Photo by David Cohen, (BHEphotos/College Baseball Daily)
The slate includes 17 games against six teams that advanced to the 2015 NCAA Tournament: CSU Bakersfield, Pepperdine, UCLA, Houston Baptist and Big West Conference foes Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara. The Matadors will also host East Coast power UConn, as well as travel to Purdue in the final month of the season.
“Playing the best makes our team and our student-athletes better,” said Moore. “With the typical Big West quality and our non-conference schedule, we will know early if we’re on our plan and playing steady, attacking DORS Baseball. Matador fans will enjoy the 2016 team and this schedule.”
The schedules matches CSUN against five teams that finished last season in the NCAA top 50 RPI rankings. Also, the Matadors will square off with 19 different opponents from nine different conferences.
Additionally, the 19 opponents on the 2016 slate averaged 28 wins last season and nine of the teams recorded 30 or more victories in 2015 including UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, which posted 45 and 40 wins respectively.
CSUN also will travel to face a Cal State Fullerton team that advanced to the 2015 College World Series.
CSUN opens up the 2016 regular season on Friday, Feb. 19 against CSU Bakersfield at Matador Field. The contest with the Roadrunners is the first of a three-game back-and-forth series, which will continue with a Saturday contest at CSU Bakersfield, followed by the finale at CSUN on Sunday afternoon.
Following a mid-week matchup at Pepperdine on Feb. 23, the Matadors open up a four-game home series with Northern Colorado beginning on Feb. 26. CSUN will then travel to Fairfax, VA to face George Mason on March 3 and finish the week with a three-game series in the nation’s capital against George Washington starting on March 4.
CSUN opens up its longest homestand of the season beginning on March 8, as the Matadors face a UCLA team that hosted the NCAA West Regional last season. The matchup with the Bruins is the first of nine-straight games played at the friendly confines of Matador Field.
During the home stretch, the Matadors will also face both William & Mary (March 10 & 12) and UConn (March 11 & March 13) twice in a three-way round robin weekend. CSUN will then close out the homestand with a four-game series with the Southland Conference Champion Houston Baptist (March 18-20).
Other non-conference contests during the season include a four-game series at Portland (March 24-26), a midweek match at Jackie Robinson Stadium against UCLA (April 5), another home midweek contest against Pepperdine (May 17) and a four-game series at Purdue (May 19-22).
The Matadors open up their conference schedule with the 2015 Big West Conference champion, Cal State Fullerton, at Titan Stadium with a three-game set starting April 1.
CSUN’s Big West home opener is against the Dirtbags of Long Beach State (April 8-10), followed by a road trip up the coast to face UC Santa Barbara (April 15-17). Last season, the Gauchos were a #1 seed in the NCAA Regionals and were ranked 16th in the country at the conclusion of the year.
Hawai’i makes the long flight out to Southern California for a three-game series at CSUN beginning April 22 and then the Matadors make a road trip to Riverside to take on the Highlanders in a three-game conference battle (April 29-May 1).
CSUN will host Cal Poly (May 6-8) and UC Davis (May 13-15) both at Matador Field before closing out the regular season at UC Irvine (May 26-28). The NCAA Regionals are set to begin June 3.
