The Statesboro regional host, Georgia Southern heads into the postseason as the No. 16 national seed, the lowest to host a regional.

The Golden Eagles will take on UNC-Greensboro in the opening round of the regional and will face the winner/loser of Notre Dame and Texas Tech in the second round.

The Golden Eagles ended their regular season 40-18 overall and 23-7 in Sun Belt conference play, carrying the 11th best RPI in the nation.

Georgia Southern is 3-6 in games against ranked opponents this season, which includes a sweep from Tennessee, taking one of three from Georgia, and taking two of three from Texas State in what was a crucial Sun Belt series.

The Golden Eagle lineup is headlined by slugging designated hitter Noah Ledford who leads the team in OPS and home runs while tallying 35 extra-base hits in 58 games this season.

Georgia Southern isn’t as active on the basepaths as some but are quite efficient when they do steal. The Golden Eagles were 48-56 on stolen base attempts in the regular season, led by second baseman Jesse Sherrill who has nabbed 13 bags on 15 attempts.

Sherrill is also a very competent hitter, second on the team in OPS with a mark of .958. To make up for the lack of power, Sherrill is excellent at getting on base. With a team leading 75 hits and team leading 50 walks and hit by pitches, he has an OBP of .492.

The Georgia Southern pitching staff is led by Ty Fisher who carries a 2.87 ERA in 13 starts and Jaylen Paden, the usual Friday starter, who carries a 5.32 ERA in 14 starts. Both of the usual starters for the Golden Eagles don’t strike out a ton of hitters, as is the case with most of the pitching staff.

Outside of the starting staff, Georgia Southern relies heavily on relief pitching and the only relievers with a sub-four ERA are Jay Thompson and Anthony DiMola.

Thompson has been impressive in his 71.1 innings, working as a multi-inning guy out of the bullpen, but as is the case with the starting staff, he struggles to strike out a ton of hitters.