FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Jeff Calcaterra (Courtesy of Hartford Media Relations)
The University of Hartford baseball team and head coach Jeff Calcaterra announced the 2009 schedule on Thursday. The Hawks’ 56-game regular season slate includes 29 home dates at the Hartford Baseball Field in West Hartford and two spring trips, which includes games in New Mexico and Florida.
Hartford is scheduled to open the new season on Tuesday, March 3 with a two-game series versus Bryant in West Hartford. The Bulldogs are coming off their most successful season in program history with 43 wins and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional finals. The opening games lead into a four-game road trip to Las Cruces to face New Mexico State (March 6-8).
The Hawks will then return home to host in-state rivals Fairfield (March 10) and Central Connecticut (March 11) before heading to Orlando for a three-game series against Central Florida, who closed out the 2008 regular season with a 31-27 overall record while boasting a 26-12 record at home. Hartford closes its spring break trip in Winter Haven with five games, including match-ups between Big Ten opponents Indiana, Calcaterra’s alma mater, and Ohio State. Hartford will also face Jacksonville State, Bradley and Illinois during the ten day event.
The Hawks return to West Hartford for a five-game home stand at the Hartford Baseball Field. The home stretch begins with Boston College on March 24, followed by Massachusetts on March 25. Hartford will then welcome in-state foes Central Connecticut on March 27 and Sacred Heart for a doubleheader on March 28. The Hawks will then travel to Quinnipiac (March 29) before closing out the first month of action at home with Connecticut on March 31.
The match-up with the Huskies is the final tune-up before the opening of America East conference play on April 3-5, with the first of six four-game conference series coming on the road against Binghamton. The Hawks will return to the Hartford Baseball Field to face Holy Cross on April 8 before playing the first home conference series versus Maine (April 10-12). Following the series are three non-conference matchups which include a single game at Storrs to face Connecticut (April 14), along with a home match against Rhode Island (April 15) and a three-game series versus NJIT (April 17-19).
Hartford will then begin its longest road stretch of the season, which spans 10 days in April. The stretch includes two conference series against UMBC (April 24-26), Vermont (May 1-3) as well as a stop at Dartmouth (April 28). The Hawks’ final non-conference match will be versus Connecticut foe Central Connecticut in New Britain on May 5 in New Britain. The 2009 regular season will conclude in West Hartford with back-to-back conference series against America East defending champion Stony Brook (May 8-10) and Albany (May 14-16).
The Hawks are looking for their first trip to a postseason championship since 1996, when the Hawks were the sixth seed at the North Atlantic Conference Championships hosted by Maine. The top-four teams qualify for the America East Championships, held by the highest seed with lighted fields, on May 21-24.
