FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona baseball team will begin defense of its Pac-12 and national titles as it plays a 55-game slate highlighted by 38 home games at Hi Corbett Field during the 2013 season.
The Wildcats, who made their 16th all-time trip to the College World Series en route to the national championship last June, will open their new season against Coppin State. The three-game series begins on Feb. 15 at Hi Corbett Field, where Arizona will play 21 of its first 23 games while breaking in several new players into the starting lineup.
Arizona’s first and only non-conference road games will be in the second week of the season at Long Beach State (Feb. 19-20). Otherwise, the Wildcats play their other 23 non-conference tilts at home, including two against rival Arizona State (April 9 and April 30).
The Wildcats won a share of their first conference crown since 1992 last season, going 20-10 over the 30-game schedule. This year’s conference slate will open at home on March 15 with a three-game set against Oregon State, which was the last league school to win a national championship (2007) before the Wildcats’ brought home the trophy last summer.
Arizona, which has won more national championships than any other conference school since the league expanded in 1978, will also host Utah, California, Washington and USC for three-game conference series. The Wildcats will travel to Oregon, Washington State, Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State for weekend series.
In 2012, Arizona enjoyed a 35-game home schedule and drew some of the nation’s largest crowds after permanently relocating the baseball operations to Hi Corbett Field. In the friendly confines of Hi Corbett Field, more than 105,000 fans attended Wildcat baseball games last season – more than any west coast school.
The Wildcats also hosted an NCAA Regional for the first time since 1992 as they swept through the four-team field. They hosted an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in school history a week later, dispatching St. John’s in two games to earn the trip to Omaha.
Arizona will play an exhibition game this fall against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s instructional league team on Oct. 4 at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. Admission is free to all fans for the game, which will begin at 6 p.m.
Arizona’s official team practices will start on Oct. 8.
All dates and times currently listed on the 2013 schedule are tentative as games are subject to be selected for television broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks. Over 100 conference baseball games are expected to be televised by the Pac-12 Networks in the spring.
Full 2013 Arizona Schedule (PDF)
