Josh Colliver and the Rockets will play 17 of their 56 games at Scott Park in 2009.-Courtesy: Toledo Athletics
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
TOLEDO, OH – Toledo will compete in 56 games over the course of its 2009 season, Head Baseball Coach Cory Mee announced today. Seventeen of the games will take place at Scott Park. The Rockets are 36-25 (.590) at home over the last three seasons.
UT will again face a challenging non-league schedule against some of the nation’s elite conferences. Contests against teams from the Big Ten, Big East, Atlantic 10, Horizon League and Sun Belt highlight the non-conference games.
“Every year I try to put together a competitive non-conference schedule in order to prepare our team for the MAC season, and I don’t think the 2009 schedule is any different,” Mee said. “I think our guys are looking forward to this spring, and they are excited and ready to accept the challenge.”
Toledo begins the 2009 campaign with 15 road contests before opening its home season on Tuesday, Mar. 17 against Wayne State.
The Midnight Blue and Gold will get the ball rolling on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 20-22 when it travels to Bowling Green, KY for four games at 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Western Kentucky.
“Western Kentucky advanced to the postseason last spring so that will be a really good challenge for us coming out of the gate,” Mee said.
After returning to the Glass City, UT will head further south to the Volunteer State to face Belmont (Feb. 27-Mar. 1) and Tennessee Tech (Mar. 6-8). The Rockets will then travel to Winter Haven, FL to participate in the RussMatt Invitational against Sacred Heart (March 10), Bucknell (Mar. 11), Connecticut (Mar. 12), Vermont (Mar. 13) and Eastern Kentucky (Mar. 14) over spring break.
Following spring break, the Rockets will make their way back north for their much-anticipated home opener against the Warriors.
UT’s remaining non-conference highlights include contests against Dayton (March 24), Notre Dame (April 1), Michigan (April 14), Cleveland State (April 15), Bowling Green (April 28) and Wright State (May 11) to name a few.
In its conference schedule, UT will play each of its West Division opponents in a three-game series over three days (Friday through Sunday). As part of its 27-game league ledger, Toledo will face Miami (Mar. 20-22), Akron (Mar. 27-29), Ohio (April 3-5) and Kent State (April 10-12) from the East Division in addition to its five MAC West Division opponents.
“With five away MAC weekends, we must improve our ability to win on the road,” Mee said. “We know we have to do a better job playing away from Scott Park, and I think we will. Our goal is to be a better team at the end of the year than we are at the beginning.”
Mee begins his sixth season at the helm of the Toledo baseball program, while Josh Bradford and Oliver Wolcott return for their second seasons as assistant coaches. Former Purdue standout Nick McIntyre is also in his first season as the volunteer assistant coach. Coach Mee and the Rockets return 20 letterwinners, including six position starters, from last year’s squad that finished 18-31 overall and 10-13 in the MAC.
