QUEENS, N.Y. – St. John’s head baseball coach Ed Blankmeyer, the winningest coach in program-history, has released the 56-game schedule for the upcoming 2015 season, his 20th at the helm. The schedule features a total of 11 games against seven teams that qualified for the 2014 NCAA Tournament. In addition to playing games in 10 different states, the Red Storm will have 29 games at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
“Our objective has always been to play the best competition possible and this will be a challenging schedule,” said Blankmeyer. “The pre-conference schedule is filled with NCAA Tournament caliber squads, so we will be tested from Opening Day. We’re excited to play in some different parts of the country and visit some storied programs.”
A season-opening 15-game road trip begins in the state of Georgia with three games as part of the Atlanta Challenge. St. John’s opens the 2015 campaign against NCAA Tournament squad Georgia Tech (Feb. 13) before taking on Super Regional team Kennesaw State (Feb. 14) and concluding the weekend at Georgia State (Feb. 15).
St. John’s then opens a seven-game Spring Break trip with three games at the Keith LeClair Classic, hosted by East Carolina. After taking on the host-Pirates (Feb. 20), the Red Storm will take on NCAA Tournament foe Liberty (Feb. 21) and Michigan (Feb. 22). Following a midweek matchup against NCAA Tournament squad North Carolina (Feb. 24), St. John’s heads to the state of South Carolina for games against North Florida (Feb. 27), Charleston Southern (Feb. 27) and another game against North Florida (Feb. 28).
A cross country trip to Eugene for a three-game set against NCAA Tournament team Oregon (March 6-8) is next on the schedule as the Red Storm will take on the Ducks for the first time in program-history. St. John’s then returns to the Northeast, but stays on the road for games at Iona (March 10) and Fairleigh Dickinson (March 11).
With 15 games in the books, St. John’s comes home and opens play at Kaiser Stadium with a three-game series against Holy Cross (March 14-15).
After road games at Fairfield (March 17) and LIU Brooklyn (March 18), St. John’s opens its first of two eight-game homestands with a series against Central Connecticut (March 20-22). Following a midweek matchup with Hofstra (March 25), Rider (March 27-29) comes to Queens for a three-game series before a visit from Wagner (March 31) concludes the extended homestand.
The 18-game BIG EAST schedule then commences as St. John’s heads to Indianapolis for a three-game series against Butler (April 2-4).
“The Conference will be very competitive again this season,” added Blankmeyer. “There is more balance in the league than there has been in previous years.”
The Red Storm returns to The Jack and hosts NCAA Tournament squad Columbia (April 8) in midweek action before hosting a conference series against Seton Hall (April 10-12). After a midweek trip to Albany (April 14), St. John’s hosts Princeton (April 15) before heading to Omaha for a BIG EAST set against Creighton (April 17-19).
A five-game homestand follows as St. John’s takes on Manhattan (April 22) in midweek action before hosting Villanova (April 24-26) for a conference set and completing a home-and-home with Iona (April 29). The road portion of the schedule then concludes with a trip to Georgetown (May 1-3) for a three-game series.
Another eight-game homestand closes out the regular season schedule. St. John’s finishes a home-and-home with Albany (May 5) before concluding conference play against Xavier (May 8-10), the defending BIG EAST Tournament champions. A midweek game against Saint Peter’s (May 12) follows before the Red Storm concludes the regular season with a three-game set against Southern Illinois (May 14-16).
The BIG EAST Championship (May 21-24) will be held in Omaha, Neb., at TD Ameritrade Park.
