SURPRISE, AZ – The Winthrop baseball team hits the road for the second straight weekend as it will take part in the 2012 Surprise Coca-Cola Classic which will be held at Surprise Stadium, which is the spring training home to the Major League's Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals.

The tournament consists of six teams and includes, along with the Eagles, Oregon State, Arizona State, Saint Louis, Northern Illinois and Saint Mary's. Winthrop will face Northern Illinois (Mar. 1) at 6 p.m., Oregon State (Mar. 2) at 1 p.m., Arizona State (Mar. 3) at 6 p.m. and Saint Louis (Mar. 4) at 1 p.m. during the four-day event. All games listed are Eastern Standard Time. This season also marks the 10^th anniversary of the tournament, which is hosted by the city of Surprise, AZ.

The all-time series between the Eagles and Huskies is tied 1-1, with the last meeting coming in 2003 in which Northern Illinois won 11-10. Winthrop won the first meeting in the series, 13-12, in Rock Hill during the 2002 season. The Beavers hold a 1-0 all-time series lead over the Eagles, with Oregon State winning the only meeting in the series 8-2 during 2005 in Malibu, CA. The Sun Devils lead the overall series 3-0 against Winthrop, sweeping a three-game series in Tempe, AZ in 2009. The contest with the Billikins is the first in school history.

The Huskies enter the tournament with an 0-6 record and are coach by Ed Mathey. Oregon State is led by head coach Pat Casey and post a 5-3 record on the season. Arizona State holds the best record out of any team in the tournament with a 5-1 record, and are led by head coach Tim Esmay. Saint Louis comes in with a 5-3 record on the season and are under the direction of head coach Darin Hendrickson.

The Eagles are 0-8 on the season after dropping their second midweek contest of the season to Charlotte on Tuesday night 7-1, and will be facing its third opponent in as many weeks ranked in the top 15 nationally as the Sun Devils are ranked 11^th overall.

Following the four games in Surprise, Winthrop will return to The Winthrop Ballpark next week for four games against the College of Charleston (Mar. 7) and Holy Cross (Mar. 9-11).