FLORENCE, Ala. -- The University of North Alabama baseball team will now open its 2021 season on Tuesday with a single game at Belmont in Nashville at 4 p.m.

The Lions were originally scheduled to play a three-game series against Mercer last weekend but those games were canceled after two winter storms closed the UNA campus and shutdown the Shoals for an entire week.

UNA was then scheduled to host Belmont on Tuesday but Mike Lane Field is still blanketed in several inches of ice and snow, causing the game to be relocated. Belmont will now come to UNA on April 13, when the Lions were originally scheduled to go there.

North Alabama's home opener is now on March 5 at 5:00 p.m. against Little Rock at Mike Lane Field at 5:00 p.m. The Lions will play their first six games on the road and 13 of their first 17 away from home. 

Tuesday's game will mark the start of Mike Keehn's 13th season as head baseball coach of the Lions and his 33rd season overall with the North Alabama baseball program. His 327 wins rank him as the second winningest coach in UNA baseball history.

Included in North Alabama's 2021 schedule this spring are 21 ASUN Conference games and 24 non-conference games against 16 different opponents.

The last time the Lions took the field was on March 10, 2020 against Murray State before everything halted due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. UNA closed that shortened season with a 3-13 mark.

North Alabama returns starters at six positions and 24 total lettermen, including 10 returning pitchers.

The list of returning starters includes junior outfielder Kevin Brenning of Cincinnati, Ohio, junior shortstop Reid Homan of Athens, Ala., sophomore first baseman Harris Kain of Muscle Shoals, Ala., senior catcher Ben Kiefer of Southlake, Texas, junior second baseman Gerardo Miranda of Clearwater, Fla., and freshman third baseman Grayson Throneberry of Decatur, Ala. The Lions also return eight additional players who saw action in the field a year ago, with six of them having some starting experience.

The group of returning pitchers includes the starters for all 16 games last season.

The Lions are led by a starting senior trio in Hunter Davidson of Pinson, Ala., Chase Best of Warrior, Ala., and Kyle Moore of Coldwater, Miss.. Seniors Keegan Foge of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Garret Gillum of Madison, Ala., are also back, along with  juniors Jacob Laws of Loretto, Tenn., and Austin Nichols of Athens, Ala., sophomore Colton Teal of Springhill, Tenn., and freshmen Cosi Scinta of Tamarac, Fla., and Jacob James. of Loretto, Tenn.

The Lions open ASUN Conference play on March 12 with a three-game series at Liberty. UNA then play at Belmont before hosting its next four conference series at home against Lipscomb, Kennesaw State, Liberty and Bellarmine. The final ASUN series is at Lipscomb before the Lions play North Florida and Jacksonville in an ASUN crossover event in Nashville.

UNA's non-conference slate includes multi-game series against , Stetson, Little Rock, Louisiana Lafayette and Davidson, along with single games at Southeastern Conference opponents Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. There are additional midweek games against Tennessee Tech, Belmont, Austin Peay and Alabama State.