CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte baseball will play a 56-game schedule in 2016, including three Tuesdays in Uptown Charlotte at BB&T Ballpark, featuring a total of 36 at home announced by Head Coach Loren Hibbs on Wednesday morning. The Niners three 6:05 p.m. contests Uptown include Georgia on March 8th, N.C. State in a re-match of last year’s first-ever college game Uptown on March 29th and play a “road” game against Winthrop on April 5th.
In 2016, another competitive and challenging schedule awaits the Niners playing teams from 10 different conferences that combined for over 630 wins last season and four NCAA appearances, to along with the always tough 30 games inside Conference USA, makes for one of the more difficult schedules the Niners will play within the last few years. Charlotte’s 36 home games include 15 inside C-USA play with the other 20 and 15 taking place on the road.
“We’re playing another very challenging non-conference schedule,” began Hibbs, who begins his 24th season at Charlotte. “We have a lot of quality opponents and a lot of great games on the schedule against schools that have good programs.”
The first Uptown game of the year will take place on Tuesday, March 8th as Georgia out of the SEC will take on Charlotte in a two-game midweek series. The second contest on Wednesday, March 9th will begin at 3:00 p.m. on campus inside Hayes Stadium.
“We are very pleased to establish a tradition of bringing collegiate baseball to Uptown Charlotte,” said Knights Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President Dan Rajkowski. “The Charlotte 49ers have become a great partner to the Charlotte Knights and after the success of last year’s game, we can’t wait to welcome them back for three games in 2016.”
A highly-anticipated rematch with ACC-foe N.C. State, once again presented by the UNC Charlotte College of Education, will follow on March 29th before the final game Uptown where the Niners will be the visitors in Winthrop’s home game on April 5th.
“Last year was an electric atmosphere inside BB&T Ballpark drawing over 8,000 people,” said Hibbs referencing last year’s first-ever college game Uptown. “The Charlotte Knights staff and their organization have just been unbelievable to work with. “They were very receptive to us playing down there again with the success of last year. Now, we get to play three games down there and that’s a huge deal. We’re looking forward to another electric atmosphere in the spring.”
Charlotte will start the year with 19 of their first 20 games at home beginning with William and Mary visiting for a three-game series February 19-21. The series against the Tribe will mark the first games ever played on the new turf being installed on Phillips Field at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium.
The following weekend will see Toledo come to town for a four-game in three-day series that will include a doubleheader on Saturday, February 27th. The first road game of the year follows on Wednesday, March 2nd as Charlotte travels down to Kennesaw State for the first-ever meeting with the Owls.
The first team racking up a 30-win season will kick off the third weekend of the year as Kent State brings their 31 wins from a season ago to Hayes Stadium. Kent State also put together an 18-9 record in MAC play. The final non-conference weekend series will take play March 11-13 as Fairfield before the Niners battle Wake Forest in the first of two against the Demon Deacons.
Conference USA play beings on Friday, March 18th as the Niners open up league play for the third-straight season at home taking on FIU in the weekend series. The Panthers put together a late season Cinderella run, taking a 30-31 record into the conference tournament as a #8 seed, before winning the double-elimination tournament title and qualifying for the Coral Gables regional in NCAA play. FIU took two-of-three from the Niners in Miami last season.
The first C-USA road trip follows with the Niners travel to Ruston, Louisiana to battle the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. Last season, the Niners swept the three-game series in Charlotte scoring a 5-0 win as the American Sports Network broadcasted the first-ever, nationally-televised game at Hayes Stadium. Two years ago, the Niners began the all-time series by sweeping the Bulldogs in Ruston to now sit a perfect 6-0 through six games.
Southern Miss will be the second C-USA team in Charlotte this season bringing in their 36 wins from 2015. The Golden Eagles swept the three-game series in Hattiesburg last season as the Niners suffered a pair of heartbreaking one-run losses in the weekend.
“Every weekend is a dog fight in Conference USA,” continued Hibbs. “We have 30 games against the best competition we can play and we’re excited. I think we’re more equipped this year with our roster to compete at this level. It’s been a process over the last couple of years and now, we have guys that are more ready to play at this level.”
Beginning with the April 5th game Uptown against Winthrop, Charlotte will begin their toughest stretch of the season playing nine of their next 10 games on the road. A return trip to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack will take place the next day before the Niners head to Florida Atlantic for a tough series against the Owls. FAU won the most games (42) of any Charlotte opponent in 2016, swept past the Niners being nationally-ranked last year and participated in the NCAA’s Gainesville regional in June.
After the lone home game in that stretch against North Carolina A&T, the Niners hit the road again heading Middle Tennessee. Charlotte had multiple-run leads late in each of the three games against the Blue Raiders last season before dropping all three at home.
A three-game home series with the Marshall Thundering Herd welcomes the Niners back to Charlotte while a non-conference tilt against The Citadel will make up the four-game homestand. Charlotte will end April and begin May in Houston, Texas taking on Rice in the first of two late season trips to the Lone Star state. The Owls won the Conference USA regular season title with 37 wins playing in the Houston regional after a 22-8 C-USA record.
Another four-gamer at Hayes Stadium follows the return from Houston as UNC Asheville visits for the only time in 2016 followed by Old Dominion making their first trip to Charlotte since 2003. Charlotte managed to take two-of-three from the Monarchs in their second-straight trip to Norfolk last season.
The final road trip of the season will see the Niners fly back west to Texas, this time to San Antonio, taking on UTSA. Charlotte won two of the three matchups two years ago in San Antonio while UTSA returned the favor last year in Charlotte.
Winthrop will be the final non-conference game of the series on May 17th before UAB visits for the final Conference USA series of the season. Charlotte put together a three-game sweep at UAB last season making up for the Blazers sweep in Charlotte back in 2014.
Once again, the top eight teams in Conference USA will head to the year-end tournament back in Hattiesburg, Mississippi hosted by Southern Miss. The double-elimination tournament is slated for May 25-29.
“Our goal every year is to win a Conference USA regular season and tournament championship,” finished Hibbs. “In Conference USA, if you play a quality non-conference schedule and do well in conference play, you have a chance to be an at-large team to the NCAA tournament.”
