FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
STORRS, Conn. – In 2010, the University of Connecticut baseball team is scheduled to play 56 regular season games in the program’s 115th season, including games against 29 opponents from 14 conferences throughout the country.
UConn will host 20 games at J.O. Christian Field in the upcoming season, including three-game series against four BIG EAST opponents. The Huskies’ schedule features nine opponents from the BIG EAST Conference, and is highlighted by a challenging early season agenda. The team’s first 12 games of the 2010 season will be against programs in the Pac10, Big Ten, Big West, Conference USA, SEC and the ACC.
Eight of the Huskies’ first twelve games are against teams from five of the top six conferences in RPI in the nation last year.
"In playing clubs from the SEC, ACC, Pac10, Conference USA, and Big West, we have a very ambitious early-season schedule," said head coach Jim Penders. "The four remaining games are against stiff competition from the Big Ten and three of those four are against NCAA tournament teams from 2009 in Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio State. We are certainly jumping into the deep end of the pool to begin our season with our trips to Florida, Tennessee, and our first-ever swing to California. We’ll spend the next four months getting ready for a challenging early-season slate that will hopefully prepare us for success in the Big East."
The Huskies will play nine games against five teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2009 as two were their respective conference tournament champions, including 2009 BIG EAST Conference winner, Louisville. The Cardinals defeated UConn in the tournament final last year in Clearwater, Fla. Louisville reached the Super Regionals last season, while Boston College made it to the Regionals as well as Indiana, the Big Ten Champion, Ohio State and Minnesota.
The Huskies will begin their 2010 season at the BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge with games between Northwestern, Minnesota and Indiana.
Following the BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge, the Huskies will play a four-game series at Cal State Northridge as the two teams will meet for the first time in history. The Huskies and Matadors will play March 5-8 in Northridge, Calif. UConn’s trip to California will mark the farthest west the team has ever traveled, surpassing a 2004 series with Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz.
On March 10, UConn will travel to Southern California for the teams’ second-ever meeting and their first since playing in Omaha during the 1972 College World Series. The Huskies will then travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to face Tennessee, Marshall and Ohio State. The Vols and Huskies have not met since their first contest during the 1996 season, while the March 13 neutral site game against Marshall will be the first time in history that the teams will play each other.
The Huskies will play their home opener on March 16 against Boston College in non-conference play at J.O. Christian Field. After the home opener, the Huskies will play three games in three days against Sacred Heart.
UConn will open BIG EAST play on the road at 2009 Champion, Louisville, in a three-game weekend series as the three-games are part of an 11-game stretch for the Huskies in 13 days from March 19-30.
The Huskies begin the month of April on the road at BIG EAST-rival West Virginia in Morgantown, W. Va. before returning to New England to take on Massachusetts in a home-and-home series on April 6 and 7. UConn will host its first BIG EAST weekend series when the Wildcats of Villanova come to Storrs before heading on the road to Bethesda, Md. to take on Georgetown in league play.
After five games on the road, the Huskies will return home to open a season-long, six-game home stand beginning with a single game against Rhode Island before taking on BIG EAST foe Rutgers in a three-game weekend series. In May, UConn will host two BIG EAST programs in league play, while the Huskies will also play two conference series on the road, including games at Pittsburgh (May 1-2) and South Florida (May 14-16). The two home series are against Cincinnati (May 8-9) and Seton Hall (May 20-11).
The BIG EAST Tournament will once again be played in Clearwater, Fla. at Brighthouse Field and will take place May 26-30. The NCAA Tournament begins June 4 with regional competition.
