FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Seventeen games against six programs that advanced to the 2008 NCAA Tournament highlight the University of Memphis’s 56-game 2009 baseball schedule, Head Coach Daron Schoenrock announced today.
“Obviously this is another really challenging schedule for our program,” said Schoenrock. “We are very excited about the opportunity that faces the 2009 team in regards to the schedule. We are very fortunate that the people at Millington and USA Stadium have opened up the gates for us and that we have a place to call home. Conference USA competition is difficult enough and with our team having to play basically 56 games on the road we will face some unique challenges this spring.”
With the redesign of Nat Buring Stadium scheduled for January 2009, the Tiger will be faced with the challenging task of playing a combined 27 home games at three local ballparks. Millington’s USA Stadium will be Memphis’s primary home, hosting 18 regular season games, including three Conference USA series and three non-conference weekend series. The Tigers will play host to Ole Miss (Apr. 1), UCF (Apr. 3-5) and Mississippi State (May 12) in five contests at AutoZone Park and Southaven’s Snowden Grove Park will be home for three midweek sets versus Murray State (Feb. 24), UT-Martin (Mar. 17) and Arkansas State (Apr. 7). The Murray State game will serve as the 2009 home opener for the Tigers.
Memphis will open the season in the 2009 Service Academies Spring Classic against first-time opponent, Kansas on Feb. 20. The Tigers will take on Air Force and Bradley in a doubleheader on Feb. 21, before wrapping up the Classic with a tilt versus Pittsburgh on Feb. 22.
Schoenrock’s club will face five of the six NCAA teams in a stiff C-USA schedule. Memphis will open league play at home on Mar. 20 with a weekend series with Marshall in Millington. The next weekend (Mar. 27-29) will feature a trip to Houston for a tough weekend slate versus College World Series contestant, Rice. After the series at Rice, the Tigers will return home for the next three weekends, two of which are league sets versus UCF and 2008 C-USA Tournament champions Houston (Apr. 17-19). Three of the next four conference weekends will pit the Tigers against 2008 NCAA participants. Memphis will travel to New Orleans, to face the Tulane Green Wave, Apr. 24-26, followed by a league series at UAB (May 1-3). The U of M will host Southern Miss in its final C-USA home weekend, May 8-10 and wrap up league and regular season action on the road at East Carolina, May 14-16. The C-USA tournament is set for May 20-24 in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Non-conference weekend series’ showcases a lineup of new opponents for the Tigers. The Tigers and Troy Trojans will renew its series in Memphis’s first road test of the year, Feb. 27-Mar. 1. The remaining three non-league weekend series will be played at USA Stadium. Memphis will host Valparaiso (Mar. 6-8) in the first series between the two program’s since 1977. The Tigers will then welcome Indiana State to town for a three-game series, Mar. 13-15. The final non-conference series is set for Apr.10-12 against SIU-Edwardsville–one of three first-time foes.
The Tigers will get midweek road tests at Middle Tennessee (Mar. 3-4) and South Alabama (Mar. 10-11), as well as competing in home-and-home two-game series with Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas State, Murray State and UT-Martin.
Memphis will also play singles games at Central Arkansas (Apr. 14) and against Austin Peay at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn. on Apr. 15.
