .328 batting average, but he led the Govs in both slugging percentage (.613) and on-base percentage (.442) outright last season… Senior second baseman Garrett Giovanelli ended last season by reaching base in 10 of his 19 plate appearances in the OVC tournament, including six hits that helped push his average to .310 at season's end… Junior shortstop Garrett Kueber and freshman third baseman Bobby Head are expected to make their Governors debuts this week, Kueber after missing his first season in Clarksville… Senior center fielder Imani Willis returns to anchor the APSU outfield unit with 142 career games played entering this season – most among returning players with reserve catcher Alex Sala the next closest at 76 games played… Willis will have new faces on both sides with seniors Nick Walker and Kyle Wilson penciled in for their first outfield starts as Governors… Wilson will get the first shot at grabbing the starting left field spot after mainly playing shortstop last season for APSU… Sophomore Andrew Flaherty is schedule to make his first collegiate start as the Govs designated hitter during the opening weekend after serving primarily as a pinch hitter in his first season… Austin Peay lost four regulars from last season's team: Alex Robles, Dre Gleason, Cayce Bredlau and Chase Hamilton who accounted for 833 of the team's 2051 at-bats, 48 of its school-record 84 home runs and 181 of its 360 RBI… Austin Peay hit a program-record 84 home runs last season, breaking the record set in 2001… The Govs have hit 50 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons and in five of the last six campaigns.

TOEING THE RUBBER

Senior Michael Costanzo is scheduled to be the Govs opening day starter after beginning the past two seasons as Austin Peay's No. 2 starter… It will be Costanzo's first start since March 24, 2017 as he ended the season's with 12 consecutive appearances out of the bullpen… Junior Jacques Pucheu will begin 2018 as the Govs No. 2 after working his way into the weekend rotation, starting during each of the Govs final five weekends… Austin Peay went 4-2 with Pucheu as a starter, including in each of his final two starts… Junior transfer Brandon Vial is slated to make his APSU debut this weekend after playing at Feather River College in California last season… The right-hander went 7-1 last season in 14 appearances, including wins in his last three starts… Austin Peay pitchers amassed a record-tying 466 strikeouts (8.07 K/9)last season… It was only the fifth time in program history a Govs pitching staff has recorded 400 strikeouts in a season, all occurring since 2011… Eleven different Govs pitchers started a game in 2017, six of those return for the 2018 season.