FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Aggie fans will have 35 chances to see the Texas A&M baseball team in action at Olsen Field this spring as Wednesday the team announced its 2011 schedule.
“We are excited about our spring schedule as it is going to be both challenging and entertaining for our team and fans,” head coach Rob Childress said. “In addition to giving us the chance to play 35 games at Olsen Field in front of college baseball’s best fans, it will also help us reach our goals of bringing home another Big 12 title and being the last team standing in Omaha at the end of the season.”
The 2011 schedule features eight opponents that reached the postseason a year ago, including four super regional participants and two squads that advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The Aggies open the 2011 campaign with a three-game set against LeMoyne at Olsen Field on Feb. 18-20. The Dolphins have made the trip to College Station once before, appearing in the 2007 NCAA Regional at Olsen Field where they fell to the Aggies 7-2 on the regional’s first day.
After a mid-week home contest against Prairie View A&M on Feb. 22, Texas A&M will welcome Gonzaga to Olsen Field for the first time during a three-game series on Feb. 25-27.
Following a two-game set against Texas-Pan American in College Station on March 1-2, the Aggies hit the road for the first time in 2011 by making the short trip south for the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros. At the Classic, Texas A&M will open on March 4 by facing off against Utah before battling a pair of in-state opponents in Rice and Houston on March 5 and 6, respectively.
Returning home to Olsen Field on March 8, the Aggies will face Centenary in a single game before FIU comes to town for a three-game series March 11-13. Texas A&M faced the Panthers in the 2010 NCAA Coral Gables Regional, handing FIU a 17-3 defeat in the regional’s opening round.
Cal State Fullerton makes the journey east to visit College Station for a single game on March 15. The Titans also made a trip to Texas to face the Aggies during the 2009 season, earning a 15-5 win.
Big 12 Conference play kicks off during the weekend of March 18-20 when the Aggies travel to Norman, Okla., to battle Oklahoma. The Sooners represented the Big 12 at the College World Series a season ago, but dropped two of three games to Texas A&M at Olsen Field.
Returning to Aggieland, Texas A&M will host Stephen F. Austin on March 22 before the Kansas Jayhawks become the Aggies’ first home Big 12 opponent with a three-game set March 25-27.
Following the KU series, the Aggies will play nine of their next 10 contests on the road beginning on March 29 at UT Arlington. Kansas State, an NCAA Tournament team each of the last two seasons, is next on the docket for the Aggies as they travel to Manhattan, Kan., for a three-game set against the Wildcats April 1-3.
The lone home game during the two-week, road-heavy stretch is a contest against Houston at Olsen Field on April 5.
Back to the road on April 8-10, the destination for Texas A&M will be Lubbock, Texas, where it will face in-state rival Texas Tech in a three-game Big 12 series.
A Tuesday night trip to Houston on April 12 will see the Aggies face off against Rice at Reckling Park, before A&M jumps back into conference play with a three-game set against Baylor, April 15-17. The Friday night game against the Bears will take place in Waco before the scene shifts to Olsen Field for the final two games of the series.
TCU makes the trip down from the Metroplex to College Station to face the Aggies on April 19, representing the second 2010 College World Series participant on the A&M schedule.
Easter weekend will see the Aggies host Oklahoma State at Olsen Field on April 22-24, before welcoming Sam Houston State to College Station on April 26.
Columbia, Mo., is the next stop on the Aggies’ slate as they continue league action with a three-game set against the Missouri Tigers April 29-May1. A mid-week visit to San Antonio to face UTSA on May 3 will be the final non-Big 12 road game for A&M.
The final homestand of the year gets underway with a three-game, non-conference series against Dallas Baptist on May 5-7, before Texas State makes a visit to Olsen Field on May 10.
In its final season in the Big 12, Nebraska travels to Texas to tangle with the Aggies on May 13-15. Last season, A&M took two of three from the Huskers in Lincoln, Neb. UT Arlington, which faced Texas A&M in Arlington on March 29, returns the favor with a trip to Aggieland on May 17.
May 19-21 will see the Aggies renew their long-standing rivalry with Texas as the two teams close out the regular season. The first game of the series will take place inside the friendly confines of Olsen Field before the venue shifts to Disch-Falk Field in Austin.
Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Ballpark will be the site of the 2011 Big 12 Conference Championship on May 25-29 as the Aggies’ shoot for a fourth Big 12 Championship and school-record fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance under Childress.
