BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Games against six NCAA Tournament teams, including a two-game series against 2014 College World Series participant Ole Miss, as well as a 31-game home slate, highlight the 2015 UAB baseball schedule, head coach Brian Shoop announced Thursday.
Coming off a 35-win season, the most wins since the 1993 campaign and one of the most historic seasons in program history, the Blazers will play 56 games in 2015 in search of their third NCAA Tournament appearance.
UAB will begin its second year of play at nearby Regions Field, where the 2014 squad finished with a 14-5 record within the confines of the Birmingham Barons’ facility. The 2015 Blazers will compete in 19 games at Regions and 12 at Young Memorial Field to make up the 31-game home schedule.
The season opens on Feb. 13 when the Blazers welcome Western Michigan to Birmingham to begin a four-game home stretch and 10 of the first 12 at home to begin the season. Over that span, UAB will also play Jacksonville State twice, host Savannah State for a weekend (Feb. 20-22), host Alabama A&M, travel to Alabama State and end the month with a series against Ohio State (Feb. 27-March 1) at Regions Field.
Following the first of two games against cross-town rival Samford on March 3, the Green and Gold will make their first trip out of the state March 6-8 to face Kennesaw State, a squad that advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals a season ago.
After Troy makes a trip to Regions on March 10, UAB will hit the road to open the 30-game Conference USA slate March 13-15 at Middle Tennessee. The Blazers will have a quick turnaround before hosting Auburn March 17 and welcoming Marshall for their first league home series March 20-22.
UAB will take on the Ole Miss Rebels for the first time since 1999 on March 24 in a doubleheader in Oxford, Miss. Following that trip, and a trek to Western Kentucky late in the month, the Blazers will close the month vs. Alabama at Regions Field on March 31.
The Blazers open the month of April with the first of eight road contests in a span of 26 days with a series at Southern Miss (April 2-4). Following a return trip to Troy on April 7, UAB hosts the defending Conference USA Tournament Champion Rice Owls April 10-12 in the first series of the season at Young Memorial Field. The Blazers will also travel to Alabama and Louisiana Tech and host Charlotte and Samford to cap the month of April.
UAB will host Florida Atlantic (May 1-3) and Alabama State in early May, before hitting the road for its first and only flight trip to FIU May 8-10 in Miami. The Blazers close the 2015 regular season May 14-16 vs. Old Dominion at Young Memorial Field.
