FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Coach Corbin
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Games against 2008 College World Series participants Stanford and Georgia highlight a 55-game schedule released today by Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.
The Commodores will face 13 teams that made the NCAA tournament a year ago and 16 teams that finished with 30 or more wins.
“I think we have a good balance to the schedule this year,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “With such a young squad it was important for them to face tough competition early and also have a nice stretch of home games prior to league play.”
For the fourth straight season Vanderbilt will head west to open the year. The Commodores will play a two-game series against Stanford on Feb. 20-21. They will then face California twice (Feb. 22-23) before heading home for a nine-game homestand.
VU will take on Western Kentucky in its home opener on Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. at Hawkins Field. Vermont will come in for a three-game series (Feb. 25-27) and Illinois-Chicago will visit Nashville for a four-game series (March 5-8).
The Commodores will play Lipscomb on March 10, before opening Southeastern Conference play against Ole Miss (March 13-15).
South Alabama will visit Hawkins Field on March 17, closing out a stretch of 13 of 14 games at home. Other teams new to Vanderbilt’s schedule this year are Wright State (March 25) and Morehead State (April 15).
After facing Ole Miss, VU will hit the road the next two weekends against Kentucky (March 20-22) and Auburn (March 27-29).
Vanderbilt returns home to face Florida (April 3-5) before hitting the road again to face Arkansas (April 10-12). The next two weekends the ‘Dores will host Alabama (April 17-19) and Mississippi State (April 24-26).
In May, VU will play two of its final three SEC series on the road with back-to-back trips to South Carolina (May 1-3) and Georgia (May 8-10). The Commodores will then close out the regular season at home against in-state rival Tennessee (May 14-16).
The SEC Tournament (May 20-24) will once again be held at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala.
Schedule Notes:
• Two games are currently scheduled for broadcast on Fox Sports Net: Florida (April 4), Arkansas (April 11). The CSS TV schedule will be announced at a later date. The new ESPN/SEC television contract does not go into effect for baseball until the 2010 season.
• Opponents with 40 or more wins in 2008: Stanford (41-24)*, Kentucky (44-19)*, Louisville (41-21)*, South Carolina (40-23)*, Georgia (45-25)*
• Opponents with 30 or more wins in 2008 (in addition to above teams): California (33-21)*, Western Kentucky (33-27)*, Tennessee Tech (35-23), Illinois-Chicago (35-25)*, Lipscomb (33-30)*, Ole Miss (39-26)*, South Alabama (32-26), Wright State (30-23), Florida (34-24)*, Arkansas (34-24)*, Alabama (35-28)*
