SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University baseball team will head south this weekend to escape from the snow and cold and attempt to open their 2010 season with a four-game weekend series against Tiffin (Ohio) University at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C.

The series, originally scheduled to be played at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, is now slated to include a 12-noon doubleheader Saturday followed by an 11 a.m. twinbill Sunday.

Following the four games against Tiffin, SRU is scheduled to visit West Virginia State for a pair of doubleheaders next weekend before embarking on its annual spring-break trip to Florida.

The Rock will play eight games in Lakeland, Fla., from March 4-10 before starting north. On the way home, SRU will open its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division schedule with a four-game series March 12-13 vs. California, Pa., in Savannah, Ga.

SRU's home opener is scheduled for March 16, when the Green and White will take on Washington Adventist University (formerly Columbia Union College) in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Jack Critchfield Park.

The Rock, under the guidance of 25-year head Jeff Messer, returns five everyday starters and two of its top starting pitchers from last year's team, which compiled a 36-15 overall record and placed third in PSAC-West competition.

Click here to view the 2010 Rock baseball schedule.

Notes: The site of this weekend's four-game series, Fleming Stadium was originally known as Wilson Municipal Stadium, which was built in 1938 as a WPA project. In 1952 the stadium was renamed Fleming Stadium in memory of Allie W. Fleming, a former president of the Wilson Baseball Club. The Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 2,525, has been the home of the Coastal Plain League Summer Collegiate Baseball Wilson Tobs since 1997.