All 11 league schools in action on Friday

SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The 2010 Southern Conference baseball season is ready to get underway as Friday is Opening Day for all 11 league teams.

Defending league regular season champion Elon starts the action with a 1 p.m. ET first pitch scheduled against Towson as the Phoenix host the Elon Classic.

At 4 p.m. ET, Appalachian State takes on Presbyterian in Spartanburg, S.C., UNC Greensboro hosts Cleveland State, East Tennessee State is at The Citadel, Western Carolina entertains Gardner-Webb, Furman welcomes Michigan State to Fluor Field and Wofford is at home against Pittsburgh.

Elsewhere, Samford plays host to Marshall and Radford travels to face College of Charleston at 5 p.m. ET. Davidson and Georgetown will battle beginning at 6 p.m. ET while Georgia Southern and Tennessee Tech start at 7 p.m. ET.

The Southern Conference, which is perennially one of the top Division I baseball conferences in the country, was rated as the ninth-best league nationally out of 31 in 2009, according to RPI ratings. Elon and Georgia Southern both advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2009, marking the fifth time in the past six seasons that the SoCon has sent multiple teams to postseason play.

Many SoCon baseball games will be video streamed throughout the season at SoCon.TV ? check back often for updated listings and game times.

The SoCon baseball season will culminate with the 2010 Southern Conference Baseball Championship, which will be held at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston, S.C. from May 26-30.