Lex Kaplan knocks in a run. Photo by David Cohen, (BHEphotos)
NEW ORLEANS – Looking to return to the postseason for the second-consecutive year, Tulane baseball has peppered its schedule with top competition, as the Green Wave will play at least 25 games against teams who appeared in the 2015 NCAA Regionals across a 56-game slate, announced head coach David Pierce on Monday.
Tulane will host 32 games within the friendly confines of Greer Field at Turchin Stadium, while hitting the road for another 24 in a season that will see the Green Wave travel to both coasts, as well as to many places in between.
“We have put together a very competitive schedule that we think our players, fans and everyone involved in Tulane baseball will enjoy,” stated Pierce. “Your RPI is dependent on your opponents and their opponents, so you take a little gamble with who you schedule with and hope it pays off. We have so many solid teams in this schedule that we feel that there is no way this could be a bad RPI schedule. It’s a balanced slate, and I know our team will look forward to playing against these teams.”
While times have not been announced for every game, fans will see a change in a typical home weekend series, as Saturday games will move from 2:00 p.m. CT to 4:00 p.m. CT. Friday games and Sunday games will remain at 6:30 p.m. CT and 1:00 p.m. CT, respectively, unless otherwise stated.
The Green Wave will open the season at home against 2015 Super Regional participant Illinois (Feb. 19-21) before heading to San Diego for the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic (Feb. 26-28), where Tulane will be matched up against the likes of San Diego State, the University of San Diego, Kentucky, Nebraska, Cal Santa Barbara, Bryant and Arizona.
Following the program’s fourth trip to California in three years, the Green Wave will host a team from the Golden State as Pepperdine (March 4-6) will make a return trip to New Orleans after Tulane played in Malibu to during the 2015 season opener.
The Green Wave will also host Furman (March 11-13) and Illinois State (March 25-27) while travelling to Austin, Texas, for a three-game series against 2015 NCAA Regional participant Texas (March 18-20) during non-conference play.
“The Illinois opening weekend will be an outstanding test for us and we are at home, but they are a team coming off a Super Regional with confidence,” added Pierce. “Then we go out to San Diego to play in the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic. That is exciting for us because there will be great weather, great teams and we will play in great venues. Then we have Pepperdine again, Furman and we wrap up at Texas and against Illinois State. It’s a very competitive non-conference schedule.”
The American Athletic Conference portion of the schedule opens up on April 1, as the Green Wave will travel to Storrs, Connecticut, for a series against UConn (April 1-3) before returning home for the next two weekends to play 2015 American Baseball Tournament Champions East Carolina (April 8-10) and Cincinnati (April 15-17).
Tulane will head to the Sunshine State the following weekend to go head-to-head with UCF (April 22-24) before hosting 2015 American Athletic Conference regular-season champions Houston (April 29-May 1) at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The Green Wave will return to Florida for a series against 2015 NCAA Regional team USF (May 6-8).
Memphis (May 13-15) will mark the final weekend series at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium before the Green Wave close out the regular season at Houston (May 19-21).
“We know what to expect from this conference, seeing that it was the number three RPI league last year,” mentioned Pierce. “I think the conference really shocked some people last year. We knew it was a solid league, but no one expected us to be the number three RPI league in the country. That’s a tribute to the teams in the conference and how they managed their schedules.”
Tulane will play their fair share of midweek contests, as well. The Green Wave will host Alabama A&M (Feb. 23), 2015 Super Regional participant Louisiana-Lafayette (March 8), Southeastern Louisiana (April 5), Southern Miss (April 19), 2015 College World Series participant LSU (April 26), New Orleans (May 10), Southern (May 11) and Nicholls State (May 17).
The Green Wave will make midweek trips to Southeastern Louisiana (March 2), New Orleans (March 9), Nicholls State (March 15), Southern Miss (March 22), LSU (March 29) and Louisiana-Lafayette (April 12), as well. The contest against Southern Miss on March 22 will actually be played at MGM Park in Biloxi, Mississippi, the home of the Biloxi Shuckers, the Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
“If you look at our midweeks, we have some games against some very good local teams,” said Pierce.
The American Athletic Tournament will once again be held in Clearwater, Florida, from May 24-29, at Bright House Field, home of the Philadelphia Phillies Spring Training facilities.
NCAA Regional play will be June 3-6 with the NCAA Super Regionals (June 10-13) and the College World Series (June 18-29) to follow.
2016 Tulane Baseball Schedule (PDF)
