FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Dec. 1, 2010) – The Rutgers baseball team, under the direction of veteran head coach Fred Hill, has unveiled its 2011 schedule. The Scarlet Knights will play six schools that earned a berth in the 2010 NCAA Championship a season ago and will play 17 of its first 18 games of the spring on the road.
For the third-straight year, the Scarlet Knights open the season in Florida with perennial NCAA Tournament participant Miami down in Coral Gables, Fla. RU and UM will open a three-game series Friday, Feb. 18.
Rutgers will return to the Sunshine State a week later to face another strong opponent in Big Ten power Michigan. The three-game series will take place at a neutral site in Port St. Lucie, Fla. with a single game on Friday, Feb. 25 and a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 26.
RU will make its third trip south in as many weeks with its annual matchup against another one of the top baseball schools in the nation in ACC foe Georgia Tech at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. March 4-6.
The Scarlet Knights will open their 2011 home slate with a Wednesday contest against NJIT on March 9 at Bainton Field. Last season, RU posted a 10-1 victory over the Highlanders in its home opener.
Rutgers will return south for a fourth-straight weekend, as the Scarlet Knights travel to North Carolina and Virginia for its eight-game Spring Break trip. RU will participate in the Keith LeClair Classic, hosted by East Carolina University in Greenville. N.C. The Scarlet Knights will face Liberty, East Carolina and Monmouth, March 11-13, respectively.
A two-game series at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 15-16, is followed by a three-game series against East Carolina back in Greenville. N.C.
The Scarlet Knights will return home where they will begin an eight-game homestand against Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday, March 23.
The first BIG EAST series of the season will take place March 25-27 as RU welcomes the conference’s regular-season champion from a year ago in Louisville.
After closing the month of March with a midweek contest against Northeast Conference foe Wagner, the Scarlet Knights will open the month of April with a three-game series against BIG EAST rival Seton Hall at Bainton Field, April 1-3. RU took two out of three from the Pirates last season in South Orange.
Rutgers will remain in the state of New Jersey for its next two games, traveling to Princeton for a Tuesday contest on April 5 and hosting Columbia on Wednesday, April 6.
RU will head down to the state of Florida for a third time in 2011, heading to Tampa for a three-game series with USF. The Scarlet Knights swept a three-game series from the Bulls last spring as Hill picked up his prestigious 1,000th career victory in the series.
Midweek road games at Fordham and Temple precede a home series with Cincinnati April 15-17. The Scarlet Knights and Bearcats did not play in 2010 as each team in the league does not face two other teams in the conference schedule each season.
A midweek contest against Lafayette will be the first of four games in the state of Pennsylvania as the Scarlet Knights and Leopards meet April 19 in Easton, Pa. before RU heads to Pittsburgh for a three-game series with the Panthers April 21-23.
RU will round out a five-game road swing with a Tuesday contest at Delaware on April 26.
The Scarlet Knights will host their second eight-game homestand of the 2011 campaign with three-game series against Connecticut (April 29-May 1) and Notre Dame (May 7-8) as well as midweek games against Iona (May 4) and Monmouth (May 12).
A home contest against Delaware on Wednesday, May 18 is sandwiched between the final two weekend series of the regular season.
Rutgers will go on the road for its final two BIG EAST series, traveling to Villanova (May 13-15) and West Virginia (May 19-21).
The 2011 BIG EAST Baseball Championship will once again be held at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. May 25-29. Rutgers won its first two games and reached the semifinals of last year’s tournament.
The Scarlet Knights posted a 30-26 overall record in 2010, including a 15-12 mark in the BIG EAST. Rutgers returns five position starters and four of its top five hitters from last season. A strong nucleus of its pitching staff will be back this spring, making Rutgers an experience group in 2011.
