ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – UCF released the 2015 baseball schedule on Wednesday afternoon with the home opener set for Feb. 13 against Siena at the UCF Baseball Complex. The slate includes 32 home games including a three-game series against SEC-foe Ole Miss (Feb. 27-Mar. 1) followed by a midweek matchup with Florida (Mar. 3).
After finishing second in the inaugural season of the American Athletic Conference, head coach Terry Rooney and his staff have created a challenging slate against some of the best teams in the nation. UCF battles against 10 teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago including Arkansas, Bethune-Cookman, Columbia, Florida, Florida State, Houston (Super Regional), Miami (Fla.), Maryland (Super Regional), Ole Miss (College World Series) and Sienna.
The Knights are an experienced squad that returns all eight position players and a total of 25 letterwinners. Thirteen seniors are looking to guide UCF back to the postseason.
UCF welcomes Ole Miss, who advanced to the 2014 NCAA College World Series, to the baseball complex Feb. 27-Mar. 1. The Rebels are the first SEC-opponent to face the Knights at home since LSU traveled to Orlando in 2004.
The Knights continue the challenging slate with a home-and-home matchup with Florida on Mar. 3 in Orlando and Mar. 4 in Gainesville. UCF also plays a pair of midweek games at Florida State (Mar. 10-11) during spring break.
After opening the season against Siena (Feb. 13-15) and Bethune-Cookman (Feb. 17), a pair of NCAA Tournament participants, UCF heads to the South Alabama Tournament to battle Arkansas (Feb. 20), Maryland (Feb. 21) and the host Jaguars (Feb. 22).
The 32-game home slate includes matchups against in-state foes Florida Atlantic, Jacksonville, North Florida and an American Athletic Conference series with rival USF (May 1-3). The Knights and Bulls also tangle May 14-16 in Tampa to close the regular season.
Columbia, Fairfield and Presbyterian also head to Orlando for three-game sets before conference play begins. The Knights host Houston, who advanced to an NCAA Super Regional, to being play in The American (Mar. 27-29).
UConn (Apr. 10-12) and Memphis (May 8-10) are welcomed to the UCF Baseball Complex, while the Knights go on the road to face Cincinnati (Apr. 2-4), Tulane (Apr. 17-19) and East Carolina (Apr. 24-26).
The American Athletic Conference Championship is set for May 20-24 in Clearwater, Fla., at Bright House Networks Field. The format consists of pool play with the two champions facing off in the final.
