FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami head baseball coach Jim Morris officially released the 2012 baseball schedule for the Hurricanes on Tuesday. The Hurricanes will enjoy 36 homes inside Alex Rodriguez Park on the campaign.
Miami returns 18 letterwinners from a season ago in which the Hurricanes finished 38-23 overall (19-10 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Canes advanced to their NCAA-record 39th consecutive NCAA Regional as they traveled to the Gainesville [Fla.] Regional.
UMiami will play a total of 54 games in 2012, including 41 in the Sunshine State.
The Hurricanes open the 2012 slate playing 15 of their first 16 games at home inside Alex Rodriguez Park. The season opens with a three-game homestand against Rutgers (Feb. 17-19), as the month concludes with Florida Gulf Coast (Feb. 22) on the road, before returning home against Albany (Feb. 24-26) and Florida Atlantic (Feb. 29).
The month of March begins with UM hosting in-state foe Florida for a highly-anticipated weekend series taking place March 2-4. That series is immediately followed by an exhibition game against the MLB’s Miami Marlins, opening the new ballpark for the Marlins in Miami as part of the Marlins spring training contests. The Canes will then host Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday, March 7, followed by the first ACC homestand against Boston College (March 9-11). The final game of the home stretch comes against Illinois State (March 13).
The second road game for UM will take place just four hours up the Florida Turnpike as the Canes take on UCF in Orlando on Wednesday, March 14. The team continues northward on to its first ACC road series at Duke (March 16-18) before finishing up a five-game road trip at FAU (March 21).
Miami will host its second ACC series when the Maryland Terrapins come to Coral Gables on March 23-25, before the Canes end the month with a big road test at ACC foe Clemson (March 30-April 1) in South Carolina. This will be the Canes first trip to Clemson since the 2009 campaign.
After returning from Clemson, UMiami starts a homestand beginning with UCF (Apr. 4). In what has become a great series in ACC divisional play, the North Carolina Tar Heels come calling Apr. 6-8 to Coral Gables, as the Canes and Tar Heels have enjoyed classics in this series the previous three seasons. Miami concludes its five-game home stretch with FGCU (Apr. 11)
After the Stetson game, the match-up everyone looks forward to each year gets underway in Tallahassee, Fla. when Miami meets ACC rival Florida State for a three-game series Apr. 20-22.
Upon returning from Tallahassee, the Canes enjoy 11 consecutive games at home beginning with FAU (Apr. 24) and immediately followed up by an ACC series with defending league champion Virginia for a very rare Saturday, Sunday, Monday series running April 28-30. The month of May begins with UM stepping out of league play for its final non-conference series of the regular season as the six-time defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman come to town for a three-game stretch May 4-6. It will be the first weekend series between the two teams since 2009.
Miami enjoys its final ACC home regular season series against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (May 11-13) before playing the final home game of the regular season slate against FGCU (May 15). UM ends the regular season with an ACC showdown at Georgia Tech (May 17-19) in Atlanta.
This year’s ACC Baseball Tournament will take place May 23-27 in Greensboro, N.C. inside NewBridge Bank Park, the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
The NCAA Tournament takes place at on-campus sites for the NCAA regionals June 1-3, followed by the Super Regionals June 8-10, also at on-campus sites. The College World Series takes place June 16-26 in Omaha, Neb.
Full 2012 Miami (FL) Schedule (PDF)
