SAN FRANCISCO—With the aspiration of returning to an NCAA Regional, San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano has announced a daunting 2015 schedule, which appears to be one of the top five in the nation, that includes one College World Series team and five other tournament teams from a year ago.
“Our schedule never gets any easier,” Giarratano said. “I think it’s one of the top five schedules in the country as far as non-conference. We always want to play the best competition and hopefully we’re ready for it and hopefully we’re ready to play well.
“I hope it catapults us into postseason play.”
The Dons, who finished 25-29 last season, are only two seasons removed from an NCAA Regional appearance and have been to the postseason in two of the last four seasons.
San Francisco opens the season by playing their first 12 games away from Benedetti Diamond, which includes a four-game set at College World Series participant Texas Tech to begin the 2015 campaign. The Dons will also make trips to Tulane and New Mexico, who finished tied atop the Mountain West Conference, for the Lobos Invite during that 12-game stretch.
“Any time you travel on the road early in the season, it gives you a chance to bond as a team,” Giarratano said. “You go into other programs that have good crowds and get a chance to play in their venues. It will be tough for us to play on the road. If we can learn to play on the road, maybe we’ll play better at home.”
USF will not make their home debut until Mar. 6 when it opens a three-game set against UC Riverside. The home slate includes series against the Highlanders, defending WCC champion Pepperdine, Saint Mary’s, Portland and Loyola Marymount along with single games against California, NCAA Regional team Sacramento State, Nevada and UC Davis.
The Dons will be on the road for nearly a full week in early March when they will play two at NCAA Regional team Oregon before heading north to begin West Coast Conference play at Gonzaga.
San Francisco will be tested down the stretch and in May will play host to Pepperdine, be on the road for defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Dallas Baptist and play a single game against Stanford, who also reached the NCAA Regionals.
The Dons will play 13 games against teams that reached postseason play last season with 10 of them on the road. USF will play 36 of the 55 games away from home.
