FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
The Minnesota baseball team has finalized its 2011 schedule according to an announcement by head coach John Anderson on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Minnesota will host the Pro & Legends Alumni Game at the Metrodome on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 6:35 p.m. It will be 18th version of this game.
During the regular-season, Minnesota will face five non-conference teams who competed in the NCAA Regionals. The Gophers will start out with three of those teams at the Big Ten/Big East Challenge. Minnesota will face 2010 NCAA Regional participant St. John’s in its season opener on Friday, Feb. 18, 2010 NCAA Regional host Connecticut on Saturday, Feb. 19 and 2010 NCAA Regional participant Louisville on Sunday, Feb. 20.
Following the Big Ten/Big East Challenge, Minnesota will travel to face Wake Forest (Feb. 25), Towson University (Feb. 26) and Delaware State (Feb. 27) at the Wake Forest Tournament. The Golden Gophers will then host 2010 NCAA Regional participant Washington State on Thursday, Mar. 3.
Minnesota will host the 27th annual Dairy Queen Classic when it faces South Alabama on Friday, Mar. 4, Oklahoma State on Saturday, Mar. 5 and Washington State on Sunday, Mar. 6. Following the Dairy Queen Classic, the Golden Gophers will host the Metrodome Tournament where they will face Butler (Mar. 11), Gonzaga (Mar. 12) and Illinois (Mar. 13).
After eight-game home stand centered around those tournaments, Minnesota will hit the road for a five-game, six-day road swing to California. The Golden Gophers will face Sacramento State on Tuesday, Mar. 15 and Wednesday Mar. 16. Minnesota will then head to Santa Clara to face the Broncos in a three-game series from Mar. 18-20.
The Golden Gophers return home to host a two-game midweek series against North Dakota State on Tuesday, Mar. 22 and Wednesday, Mar. 23, before facing Cal Poly in a three-game series on Mar. 24-26. The Golden Gophers will also face Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday, Mar. 29 and Wednesday, Mar. 30 before starting Big Ten play.
Minnesota will also host NCAA Regional participant Kansas State on Tuesday, Apr. 5 and Wednesday Apr. 6. The Golden Gophers also host midweek games against Hamline (Mar. 9), St. Thomas (Apr. 13) and South Dakota State (Apr. 20) on the season. Minnesota will travel to play midweek games at South Dakota State (Apr. 27) and North Dakota State (May 3).
The Golden Gophers open up Big Ten play at home against Purdue on Apr. 1-3. Minnesota’s first road conference series will be at Michigan State on Apr. 8-10. The Golden Gophers will also host Northwestern (Apr. 15-17), Iowa (Apr. 29, 30 & May 1) and Ohio State (May 19-21) in Big Ten home series in 2011. Minnesota travels to Indiana (Apr. 22-24), Michigan (May 6-8) and Penn State (May 13-15) for Big Ten road series.
Overall, the Gophers will play 31 home games on the season. All of those games are scheduled to be played at the Metrodome.
Minnesota returns 24 players who played on last year’s team that won the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, before advancing to the final game of the NCAA Regionals against Cal State Fullerton. The returning players are highlighted by First-Team All-Big Ten first baseman Nick O’Shea, Second-Team All-Big Ten starting pitcher Phil Isaksson, Third-Team All-Big Ten closer Scott Matyas and Freshmen and Third-Team All-Big Ten starting pitcher TJ Oakes.
