FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
(Photo by Wayne Tilcock, Davis Enterprise)
DAVIS, Calif.– The 2009 UC Davis baseball schedule was released Monday by head coach Rex Peters. Fresh off their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division I postseason in their first year of eligibility, the Aggies’ 56-game schedule features eight teams that made the NCAA tournament last season – a list that includes defending national champion Fresno State.
“It’s another demanding schedule with many challenges,” said Peters. “We are going to find out very early on how we stack up against some of the nation’s elite. We open against two nationally-ranked teams and that will certainly set the tone for our season.”
The Aggies open the season on February 20 with a three-game series at Pacific-10 member UCLA. Last season the Bruins qualified for the Fullerton Regional and advanced to the championship game.
UC Davis then comes home to Dobbins Stadium for the first time in 2009 for a six-game homestand, which begins with San Francisco on Feb. 24 at 2:30 p.m. The Aggies then welcome regional qualifier Pepperdine in a three-game series beginning Feb. 27. Last season the Waves defeated UC Davis at the Stanford Regional to advance to the championship game.
The homestand concludes with Cal State Bakersfield on March 3 and defending national champion Fresno State on March 4. The Bulldogs are the second defending national champions the Aggies will play in the last three seasons.
A three-game series at Portland begins March 6 before the Aggies return home to host Nevada and Santa Clara on March 10 and 11. The Aggies then renew their Causeway Cup rivalry with Sacramento State in a home-away-home series beginning March 13. UC Davis won all three meetings last season.
Following a trip to San Francisco on March 24, the Aggies host Stanford the following day. The Cardinal and Aggies have created a rivalry during the past few years that spilled over into the Stanford Regional last season. UC Davis won three straight games in the series last year before being knocked off by the Cardinal in the regional. Stanford advanced to the College World Series.
That game segues UC Davis into its second official season of Big West Conference play, beginning at Pacific on March 27. The conference had four teams qualify for the NCAA tournament last year.
UC Davis then takes a break from conference with a home-away series against Fresno State and a four-game series at San Diego State starting April 3. Following that, the Aggies jump back into conference play and host UC Santa Barbara beginning April 10. more on 2-2-2-2 A non-conference game at Saint Mary’s and a home contest against regional participant Cal follows before another conference road series at Cal Poly on April 17.
Fifteen of their final 20 games of the regular season come against conference opponents. All five non-conference games are sandwiched between three-game conference series. The three-game home conference series come against defending conference champion Cal State Fullerton, 2007 conference champion UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge. The sandwiched non-conference games are Saint Mary’s, Nevada, Cal, Santa Clara and Stanford.
The road conference series come at regional participants Long Beach State and UC Irvine. The non-conference road games come at Cal and Stanford.
