ON DECK

1. Kennesaw State opens its 34th collegiate season with a 1,181-714-2 (.623) all-time record, and enters 2017 as the defending ASUN regular-season champion for the first time since joining the Division I conference in 2006.
2. Head Coach Mike Sansing will act as manager for the Owls program for his 26^th season, coming off his first-ever ASUN Coach of the Year honors. Coach Sansing holds a 1,044-547 (.631) record in 28 years. The skipper is 58 wins shy of winning 1,000 games at Kennesaw State for his career.
3. Associate Head Coach Kevin Erminio will join Coach Sansing for his 11^th season with the Black and Gold, marking one of the longest tenured assistant coaches in the ASUN. He will be joined by assistant coach Trey Fowler, who is in his 5^th season –and first full season with the Black and Gold --, and volunteer coach Clint Harrison and student assistant Kyle Heckathorn.
4. Kennesaw State will showcase its talents on the field as the Owl Network will air each home game on either ESPN3 or ASUN.TV. The Owl Network will stream 11 home games on ESPN3 and 22 tilts on ASUN.TV.
5. KSU plays a total of 56 games in the regular season, 33 of them coming at home and 23 on the road. The Owls take on 16 (eight home, eight away) midweek tilts and opens ASUN action on the road at North Florida on March 31.
6. The Owls return 26 members from 2016, a team that won 17 games in the ASUN and became the first team since 2010 (FGCU) to win each regular-season conference series.
7. KSU enters opening day with a 17-8 overall record and an impressive 14-4 record since Coach Sansing joined the Black and Gold in 1992 on opening day. The Owls have outscored their opponents 181-130 over 25 season openers under the 26^th-year head coach.
8. Kennesaw State finished 2016 with a 29-27 overall record and now holds a winning record in 27 of its first 33 seasons of existence.
9. The Owls is picked to finish third in the ASUN Coaches' Preseason Polls, while Gabe Friese, Corey Greeson and Austin Upshaw were all selected on the Preseason All-Conference Team. 

 OPENING DAY FACTS

• The Owls' first collegiate season dates back to 1984, and before the Sansing Era, totaling a 4-4 overall record in an eight-year span.
• In fact, Kennesaw State played just two home games in that eight-year span and got outscored by its opponents 50-36.
• The turnaround came when Sansing was hired in 1992, totaling a 17-8 overall record on opening day and the Owls have outscored their opponents 181-129.
• In fact, Kennesaw State is 13-4 overall at Stillwell Stadium on opening day and have outscored opponents 125-81.
• The Owls are 4-4 on the road under Sansing, but are still outscoring opponents 56-48 since 1992.
• KSU enters 2017 opening its season at Stillwell Stadium on Feb. 17-19, and it will be the eighth straight season the Owls open their season at home.

RECORDS & CHASING HISTORY

• The Owls' starting pitching should see plenty of Gabe Friese, AJ Moore, Tony Dibrell and Chris Erwin, who all made significant starts on the bump in 2016.
• In fact, Friese, Moore and Erwin all made 13 starts last year which tied for ninth-most in a single season.
• Friese enters his senior season with several records on the line, including: innings thrown (20.1 needed), all-time wins (five away), games started (seven away) and batters faced (95 away).
• Friese, who's a hometown native of Kennesaw, Ga., struck out 61 batters a season ago and 24 of those were looking – which tied for eight-most in school history.
• Meanwhile, Dibrell struck out 66 in 2016 and 25 of those were looking which tied for fourth-most in school history. He also set an individual season record for strikeouts per nine innings, recording 10.93 (min. 50IP) last spring.
• In the bullpen, senior Erich Stahl will be the backbone of the pen after posting 28 appearances and eight saves with a 3.67 ERA last spring. His 28 appearances tied for the sixth-most in a single season and his eight-save total was the third-most in a single season.
• Stahl enters 2017 13 saves away from becoming the all-time saves leader in KSU D-I history, and of his 28 appearances he finished 22 of those games which were the fifth-most in a single season.