FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown baseball head coach Marek Drabinski has announced the 2012 schedule, and a demanding early season nonconference slate will once again serve to prepare the Bears for the Ivy League schedule. Brown will square off against NCAA Regional participant FIU to open the season on March 2, before opening its Ivy portion on March 31 at Penn. The Bears will also host 2011 NCAA qualifier Maine at Murray Stadium on March 22, in the team’s home-opener after making their annual eight-game, West Coast road-trip.
“As always, we play a very challenging early season schedule to get us ready for conference play,” said Drabinski. “By playing some of the best teams around the country, we put ourselves in a position to succeed once we face off against the Ivy League.”
Brown opens the season with a three-game set at Florida International on March 2, 3 and 4. FIU was ranked as high as No. 20 late in the 2011 season and advanced to the 2011 NCAA Regionals. The Panthers went 40-21-1 last season.
From Miami, Fla., the Bears will go on to New Orleans, La., on March 16, 17, 18, to take on Tulane in another three-game matchup. The Green Wave went 31-26 last season and finished seventh in Conference USA with a 10-14 mark.
Brown opens its home schedule on March 22 when the Bears host NCAA Regional Qualifier, Maine. The Black Bears had a remarkable end to the season as they won 21 of their final 25 games of the season. In the process, Maine won an NCAA Regional game for the first time since 2005.
Brown will take go on its annual West Coast swing, starting on March 24 at Pacific. The Bears will play four games against the Tigers in Stockton, Calif., before heading to Santa Clara for two games on March 27. Bruno wraps up the trip with a doubleheader at San Jose State on March 28.
The Bears will not have much down time after their left coast road trip, as they begin the Ivy League schedule with two games at Penn on March 31 and then head straight to Columbia for another doubleheader the next day.
Brown returns to Murray Stadium on April 4 with a two-game set against Siena, who made an improbable run to the MAAC Championship last season before falling to Manhattan.
Bruno hosts its first Ivy-opponent on April 7 with a doubleheader against Cornell at noon. Brown welcomes Gehrig Division Champion Princeton the next day for another two-game set against Princeton.
The showdown with 2011 Rolfe Division Champ Dartmouth goes down on April 14 and 15 as the teams square off in back-to-back doubleheaders.
Brown has two other four-game Ivy League sets at Harvard, on April 21 and 22, and a home-and-home series versus Yale on April 27 and 28.
The Bears will also host nonconference foe Holy Cross for two-game set on April 18, before traveling to take on in-state rivals URI (April 24) and Bryant (April 25).
Coach Drabinski and the Bears close out the regular season with a home doubleheader against Marist on May 1.
Full 2012 Brown Baseball Schedule
