With fall baseball in full swing, the Memphis Tigers have released their 2016 schedule, head coach Daron Schoenrock announced Tuesday. The season opens with a three-game series against the University of Tennessee, February 19-21, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The schedule features 18 games against seven teams that played in an NCAA Regional last season – Arkansas, East Carolina, Houston, Missouri State, Ole Miss, Tulane and USF.
“The RPI of the American Athletic Conference is very good so we have tried to build a preseason schedule that will be able to get us ready,” said Schoenrock. “Missouri State, a Super Regional team last year, is coming to Memphis. We have Arkansas and Ole Miss at AutoZone Park. I like to put the schedule in front of our guys in the fall so they can see what they are working towards.”
The opening-weekend series between Memphis and Tennessee will be played at AT&T Ballpark, the home of the Minnesota Twins’ Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. The two schools haven’t met on the baseball diamond since 2012 and haven’t played a three-game series since the 1981 season. Memphis holds a 16-11 advantage in the series since 1980.
“We have been working to get this Tennessee series going for the last two or three years and we’ve finally got it finalized. In 2016 it’s their home series and they have elected to move it to Chattanooga. In 2017 Tennessee will return the trip to us for a three-game series and we’re excited about that,” Schoenrock said.
The home slate, which will consist of 26 games at FedExPark and two at AutoZone Park, will get underway with a midweek game against Belmont, Feb. 24. The first weekend series at FedExPark will be against SIU-Edwardsville, Feb. 26-28. Memphis’ other nonconference weekend series are against Georgia Southern, Eastern Illinois at home and Southern Illinois.
Ole Miss will welcome the Tigers to Oxford, Miss. on March 2 and the Rebels will return the game on March 30 at AutoZone Park. Arkansas will make the trip to AutoZone Park on April 6 and Memphis will return the game in 2017.
American Athletic Conference play will get underway at home against UCF, April 1-3. The other home series in league play are against East Carolina, UConn and Cincinnati. Memphis will travel to USF, Cincinnati, Houston and Tulane. The conference tournament will once again be hosted at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.
2016 Memphis Baseball Schedule
