FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech and the Bulldog Baseball team has announced its schedule for the 2014 baseball season, featuring a 12-game home stand to open the season, a total of eight home weekend series and three-game series against SEC and Big Ten opponents.
Overall, the Diamond ‘Dogs will play 29 home games inside J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in 2014, including eight home weekend series and five midweek contests over the course of the season.
The 2014 schedule is highlighted by a 12-game home stand to open the season with in-state foe Southeastern traveling to Ruston to face the Bulldogs Feb. 14-16 to kick off the campaign.
Head coach Wade Simoneaux and the Bulldogs will then move right into LA Tech’s inaugural season in Conference USA with league opponent Tulane set to travel up the state Feb. 21-23 in just the second weekend of play.
“Conference USA is competitive top to bottom,” Simoneaux said. “I think it is going to be a very competitive conference. We know it is a very good baseball conference and our guys will be ready for it.”
Louisiana Tech will face UALR Feb. 26 in Ruston before the Bulldogs play hosts to Big Ten foe Minnesota in a three-game set beginning Feb. 28 through March 2 at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park. LA Tech last faced the Golden Gophers in 2010 and took two of three games from Minnesota in a three-game series that split playing time between both Target Field and the Metrodome.
Two midweek matchups with in-state rival McNeese State March 4-5 will conclude the first 12 games of the season in Ruston, as the Bulldogs will face one of the toughest road tests of the season the following weekend.
LA Tech will travel to College Station, Texas March 7-9 to battle SEC-opponent Texas A&M in a three-game road series with the Aggies at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
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The following week, LA Tech will then host I-20 rival Grambling State March 12 in Ruston before beginning six straight weekends of Conference USA competition.
The Bulldogs will pack their backs and travel to Boca, Fla., March 14-16 for a three-game conference series versus the Owls of Florida Atlantic, followed by a return trip home to host Old Dominion March 21-23 at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
Another midweek contest down the road versus the Grambling State Tigers will be followed by a three-game conference series against former Western Athletic Conference opponent UTSA in San Antonio, Texas.
The Bulldogs will battle another in-state rival in Northwestern State April 4 in Ruston in what will begin a seven-game home slate with Conference USA opponents UAB and FIU scheduled to face LA Tech in Ruston April 4-6 and April 11-13.
Simoneaux and his Bulldogs will then travel to face an old rival in Southern Miss April 18-20 in Hattiesburg, Miss. In 27 total meetings between the two teams, the series is currently tied 13-13-1 going into this year’s three-game conference set.
LA Tech will step out of league play briefly as the Bulldogs play hosts to Alabama A&M April 25-27 in Ruston in what will be the first meeting between both teams since the programs began.
Later in the campaign, the Bulldogs will get the chance to play at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, Va., which is the home site of the Marshall Thundering Herd baseball team during the season. That series will kick off the month of May and last from May 2-4 on the road.
For its final home series of the 2014 season, Louisiana Tech will welcome Conference USA newcomer Charlotte to J.C. Love Field May 9-11 in a series that end the home season for the Bulldogs.
To close out the regular season, the Bulldogs will cross the state line into Texas to face perennial power Rice in a three-game conference set May 15-17 at Reckling Park in Houston.
The 2014 season begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 as the Diamond ‘Dogs will host Southeastern Louisiana in the first of a three-game set at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park to open the campaign.
