BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – An 18-game home schedule at Regions Field, a three-game series at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., home of the College World Series, and a 30-game Conference USA slate highlight the 2016 UAB baseball schedule, head coach Brian Shoop announced Monday.
“We believe we have assembled another outstanding schedule for our players and fans in 2016,” said Shoop. “We have frontloaded our schedule with home games to take advantage of the incredible opportunity to play at Regions Field. We have some incredibly attractive home games for our fans, and if they want to travel with us there are some amazing trips they could take to see their Blazers play.”
UAB begins the season playing its first 13 games in the state of Alabama, with 11 scheduled at Regions Field. The Blazers open the season on Feb. 19 when they host Arkansas State for a three-game series at Regions Field. UAB will also play Jacksonville State once on Feb.23, host a weekend series against defending MAC Champion Ohio (Feb. 26-28) Kennesaw State (March. 4-6), and travel to play in-state foes Troy on Feb. 24 and Samford on March. 2.
UAB will play its first game outside the state of Alabama when they head to Omaha, Neb, to take on Creigthton in a weekend series (March. 11-13) at TD Ameritrade Park, site of the College Baseball World Series.
“We always try to schedule a special trip for our players,” added Shoop. “We know our guys will enjoy the challenge of playing one of the Big East’s best teams in Creighton University along with playing in the stadium everyone wants to get to in June. We never talk about destination goals, but we continue to focus on the process it takes be a nationally competitive team. Our goal is always to become the best team that we can be in a given year while building uncommon men along the journey.”
The Green and Gold return to Regions Field to take on Ole Miss (March. 15-16) in a two-game series. UAB will then open 2016 C-USA play versus Louisiana Tech (March 18-20) at Regions Field.
UAB will take a slight break in conference action to welcome Alabama to town on Mar. 22 for a one game midweek battle.
The Conference USA road schedule begins on March 24-27 when the Blazers travel to Florida Atlantic for a three-game series. UAB will play their final game at Regions Field against Alabama A&M on March. 29 before hosting Western Kentucky (April 1-3) at Young Memorial Field.
UAB will hit the road starting at Jacksonville State on April 5. The Blazers will then make the trip to Houston, Texas, to take on Rice (April 8-10) before stopping through Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a return matchup against Alabama on April 12.
“We are fortunate to play in Alabama where there are so many good Division I teams”, added Shoop. “We have developed some great rivalries with our in-state teams where truly anybody can beat anybody.”
UAB will trek back to Birmingham for weekend series against Southern Miss (April 15-17) and Middle Tennessee (April 22-24).
The Green and Gold will then begin their longest road stretch of the season at Old Dominion April 29 to May 1 before traveling to Columbus, Ohio for the first time since 2002 for a showdown against Ohio State (May 3-4). The trip will conclude with three-game series against Marshall (May 6-8).
UAB fans will have their last chance to see the Blazers in Birmingham as cross-town rival Samford comes to Young Memorial Field on May 10 before 2015 C-USA Champions Florida International wrap up the home slate on May 13-15.
The Blazers will travel to Auburn on May 17 before concluding the regular season at Charlotte (May 19-21).
The 2016 Conference USA Tournament is set for May 25-29 and will be hosted by Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss.
“We remain blessed to play in C-USA, annually one of the top-10 baseball conferences in America,” Shoop said.
2016 UAB Baseball Schedule (PDF)
