No it's not common this is the first year we have ever done it this early. I think it was for 2 reasons:
1. We don't have an indoor practice facility so thunderstorms in March / April are an issue - moving it up seemed to help.
2. It allows more time in the offseason for people having surgeries to heal and get ready for summer camp.
EDIT:
3. I also forgot that this is the first time in ages that we've had more than one sporting event happening on the weekend so they planned it on a day where there was also a major home basketball game, and baseball was home as well. Since most of our alum live 2-3 hours from Statesboro it helped attract more people to town for the weekend if they had multiple sporting events they could attend.