NORFOLK, Va. — The Old Dominion baseball team released its schedule for the 2016 season on Wednesday, as announced by head coach Chris Finwood. The Monarchs will play 29 games at home against 14 different teams including a showdown at Harbor Park against returning NCAA Champion UVA.
“This is the most challenging schedule we have put together so far,” said Finwood. “With non-conference games against ACC members Virginia, Virginia Tech and NC State and Big 12 member West Virginia, to go along with Liberty, VCU, Rutgers and Kent State, we have a bunch of quality teams to play to help us get ready for an always tough C-USA schedule. We have Virginia Tech coming to our tournament, which is exciting, and UVA coming back to play us at Harbor Park where we set the state record for attendance at a college baseball game with 6,029 fans last year.”
ODU will open the season in Myrtle Beach, S.C. from Feb. 19-21 with games against NCAA Regional qualifier NC State on Friday, Kent State on Saturday and Appalachian State on Sunday. The Monarchs close out the rest of the February slate with a home game against cross-town rival Norfolk State on Feb. 23 before hosting the ODU Baseball Tournament from Feb. 26-28, which will consist of matchups against Manhattan, Virginia Tech and Delaware.
The Monarchs will battle Liberty at home on March 1 before playing host to Rutgers for a weekend series from March 4-6 before hitting the road to take on in-state rival and Super Regional contender VCU on Wednesday, March 9. Old Dominion then travels to Morgantown, W.Va. for a series against West Virginia from March 11-13 before returning home to the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex to host Princeton on March 15-16, C-USA foe WKU from March 18-20 and VMI on March 22-23. ODU then heads to Houston, Texas for a series against 2015 NCAA Regional qualifier Rice and closes out the month at returning College World Series Champion UVA on March 29.
From April 1-3 Old Dominion hosts a series against C-USA foe Florida Atlantic and then hosts a single game against William & Mary on April 6. The Monarchs then hit the road again for a series against FIU in Miami from April 8-10 before traveling to Williamsburg, Va. to play William & Mary on April 12. Returning home to Norfolk, Old Dominion hosts a series against UTSA from April 15-17, plays VMI on April 19 and travels to Ruston, La. for a series against LA Tech from April 22-24.
On Tuesday, April 26 the Monarchs will look to make it three years in a row earning victories over UVA at Harbor Park, as ODU will take on the returning NCAA Champions at 7 p.m. UAB will then travel to Norfolk for a series against Old Dominion from April 29-May 1 before the Monarchs hit the road to take on Liberty on May 11. The last home series of the season will take place May 13-15 against Middle Tennessee before ODU finishes the regular season against VCU in Hampton on May 17 and then at Marshall for a season-concluding series from May 19-21.
The 2016 Conference USA Baseball Championship is scheduled to return to Pete Taylor Park on the campus of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The eight-team tournament will be held May 25-29 and marks the third-straight season the championship will be played at Southern Miss and the sixth time in league history.
“Our players are fired up about the quality of the teams we have on our schedule this year,” Findwood added. “We feel like it’s a schedule that can produce another good RPI and give us another shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.”
The Baseball Monarchs compiled a 27-29 record last year and advanced to the C-USA Championships for the second consecutive season. ODU returns Freshman All-American Zach Rutherford, all-conference pitcher Sam Sinnen and senior standout Connor Myers, to go along with a plethora of incoming talent to the 2016 squad.
