FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
EVANSTON, Ill. — Trips to South Carolina, Kansas, Missouri and Florida, along with several marquee home series against Big Ten opponents highlight Northwestern’s 2013 baseball schedule, head coach Paul Stevens announced Monday (Dec. 10).
The Wildcats lift the lid on the season the weekend of Feb. 15-17 with a trip to Greenville, S.C., where they will play at Fleur Field, home of the Boston Red Sox Class A affiliate, the Greenville Drive. Northwestern will play games against Furman, Miami (OH), and Michigan State during the season’s first weekend.
Consecutive road trips to face Kansas, Missouri, and Missouri State mark the next three weekends of the schedule. Each set will feature a three-game series spanning Friday through Sunday.
The Wildcats make their annual spring break trip to Winter Haven, Fla., March 14-16, as they compete in the Central Florida RussMatt Invitational against LIU Brooklyn, North Dakota State and Bucknell.
The ‘Cats will host 22 home games during the 2013 season, beginning with the home opener at Rocky Miller Park on Friday, March 22 against Iowa. NU’s schedule features midweek home contests against St. Xavier (March 26), Chicago State (March 27 & April 30), St. Francis (April 2), UIC (April 3), Oakland (May 1), and the University of Chicago in the season’s final home game (May 8).
After beginning the Big Ten docket March 22-24 against the Hawkeyes, Northwestern will be hitting the road the next two weekends for match-ups with Nebraska and Purdue. It will be the first-ever trip for the Wildcats to face the Huskers in Lincoln, Neb.
A series at home vs. Minnesota, April 12-14, marks the opening of a season-long nine-game homestand at Rocky Miller Park. Another Big Ten series against Michigan and midweek games against Wheaton College, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois dot the stretch.
On April 24, the Wildcats will make their third trip in the last four years to Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, for a nonconference game against the Horizon League’s Milwaukee Panthers.
A trip downstate to Champaign to face Illinois is scheduled for April 26-28. The `Cats then return home the next weekend for a key series against Ohio State, May 3-5.
NU finishes the Big Ten portion of the schedule at Indiana May 10-12 and then travels to Wichita State for a three-game nonconference series to conclude the regular season, May 16-18.
The 2012 Big Ten Tournament will be held in Minneapolis, Minn. at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, May 22-26. NCAA Regionals will take place May 31-June 2 with the Super Regional round to follow June 7-9. The 2013 NCAA College World Series is scheduled for June 14-25 in Omaha, Neb.
