MORAGA, Calif. — Four NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago and 24 home games highlight the 2016 Saint Mary’s College baseball schedule, as announced Monday by head coach Eric Valenzuela.
The Gaels’ 56-game slate features contests against 15 programs that were over .500 in 2015, including 13 that saw postseason action. Four of the 2015 postseason teams that Saint Mary’s will face qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The season opens at home on Feb. 19 with a four-game series versus Seattle University, who was the No. 1 seed in the Western Athletic Conference Championship Tournament last spring.
“I love our schedule,” said Valenzuela. “It will challenge us and prepare us for our strong conference.”
The Gaels will play a home-and-home series against Big West Conference champion and NCAA Regional host UC Santa Barbara, beginning with a single home game on Feb. 23. The Gaels play two neutral site games against WAC Tournament champion CSU Bakersfield as part of a tournament in Tucson, Ariz., on March 4 and 5. A single game at Pac-12 NCAA Tournament at-large team Oregon on May 23 concludes the regular season, and a three-game home series versus West Coast Conference Tournament champion Pepperdine on May 13-15 closes out the Gaels’ home slate for the year.
The Gaels will play 29 non-conference games and 27 WCC games. SMC’s schedule variety includes opponents from seven different conferences. The Gaels face five different teams from the Pac-12 Conference, which had six teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Those include Stanford, Arizona, Utah, Washington and Oregon. Washington was a participant in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
“We recruit some of the best players in the country and preach development on an everyday basis,” said Valenzuela. “This kind of schedule will help that process and will give our program an opportunity to show the country what St. Mary’s baseball is all about.”
The Gaels will also tangle with three conference champions from a year ago. SMC travels to the Grand Canyon University Classic on Feb. 26-28 in Phoenix, facing Mid-American Conference Championship Tournament participant Central Michigan on day one, Southeastern Conference member Tennessee on day two, and the defending WAC champion and host ’Lopes on day three. The Gaels play a home-and-home series versus Mountain West Conference regular season champion Nevada beginning with a home game on March 15 and concluding in Reno, Nev., on April 5. In between those games, Saint Mary’s travels to San Diego for a three-game series against defending WCC Champion San Diego on March 18-20.
