TAMPA (Dec. 4, 2014)—University of South Florida head baseball coach Mark Kingston released his team’s schedule for the 2015 season on Thursday. This season’s slate features 10 games against teams that played in the NCAA tournament, including one College World Series team.
The 56-game schedule will have the Bulls playing 15 games against teams who finished the 2014 season in the top-50 RPI, including eight against the top 25.
“We are excited to announce our 2015 schedule,” Kingston said. “This is a very challenging schedule both in conference and out. We play many teams that will be ranked and are of Omaha caliber. This will bring the best out of us, and show us what areas need to improve both for the short and long term. We can’t wait to get started.”
The Bulls, who posted a 15-17 record at home in 2014, will play at home for 30 of their 56 games. The team will also play a total of 44 games in the state of Florida, including matchups with Florida and Florida State.
The season opens in Clearwater on Feb. 13 as the Bulls host Louisville, Cal State Fullerton and Alabama State in the Clearwater Tournament.
The home opener for Kingston’s squad also starts an eight-game home stand as Florida comes to Tampa on Feb. 18,for the first of two matchups between the two teams this season. USF will travel to Gainesville on May 5.
USF will continue its stand with a three-game set against first-time opponent Wagner, Feb. 20-22, followed by a mid-week matchup with Florida Gulf Coast on Feb. 24. Rounding out the stand will be a three-game series with High Point, Feb. 27-March 1.
One of the marquee series of the season comes on March 3-4 when the Bulls travel to Tallahassee to take on Florida State. The Seminoles ended the 2014 season 43-17, with an appearance in the NCAA tournament and ranked 10th in the RPI.
After the trip to Tallahassee, the Bulls return home to take on Seton Hall, March 6-8. USF then plays five straight games against opponents from Florida as it travels to Bethune-Cookman (March 11), and hosts FAMU (March 13-15), Stetson (March 17) and Florida International (March 18).
The first out of state road trip is slated for March 20-22 as the Bulls travel to the University of Illinois. The Fighting Illini finished 2014 with a 32-21 record and a third-place finish in the Big Ten.
Over the next 31 games, USF will compete in 24 games against American foes, the first being a three-game homestand against Cincinnati, March 27-29.
While playing conference opponents on weekends, midweek matchups will feature home games against Stetson (April 14) and Bethune-Cookman (April 22), and road trips against Stetson (March 31), FIU (April 7) and Jacksonville (May 12).
Including Cincinnati, USF gets four conference opponents at home. East Carolina comes to town April 10-12, with Houston coming April 24-26. The Cougars won the 2014 AAC Tournament before advancing to a Super Regional and finishing ranked fifth in the RPI.
The regular season ends with three AAC, three-game series. First, USF visits UCF, May 1-3 before traveling to Tulane, May 8-10. The matchup with the Green Wave is the first since 2005, and first since Tulane joined the American.
The season wraps up at home with another three-game series against UCF, May 14-16. The AAC tournament will be held May 19-24 at Bright House Field in Clearwater.
