LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese State baseball team will play 27 home games and will face five NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago as part of the highly competitive and intriguing 2016 schedule announced by head coach Justin Hill on Tuesday.
The Cowboys will open the season at home against Southern Illinois in a three-game series, kicking off the fourth consecutive season that McNeese has started its slate on home turf. The Pokes will play seven of their first 11 games at home to begin the season.
The schedule is highlighted by 14 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament, captured their respective league regular season title or tournament championship last season, including three games versus opponents with an RPI in the top 25 at the end of the 2015 season.
McNeese smashed home attendance records for the second consecutive season in 2015 as a record total of 21,361 fans attended games at Cowboy Diamond for an average of 712, both which are school records. The 2016 campaign kicks off in front of the home crowd as McNeese hosts Southern Illinois (Feb. 19-21).
The Pokes will then take to the road to face Houston (Feb. 23) in a midweek contest before traveling to UTSA (Feb. 26-28) for a trio of weekend games before a four-game homestand that includes tough challenges against UL-Lafayette (March 2) and Bradley (March 4-6) to begin the season.
McNeese will welcome five of the top Southland Conference teams to Lake Charles this season, including defending SLC Tournament champions Houston Baptist (March 11-13) as well as regular season champions Southeastern Louisiana (April 22-24), as part of the 27-game slate. Also taking the field at Cowboy Diamond will be conference foes Abilene Christian (March 24-26), Northwestern State (April 1-3) and Central Arkansas (May 13-15).
The Cowboys will take to the road to face Incarnate Word (March 18-20), New Orleans (April 8-10), Lamar (April 15-17), Nicholls (April 29-May 1) and Stephen F. Austin (May 6-8) in conference action.
Other key non-conference matchups includes the annual trip to Baton Rouge to take on LSU (March 9), a pair of home contests against ULM (March 15-16), a midweek tilt versus Lamar (March 22), a couple of home-and-home series with Louisiana Tech (March 30 in Ruston; April 13 in Lake Charles), Houston (Feb. 23 in Houston; April 5 in Lake Charles), at ULL (April 20) and at Southern (May 3).
The Pokes have added a few contests to the slate toward the end of the season that are sure to keep them in prime shape for postseason play as they travel to Baylor (May 10-11) for midweek games and will end the regular season with four contests against Washington State (May 19-21) in Pullman.
The Southland Conference Baseball Championship will once against be held in Sugar Land, Texas, at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas on May 25-28. It is the second consecutive year that the tournament has been held at the Home of the Sugarland Skeeters and third time since 2012.
2016 McNeese State Baseball Schedule
