BOONE, N.C. — Two series against teams that advanced to NCAA Super Regionals in 2014 — including one that will be played at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium — headline Appalachian State University baseball’s 2015 schedule, head coach Billy Jones announced on Wednesday.
Appalachian State plays 24 games at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium in 2015, beginning with a four-game series versus Canisius (Feb. 20-22) and closing with a contest against longtime local rival East Tennessee State on May 12.
Other highlights of the 24-game home slate include a visit from Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference (March 24) and Sun Belt Conference series against Texas State (March 13-15), UL Monroe (March 20-22), Troy (April 3-5), Georgia State (April 17-19) and defending conference champion UL Lafayette (May 1-3). In addition to winning the Sun Belt regular-season and tournament titles in 2014, UL Lafayette (58-8) hosted and won an NCAA Regional before falling one win short of advancing to the College World Series with a two-games-to-one Super Regional defeat to Ole Miss.
For the third-straight season, the Mountaineers open the campaign at NC State (Feb. 13-15). However, instead of a three-game series against the Wolfpack, Appalachian will participate in a tournament that includes NC State, longtime Southern Conference rival Davidson and Villanova.
Other highlights of the road schedule include a three-game series at 2014 Super Regional participant Maryland (Feb. 27-March 1), a two-game series at Georgia (March 10-11), single games at North Carolina (March 17), South Carolina (April 7) and Virginia Tech (April 28) and Sun Belt series at Georgia Southern (March 6-8), UALR (March 27-29), South Alabama (April 10-12), Arkansas State (April 24-26) and UT Arlington (May 8-10).
The 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tournament is set for May 20-24 at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, Ala.
Appalachian State returns five members of its starting lineup, three starting pitchers and 18 letterwinners from its 2014 club for its first season in the highly regarded Sun Belt. The Sun Belt came in at No. 11 out of 31 NCAA Division I conferences in last season’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings.
Appalachian State 2015 Baseball Schedule
