FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
PEORIA, Ill. – The 2011 college baseball season is just a month away and Bradley’s 111th season will include a 53-game regular-season slate with games to be played in seven states, according to the schedule announced today by third-year head coach Elvis Dominguez.
“This is the most challenging schedule we’ve had since I have been at Bradley and it certainly will be a great test for our team,” said Dominguez. “Schedules are prepared 2-to-3 years in advance and this one will test us early against good programs. We believe the early non-conference portion of the schedule will be of great benefit for our players and help prepare them for the very challenging Missouri Valley Conference race.”
Among the 2011 schedule highlights: the Braves will play their first 19 games away from home and are slated to play 32 of their 53 regular-season games away from O’Brien Field; Bradley will play seven games against Big Ten Conference members, including home games versus Purdue (March 25-26) and Illinois (April 5); Bradley will play eight games March 11-19 at Winter Haven, Fla., in the Russmatt Baseball Central Florida Invitational; and four of the seven Missouri Valley Conference three-game sets will be played at home, beginning April 15-17 with the annual Interstate 74 Rivalry series against Illinois State.
The Braves will open the 2011 season Feb. 18-20 in Nashville, Tenn., with a pair of games each against Dayton and host Lipscomb. The road start will continue with a three-game series at Arkansas-Little Rock (Feb. 25-27) and three more games in Knoxville, Tenn., March 4-6 against Tennessee, Morehead State and Indiana.
Bradley will spend spring break playing eight games in nine days in Winter Haven, Fla., at the Russmatt Baseball 2011 Central Florida Invitational. The Braves will face Toledo (March 11), Ohio State (March 12), Massachusetts (March 13), Bucknell (March 14), Jacksonville State (March 16), North Dakota State (March 17), Akron (March 18) and Butler (March 19) during the popular baseball jamboree.
Following a March 23 game at SIU-Edwardsville, the Braves will open their home schedule by hosting Purdue March 25-26 in the first two games of a three-game set that will conclude March 27 in West Lafayette. Bradley also will host Western Illinois in a three-game series April 1-3 and Illinois April 5 in the first game of a home-and-home series before The Valley home slate opens April 15 against the rival Redbirds. The other three Valley teams to visit Peoria include Evansville (April 22-24), Southern Illinois (May 6-8) and Wichita State (May 19-21).
The 2011 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship will be contested May 24-28 in Omaha, Neb., at the new TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, the new home of the College World Series.
