The UNA baseball team is set to begin its 2013 season at home in a double-header against LeMoyne-Owen College Feb. 12 at 2 p.m.

Following their 39-18 season in 2012, Head Coach Mike Keehn said he is looking forward to this season.

“We have lots of experience and some experienced players coming back,” Keehn said. “We have some players who were on the team last year that will have more responsibility this year, too.”

Keehn said the team has about 12 returning players, and half are returning pitchers. There is about an equal amount of new players this season, he said.

“Some of our new players will have significant roles out on the field,” he said.

Sophomore Ben Seabrook is a returning closing pitcher for the Lions, and he said he’s excited about the season ahead.

“We have a good pitching staff this year,” he said. “And we’ve been doing well in the scrimmages. We also have a pretty solid defense.”

The Lions have all four all-GSC players returning this season with Josh Cyr at first base, Josh Carpenter playing shortstop, Josh Doyle playing in the outfield and Chad Boughner taking the mound again in pitching.

“We should have a pretty good year this year,” Seabrook said.

Keehn said that in order to win games, he and Assistant Coach Matt Hancock will be focusing on game execution this season.

“We’re concentrating on game style,” Keehn said. “Things like throwing strikes, consistent defenses and quality pitching — those things will translate into winning.”

He said one of his big goals for the upcoming season is the same as any other school: to play a good season and make it into postseason play.

“I think every team really has the same goal,” he said. “We want to play well enough to play in the Gulf South Conference (GSC) regionals and even the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) games.”

Seabrook echoed these goals.

“I think we (returning players) all just want another shot at regionals,” Seabrook said. “We got there last year and then it didn’t work out, so we want redemption at that this year.”

The team reached the NCAA South Regional Tournament last season but fell to Lynn University in Saint Leo, Fla.

The Lions are currently slated to finish third in the 2013 GSC race after a poll was conducted among a league of head coaches, according to RoarLions.com. UNA falls just behind No. 1 Delta State University and No. 2 West Florida University.

The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s Top 40 Preseason Poll has UNA (tied with Missouri-St. Louis) ranked for spot 30.