FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) – The UCF baseball team’s trek towards the postseason will officially begin in February as the regular-season schedule was released Tuesday. The Knights will host 38 games in 2012 with “Opening Knight” scheduled for Friday, Feb. 17, against Long Island.
Last year, head coach Terry Rooney’s squad advanced to its first NCAA Tournament since 2004 after completing its best season in Conference USA with a 39-23 overall record and 12-12 in league play. The 2012 slate promises to be just as exciting as the Knights will go head-to-head with eight teams that advanced to postseason play in 2011 with six of those squads making the trip to Orlando; Florida State, Miami, East Carolina, Bethune-Cookman, Stetson and Rice.
“We are extremely excited about the upcoming 2012 season,” “said Rooney, whose team went 11-9 against NCAA Tournament participants in 2011. “We have an extremely challenging group of opponents, while playing in one of the top-five RPI leagues in the nation in C-USA. We have established new home attendance records the last several years and with our new stadium renovations, they make UCF one of the top college baseball atmospheres in the country.”
Headlining the visitors for home non-conference play is in-state foe Florida State March 6-7. The last time that the two teams met on the UCF campus was on May 3, 1988, prior to any of the current players on the roster being born. Last year, the two teams tangled on the diamond in Tallahassee for the first time since 2004 as the Knights took one of three from the Seminoles.
Other noteworthy opponents on the 2012 home slate include individual games against Miami (Fla.), USF, Boston College, and weekend series versus UMass and Harvard.
The Knights will not venture outside the Sunshine State during the regular season except for C-USA play. Non-conference away trips will include a matchup with Florida in Gainesville (Feb. 22). Last year, UCF knocked off the national runner-up Gators both at home and away. Other in-state road matchups include Bethune-Cookman, Miami, USF, Florida Atlantic and Stetson.
UCF’s Conference USA slate is a dandy as it welcomes both NCAA Tournament teams East Carolina and Rice as well as UAB and Memphis. Last year in Houston, Texas, the Knights took two of three from the Owls for their first series win over the perennial C-USA front runner.
League play on the road for the Knights will feature trips to Houston, Southern Miss, Tulane and Marshall.
