FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany baseball program, led by head coach Jon Mueller in his 13th year at the helm, has announced a 54-game slate for the 2013 season. The Great Danes will play 13 games against teams that made NCAA Tournament appearances a year ago, including SEC powerhouse South Carolina, who won the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 2010 and 2011, and finished 2012 as the nation’s runner-up.
“This schedule will prepare our team for the very challenging America East Conference,” said Coach Mueller. “It is our hope and primary goal to challenge our team early and establish roles before we enter our conference slate.”
UAlbany will play its first 18 games on the road, kicking off the season February 15-17th in Cary, N.C. at Wright State’s USA Baseball Complex Classic. The Great Danes will play single games against Canisius, last year’s MAAC runner-up, Mid-American Conference’s Toledo, Wright State of the Horizon League, and 2012 CAA runner-up Delaware.
From there, UAlbany will meet the Gamecocks for the first time in program history in a three-game series at Carolina Stadium (Feb. 22-24).
Moving from one premier venue to another, the Great Danes will face UNC Greensboro, playing three games versus the Southern Conference’s Spartans (March 1-3).
A trip to Hofstra (March 6) for a single contest and then to NYIT (March 9-10) for a pair of doubleheaders will mark the Danes’ final exams before opening America East Conference play at Hartford on March 16th. The league-opening series against the Hawks will represent the first three clashes in a 30-game league schedule. The six America East schools will play a six-game series against each other in a pair of three-game home-and-home series.
The Great Danes open their 19-game home schedule at Varsity Field March 19th versus Marist. UAlbany will also go to the Red Foxes’ home diamond on April 9th. Sandwiched between two conference series at UMBC (March 23-24) and vs. Maine (March 30-31), UAlbany will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. for a doubleheader against the reigning Ivy League champions and 2012 NCAA Tournament competitors, Cornell, on March 26th.
Also out of conference, the Danes will host the winningest baseball program in NCAA history in the Atlantic 10’s Fordham, on April 2nd, before welcoming Stony Brook, the reigning America East champions and 2012 World Series participants, to Varsity Field (April 6-7). UAlbany will also travel to face the Seawolves May 11-12th.
Midweek through the month of April, UAlbany will make a trip to St. Johns on the 16th. The Red Storm won the Big East Tournament and regular season titles a year ago and made an NCAA Super Regional appearance. The following week, the Danes will go to Manhattan, the reigning MAAC champions, on the 24th, as well as host Central Connecticut State of the NEC on April 30th. UAlbany wraps its home-and-home series with Hofstra on May 9th, and closes the regular season at home versus league-foe Binghamton, May 17-18th.
The top four teams in the conference will advance to the America East Championship, held May 22-25th at the home field of the highest seed. The conference postseason champion will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA regionals.
