FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
GREELEY – A change in conference alignment means the Northern Colorado baseball team will get to travel to some new destinations in 2014, as well as host some new faces at Jackson Field.
The Bears joined the Western Athletic Conference in July and the goal of this season is to qualify for the post-season tournament and get a chance at the automatic berth into the NCAA Championship – the first opportunity for the team since returning to Division I.
“This will be an exciting year in Northern Colorado baseball,” Head Coach Carl Iwasaki said. “The chance to play for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament is a great motivating factor. We think with our talent level returning, along with our incomers and hard work we should challenge for one of the top six spots.”
The 2014 season kicks off for Northern Colorado at Sam Houston State with a four-game series and a one game at TCU Feb. 14-18.
The home season begins with a three-game series against Colorado Mesa, Feb. 21-23 at Jackson Field. The team has a road series at New Mexico the following weekend before they return home to host former NCC rival North Dakota State Feb. 7-9 in a four-game series.
For the third-straight season, the baseball team has a sponsorship with College Credit Union and all admission to games at Jackson Field will be free.
A trip to the Midwest to face Nebraska and Kansas State follows before the Bears begin WAC play at Sacramento State, March 21-23, then travel to North Dakota the following weekend.
As the calendar turns to April, the Bears play the first of four games against in-state rival, Air Force before hosting New Mexico State. The team also hosts Grand Canyon (April 18-20), CSU Bakersfield (May 2-4) and Texas-Pan American (May 16-18) in WAC action and travels to Seattle (April 11-13), Utah Valley (April 25-27) and Chicago State (May 9-11) to wrap up conference play.
The WAC Tournament will be held May 22-25 at the brand new Chicago Cubs Spring Training complex in Mesa, Ariz. The tournament is a double-elimination tournament with the top six teams in the regular season standings advancing to the tournament.
2014 Northern Colorado Schedule
