FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
ATLANTA – Highlighted by five Atlantic Coast Conference home weekend series’, Georgia Tech baseball’s 2010 schedule as announced Wednesday by head coach Danny Hall includes 10 teams that participated in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
The Yellow Jackets open the 2010 campaign with eight games in the first 10 days, beginning with Missouri State for a three-game weekend series, Feb. 19-21, at Russ Chandler Stadium.
"I think when you look at our schedule the one thing that you’ll see right away is that we get to open up earlier this year than we did last year," head coach Danny Hall said. "The NCAA gave us an extra week to play our season, which I’m excited about because it doesn’t force us to play every Tuesday and Wednesday. Now we can space out some of those Tuesday-Wednesday games and have a little more room to play the season."
The Jackets will open ACC play at home against Wake Forest on March 12, one of five home conference series in 2010. Duke (Apr. 2-4), Clemson (Apr. 16-18), Virginia Tech (Apr. 23-25) and Miami (May 14-16) also will visit Russ Chandler Stadium.
Tech travels to Maryland (Mar. 19-21), North Carolina (Mar. 26-28), Virginia (Apr. 9-11) and NC State (Apr. 4-Mar. 2) before concluding with a three-game series at Boston College May 20-22.
Not on the schedule this year is Florida State, as the Seminoles roll off the ACC slate for the next two seasons.
"I think that Florida State is one of the premier programs in the ACC, and I don’t like not having them on the schedule. I understand why we’re not playing them, but it’s not something that I really like because they always produce great games whether we’re playing in Russ Chandler Stadium or at Florida State."
The mid-week schedule is filled with in-state teams, including a three-game series with rival Georgia. The Jackets and the Bulldogs square off March 16 on the Flats and Apr. 14, in Athens before concluding the series with the annual Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta contest at Turner Field Apr. 27.
"I think it’s a very competitive schedule that will challenge our team to the fullest," added Hall. "You look at the three games we have with Georgia. We play Georgia Southern four times. We play Mercer twice. We play Kennesaw State twice."
The 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament will take place May 26-30 in Greensboro, N.C. The five-day tournament will be held at Greensboro’s NewBridge Bank Park.
"The ACC Tournament in Greensboro is a new experience in that we’ve never played there. I’m hearing that it’s very hitter-friendly in the power alleys. I’m not sure that I like that, particularly with an aluminum bat. But everyone else has to play in it, and I think the biggest thing for us is making sure we’re in that tournament because only the top eight teams in the league go. We definitely have our sights set on getting to Greensboro and then hopefully playing extremely well in that tournament."
The 2010 NCAA Tournament will kick off June 4 with regional action, to be followed by super regionals (June 11-14) and the College World Series (June 19-30).
