FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia baseball team has unveiled its schedule for the 2012 season. The Cavaliers’ 55-game schedule is highlighted by home ACC series with North Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
Coming off a trip to the College World Series, Virginia is slated to play host to 36 games at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers’ schedule will be challenging, featuring 26 games against 10 teams that qualified for the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Virginia 2012 baseball season tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday (Nov. 1).
Virginia opens its season Feb. 17-19 at the Caravelle Resort Tournament, hosted by Coastal Carolina in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Cavaliers begin with ACC rival Boston College, whom the Cavaliers will not play in regular-season action this season. UVa will face the host Chanticleers Feb. 18 and wrap up the weekend with James Madison on Feb. 19, marking the first of three meetings with the Dukes in 2012. Coastal Carolina and JMU each were NCAA tournament qualifiers last season.
UVa’s home schedule commences Feb. 21 against William and Mary, before a weekend series Feb. 24-26 with Monmouth, which finished 36-19 a year ago and won the Northeast Conference regular-season title.
The Cavaliers will play host to a three-team double round-robin tournament March 2-4. UVa will play two games each against a pair of 2011 NCAA Tournament teams, Seton Hall and Wright State. Seton Hall won the Big East tournament, while WSU earned the Horizon League regular-season and tournament titles last season.
For the first time since 2002, Virginia will open conference play at home, as Virginia Tech comes to Davenport Field March 9-11. That series will mark the earliest ACC games ever played in Charlottesville. UVa last opened its conference schedule at home March 15-16, 2002, when Florida State came to town for the first ACC games ever at Davenport Field.
Counting the Virginia Tech series, four of UVa’s first six conference series will be at home as the Cavaliers also play host to Clemson (March 23-25), Wake Forest (April 6-8) and North Carolina (April 13-15). The Cavaliers also will entertain Georgia Tech May 11-13. UNC joined UVa at the College World Series last year, while Clemson and Georgia Tech each were NCAA regional hosts.
UVa begins road ACC play March 16-18 at Florida State. The Cavaliers also are slated to travel to NC State (March 30-April 1), Duke (April 20-22), Miami (April 27-29) and Maryland (May 17-19). FSU, Miami and NC State were NCAA tournament participants last year.
After a two-year hiatus, Wake Forest rotates back onto the schedule this season. Boston College shifts off the Cavaliers’ ACC slate for the next two years.
In addition to their game at the Coastal Carolina tournament, Virginia and James Madison will play a home-and-home series, with UVa traveling to Harrisonburg on March 6 and JMU to Charlottesville on April 4.
UVa also has midweek non-conference games scheduled against Liberty (Feb. 28), Marist (March 13-14), VMI (March 21), Towson (March 27-28), High Point (April 10), George Washington (April 11), Richmond (April 17), Radford (April 24), Mount St. Mary’s (May 1) and VCU (May 15).
The 2012 ACC Baseball Championship returns to Greensboro, N.C., May 23-27 at NewBridge Bank Park.
The Atlantic Coast Conference’s television agreement includes expanded programming opportunities for ACC baseball. Several of Virginia’s regular season game dates and times are expected to change once the conference’s television and digital media broadcast partners finalize the broadcast schedule.
Full 2012 Virginia Baseball Schedule
