Kent State baseball has released its 2016 schedule, which features matchups with premier programs and a 21-game home slate.
The 2016 season will begin at the Caravelle Resort Tournament hosted by Coastal Carolina when Kent State will take on defending College World Series Champion Virginia on Friday, February 19. The Golden Flashes will then play Old Dominion on Saturday and North Carolina State on Sunday, with all three games to be played at TicketReturn.com Field in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The following weekend, February 26-28, will consist of a four-game set at the RussMatt Invitational in Winter Haven, Florida. Opponents and game times are still to be determined.
March will begin with a three-game series at UNC Charlotte March 4-6 followed by another three-game series at Radford March 11-13.
Schoonover Stadium will see its first action of the year on Wednesday, March 16 when the Golden Flashes host the Pittsburgh Panthers in a 6:00 p.m. contest.
A four-game series at Liberty will then take place March 18-20 before Kent State plays its first midweek game Tuesday, March 22 at the University of Evansville in Indiana.
Mid-American Conference play will start on the road at Central Michigan March 25-27. The Golden Flashes will return home following the first MAC series to play Lake Erie College on Tuesday, March 29 before travelling to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
A nine-game homestand will kick off the month of April, beginning with a MAC matchup with Western Michigan.
The date fans will most certainly have circled on their calendars is Tuesday, April 5 when Ohio State will visit Schoonover Stadium for the first time since 1989. In that year, the two teams split two weekday games. Last season, the Golden Flashes led the Buckeyes 8-4 in Columbus in the 4th inning before a lightning storm cancelled the contest.
The next day, Canisius will come to Kent for a 6:00 p.m. game before Toledo comes to town for a MAC weekend series. The homestand will conclude with Youngstown State on Wednesday, April 13.
Road trips to Eastern Michigan and Ohio will comprise the next two conference weekends, with a midweek home game against Penn State sandwiched in-between on Wednesday, April 20. The team will travel to Penn State the following Wednesday.
A six-game homestand will welcome in the month of May with two MAC East Division weekends. Miami will be at Schoonover Stadium April 29-May 3 followed by Buffalo May 6-8. Next up will be a road series at Bowling Green May 13-15.
The final midweek game of the 2016 season will be played Tuesday, May 17 at Youngstown State in Niles, Ohio. The final regular season games will be played at home May 19-21 when Western Carolina comes to town.
Postseason play will begin at the MAC Tournament held once again in Avon, Ohio, May 25-29 with the team’s sights set on the College World Series held in Omaha, Nebraska, June 18-29.
2016 Kent State Baseball Schedule
