Radford head baseball coach Joe Raccuia announced Thursday his team’s schedule for the upcoming 2015 season, which begins February 13 in Birmingham, Ala. with the first of a three-game series at Samford. The slate features 25 games against teams that have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in the last two seasons, including last year’s national runner-up, Virginia and super regional participant, College of Charleston.
“We continue to strive to put together a non-conference schedule that will help us meet our goal of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection should we not earn the Big South’s automatic qualification by winning the conference tournament,” Raccuia said. “We keep getting closer and closer to meeting that goal, and this is by far one of the toughest schedules we have faced.”
The Highlanders will make two trips to the state of Alabama at the beginning of the season. Following the Samford series, RU will travel to SEC foe Auburn for a three-game set in mid-February before returning to the New River Valley to face Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on February 24.
The home opener at RU Baseball Stadium is slated for Friday, February 27 in the first of the three-game series with Binghamton. The Highlanders also host College of Charleston, Youngstown State, and Marist in pre-conference home series thourgh mid-March.
Big South Conference play begins Friday, March 20 with the Highlanders playing host to arch-rival Liberty for three games. In all, RU is scheduled to play 30 home games, which includes in-state rivals and non-conference dates with William & Mary, Virginia Tech, VMI, and James Madison.
“Our goal when we assemble a schedule is to get good wins and play tough teams,” Raccuia said. “It’s definitely challenging, but it will be worth it.”
