FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
NEW ORLEANS – The 2012 college baseball season is just 126 days away and the Tulane baseball squad and head coach Rick Jones have announced their schedule, which features 37 games to be played on the turf inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium and 19 games on the road.
“Similar to every year that I have been here, we try to play as challenging a non-conference schedule as possible,” said Tulane head coach Rick Jones. “We continue to play in one of the top five leagues in the country, so we are tested every weekend in conference play and if we do our part it gives our program a great chance to have a good RPI. We continue to challenge our players on a daily basis with the schedule we compiled.”
The season will kick off with a four-game series against the Sienna Saints of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference starting on Friday, February 17 and ending on Sunday, February 19. The first midweek test will come on the road against Louisiana-Monroe (2/21) before the Green Wave will return to Turchin Stadium for a three game series with Big Ten opponent Indiana (2/24-2/26). The month of February will conclude with a home contest against intrastate rival Southeastern Louisiana, who will travel to New Orleans for a matchup on Tuesday, February 28.
The second month of the season opens with a trio of teams that have all advanced to a Super Regional since 2008, starting with a three-game series at home versus Alabama. The Green Wave and the Crimson Tide will play single games from Friday, March 2-Sunday, March 4, before hosting LSU on Tuesday, March 6 in their first of two meetings in 2012. In their first weekend road trip, Tulane will travel to the Sunflower State to face off with Wichita State (3/9-3/11) in a three game set at Eck Stadium. Their next four games will be played at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Louisiana-Monroe will travel south for a midweek affair on Tuesday, March 13 and Brown (3/16-3/18) will travel to the Crescent City for a weekend series.
Midweek road trips to Louisiana-Lafayette (3/20) and Southeastern Louisiana (3/27) bookend a three-game weekend series at home against UMBC, starting March 23 and ending March 25. The Conference USA slate begins on Friday, March 30 at Memphis (3/30-4/1) and Tulane will play their first midweek tilt of April versus Alcorn State on Tuesday, April 3.
April will feature 18 total games, 11 of which will be played against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2011. Rice will head to New Orleans for a three game series from April 5-April 7 and home contests versus Nicholls State (4/10) and Alcorn State (4/11) will follow. A trip to Birmingham, Alabama awaits the Olive and Blue on April 13-April 15 for a three game series with the Blazers of UAB at Young Memorial Stadium. A five-game homestand awaits the Green Wave, starting with a midweek tilt against Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday, April 17. UCF will head to GFATS for a three-game set that runs from Friday, April 20-Sunday, April 22 and Northwestern State will close out the homestand on Tuesday, April 24. Tulane will then fly the friendly skies on their way to Greenville, N.C. for a series with East Carolina (4/27-4/29) to close out the month.
The final month of the regular season will feature seven home games and four road tilts, with a short drive to Baton Rouge, La. opening the festivities. Tulane will play LSU at Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday, May 1, before returning home over the weekend to face Southern Miss (5/4-5/6). After entertaining Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday, May 8, the Green Wave will head west to contest a three game series with Houston (5/11-5/13) in the lone star state. The regular season will conclude with a three-game series with Marshall at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium staring on Thursday, May 17 and ending on Saturday, May 19.
The Conference USA tournament will be held in Jackson, Miss. at Trustmark Park, the home of the Atlanta Braves Double-A affiliate the Mississippi Braves, running from May 23-27. The top eight teams advance to the event and each squad is guaranteed two games in the pool play format, with the Championships game slated for May 27.
