FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Road trips to Charleston, S.C.and Eugene, Ore., in addition to 30 home contests are all on tap for the 2010 ETSU baseball team, as head coach Tony Skole and his staff released their schedule Monday afternoon.
“We are excited for the upcoming season,” Skole said. “We have made a lot of great progress this fall and winter. Although we are still very young with only one senior, we have a lot of experience in our youth. We return a strong nucleus and have many new players that we will be relying upon to have an immediate impact."
The Bucs will play three 2009 NCAA Tournament participants facing Jacksonville, Tennessee Tech and Kansas State throughout the season.
“We have a great schedule this season,” Skole added. We will be challenged early, there is no doubt about that, but we saw our schedule as an opportunity to help us get better early. The first part of our non-conference schedule will help us to get ready to open the Atlantic Sun season. I anticipate the Atlantic Sun Conference to once again be one of the top Division I baseball conferences in the country.”
ETSU opens the season on Feb. 19 against The Citadel in Charleston,S.C. The Buccaneers will also face Kansas State (Feb. 20) and Delaware(Feb. 21) to close out the opening weekend.
The team will close out its non-conference schedule as the Bucs make their first ever west coast trip on May 14-16 to Eugene, Ore. ETSU will face a reestablished Oregon program coached by George Horton, who led Cal State Fullerton to a national title in 2004.
St. Peter’s comes to town on Feb. 26-28 for the ETSU home opener as the Bucs will play 18 home non-conference games. Other notable non-conference home games include a weekend series against St. John’s (March 5-7) and games against Virginia Tech (March 31), Appalachian State (April 21) and Tennessee Tech (April 28).
“We are excited to have 30 home games so that our fans will be able to watch as many Buccaneer games as possible,” Skole said.
The Bucs face a tough conference schedule in 2010 as they will face Lipscomb (March 26-27), Jacksonville (April 9-10), Campbell (April 23-24),Florida Gulf Coast (May 8-9) and Kennesaw State (May 20-21) on the road.
ETSU opens Atlantic Sun play at home against USC Upstate on March 19-20. North Florida (April 2-3), Mercer (April 16-17) and Stetson (April 30-May 1) also come to Cardinal Park in 2010.
