CORAL GABLES, Fla. – One day after his team officially opened fall practice, University of Miami head baseball coach Jim Morris unveiled the Hurricanes’ 2015 baseball schedule Tuesday.
Miami, the reigning ACC Regular Season Champions, will embark on a 55-game schedule that includes 35 home games inside Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. The Hurricanes finished the 2014 season with a 44-19 overall record and a 24-6 mark in conference play.
Miami earned one of 16 NCAA Tournament Regional host sites, extending the longest active postseason streak in college athletics to 42 consecutive years. Miami has not missed the postseason since 1972.
The Hurricanes will open the season with their annual preseason festivities: the First Pitch Banquet (Feb. 5) as well as FanFest and the Alumni Game (Feb. 7).
In addition to a challenging 30-game ACC slate, Miami has a nonconference schedule which features Sunshine State foes Florida (Feb. 20-22), FAU (Feb 18, April 8 & April 22), FGCU (March 4 & March 18), and UCF (April 15), among others.
“Baseball in general is very good in this state – it’s a good state with great players,” Morris said. “Add those midweek games in with our ACC games, and it’s a tough schedule…one of the tougher ones in the country.”
Miami opens conference play with a trip to ACC newcomer Louisville (March 6-8). After hosting Pittsburgh last season in their first year in the ACC, Miami will travel to Pittsburgh for the first time to play the Panthers May 2-3.
Other ACC series include home sets with NC State (March 13-15), Duke (April 3-5), Virginia Tech (April 10-12), Florida State (April 24-26) and Georgia Tech (May 14-16). Away conference series include Wake Forest (March 20-22), North Carolina (March 27-29) and Virginia (April 17-19).
“The conference was already very, very good, before we added programs like Louisville, Pitt and Notre Dame,” Morris said. “All three programs are very good. Just having the ACC games on your schedule will make it one of the tougher schedules in the country.”
The ACC Baseball Championship is scheduled for May 20-24 in Durham, N.C.
