CINCINNATI – Head coach Ty Neal and the University of Cincinnati baseball program released the 2015 schedule on Friday afternoon. The challenging slate will feature six teams that participated in the 2014 NCAA tournament, including one team that advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals and another squad that reached the College World Series.
Additionally, the Bearcats will host 23 home games at a newly updated Marge Schott Stadium. The field underwent a turf renovation this past summer.
“It is a priority for us to play a competitive schedule to continue to grow our program,” said Neal. “We improved our RPI by 69 teams last season – anytime you can leap frog that many opponents means you are playing a tougher schedule and your team is getting better.
“Everything we do in our program is to prepare for a championship. We think our 2015 schedule will allow us to continue with the progress we made last year.”
Action in the American Athletic Conference kicks off March 27-29 with three games in Tampa, Florida, at USF. The Bearcats will face each team in the league for a three-game series, including 2014 NCAA super regional qualifier Houston, and will play a home-and-home series against travel partner Memphis.
“The American Athletic Conference was the sixth-best conference in the nation last year,” said Neal. “When you add our non-conference opponents to the resume, we will play an even better schedule this season.”
Cincinnati will play an intriguing midweek schedule with a trip to Indiana scheduled for Wednesday, April 8. The Hoosiers advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons, including a trip to Omaha in 2013 for the College World Series. The trip to Bloomington will be a homecoming of sorts for Coach Neal who was an assistant coach for the Hoosiers from 2006-13. Volunteer assistant Dustin Coffman and Director of Operations Ted Tom also served stints on the IU coaching staff.
Also highlighting the midweek schedule are four games against teams from the SEC, ACC and Big Ten. The Bearcats will travel to Kentucky, a 2014 NCAA Regional team, for a game on Tuesday, March 10, and will play at Tennessee on Wednesday, March 25. Making trips to Marge Schott Stadium will be in-state rival Ohio State on Wednesday, May 6, and Louisville, a 2013 and 2014 NCAA College World Series participant, on Tuesday, May 12.
The Bearcats will look to defend their title at the seventh annual Joe Nuxhall Classic, which will be held at UC for the third time, on April 12 and 13. The tournament will feature Xavier, Miami (Ohio) and Wright State.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the Bearcats will play in the American Athletic Conference Championship from May 20-24 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida. All eight league teams will participate in the tournament with the winner earning the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Championship.
