HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall baseball revealed its 2015 schedule Wednesday, which includes a preseason schedule facing SEC powerhouse Mississippi State, who finished last season at No. 28 in the NCBWA poll.
The Herd will also face ACC foe Wake Forest and 2013 NCAA Regional selection Towson, of the Colonial Conference, to highlight its pre-season slate.
Conference USA has once again underwent a shuffle, losing traditionally good programs in East Carolina and Tulane, but gaining Western Kentucky to bring the league total to 11 teams.
Marshall will play 10 conference weekends, facing every team except Rice, who won its sixth C-USA tournament in the last nine years last spring.
“We’re very excited about the schedule this year,” head coach Jeff Waggoner said. “We have a challenging pre-season schedule, and that should help prepare our players for a testing conference schedule. We also get to play in-state rivals West Virginia again this coming season, and that’s always a great opportunity for the state.”
The Herd’s campaign is set to begin on Friday, Feb. 13, with a three-game series against MEAC program Florida A&M in Tallahassee, Fla. The Rattlers were .500 in 2014, going 26-26 and 14-10 in league play.
Marshall will travel to Starkville, Miss., for its second weekend, taking on Mississippi State in two games, a 2014 NCAA Regional selection. The Herd will also face Alabama A&M in two games while in Starkville.
After a weekend in Winston-Salem facing Wake Forest and Towson, Marshall will host its first home series of the year, welcoming the Rams of Rhode Island to Huntington.
The Herd begins conference play against 2014 C-USA Tournament runner up UTSA (March 13-15), playing at Epling Stadium in Beckley, W.Va., for Marshall’s home league opener. The Herd will also host FIU (March 27-29), Charlotte (April 10-12), Middle Tennessee (April 24-26), and WKU (May 8-10).
The Charlotte series will also be played in Beckley, while FIU, Middle Tennessee, and WKU will be played in Charleston, W.Va., at Appalachian Power Park.
The team will start its conference road schedule in Birmingham, Ala., against UAB (March 20-22) and will also take Marshall to Boca Raton, Fla., for a series at FAU (April 3-5), Norfolk, Va., for a three-game dip with Old Dominion (April 17-19), Hattiesburg, Miss., to face Southern Miss (May 1-3), and Ruston, La., to conclude its regular season with Louisiana Tech (May 14-16).
Marshall’s midweek schedule includes border rivals Morehead State (March 18) and Ohio (March 25 and April 8), and two games apiece with Miami (OH) (April 1 and April 7), Akron (March 10 and April 14), and Eastern Kentucky (March 17 and May 12).
The Herd will also face the aforementioned WVU twice: once in Morgantown, W.Va., on April 21 and again the following week at Appalachian Power Park on April 28. Marshall and the Mountaineers played to an 11-inning, 8-8 tie in an exhibition game earlier this fall.
All of the Herd’s home non-conference games will be played at the Kennedy Center along Route 2 in Huntington.
