FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army baseball head coach Joe Sottolano unveiled the Black Knights’ 2013 schedule on Thursday. The defending Patriot League champions will face a challenging slate that features 15 games at Doubleday Field.
The Black Knights, who won a school-record 41 games in 2012 and advanced to the NCAA Charlottesville Regional, will bookend their conference schedule by hosting Patriot League series versus arch-rival Navy and last season’s PLCS opponent Holy Cross.
Army opens its campaign the third weekend of February (15-17) when the Black Knights travel to Greensboro, N.C., to face UNC Greensboro in a three-game series. It will mark the fifth straight season that Army begins its season in the Tar Heel State.
The team will travel even further south the following weekend (Feb. 22-24) when the Black Knights make the trek to Rock Hill, S.C., to compete at the Coca-Cola Classic. Army will face Eastern Kentucky, host Winthrop and Delaware State during the three-day event.
Army continues its season-opening road swing with a trip to Lynchburg, Va., to take part in the Liberty Invitational Tournament (March 1-3). The Black Knights will face host Liberty twice and Siena once during the tourney.
The Black Knights then board a plane and fly to Tampa, Fla., to embark upon their annual spring break trip to the Sunshine State. Army will kick off its week-long sojourn with a three-game series versus Yale (March 9-10). Additional games will be added to the Black Knights’ spring break trip, but those contests will not be announced until January.
Following the team’s trip to Florida, the Black Knights return to West Point for their home opener versus Quinnipiac on March 20. Army then plays a home-and-home series with New York Tech, traveling to Old Westbury for a doubleheader versus the Bears in a doubleheader on March 23, and hosting NYIT in a twinbill on March 24.
A midweek game versus Siena (March 26) serves as the Black Knights’ final tune-up before hosting a four-game series versus Navy in its Patriot League opener (March 31-April 1).
Army then travels to Pennsylvania three consecutive weekends to face conference rivals Lehigh (April 6-7), Lafayette (April 13-14) and Bucknell (April 20-21), before closing out league play at home versus Holy Cross (April 27-28) in a rematch of last season’s thrilling Patriot League Championship Series.
Midweek games versus Fairleigh Dickinson (April 3), Fordham (April 10), Manhattan (April 17), New York Tech (May 1) and Hartford (May 2) are sprinkled in as well. Army will also play Marist at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill, N.Y., in the eighth-annual Hudson Valley Baseball Classic on April 24.
Army returns 15 lettermen from last season’s team, including Patriot League Pitcher of the Year Chris Rowley, Patriot League Rookie of the Year Harold Earls and all-conference selection Mark McCants.
