DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Niagara Purple Eagles baseball team is set to open the 2012 season, as it heads to North Carolina to play in the Davidson Tournament from Feb. 17-19. 
 
In the season opener on Friday, Niagara will face the host Davidson Wildcats in the first game of the tournament with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.  On Saturday, the Purple Eagles go head-to-head with the Bucknell Bison at 7 p.m. and wrap up the tournament with a Sunday morning matchup against the La Salle Explorers at 10 a.m.
 
Head coach Rob McCoy enters his sixth season with the Purple Eagles and his fourth as the head coach on Monteagle Ridge
 
This year’s team is led by seven seniors, which includes outfielder Adam Wagner.  Wagner was one of four players to start all 48 games for the Purple Eagles in the 2011 season and led the team with a .327 batting average, 56 hits and tied for the team-high in on-base percentage (.392).
 
Drew Fittry will lead the way in the Niagara rotation this season.  The sophomore right-hander led the team with 65.1 innings pitched and led the pitching staff in opponents’ batting average, holding opposing batters to a .255 average. 
 
Fittry is joined in the rotation by junior Kody Kasper, who started 13 games for Niagara last season and by lefty Jim Fort, who made 11 appearances with six starts last season.