GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ninety-seven days after winning the Southern Conference Tournament Championship at Fluor Field, UNCG baseball has released its 2018 schedule. Fifty-four games are on the docket for the Spartans, they host 30, play 23 away from the UNCG Baseball Stadium with one neutral site game.
UNCG opens the 2018 season with a four-game home stand as it hosts Appalachian State for the first time since the 2013 season. The Spartans and Mountaineers will play at 4 p.m., 2 p.m., and 1 p.m., the weekend of Feb. 16-18. UNCG will host Oakland University for the first time in program history Tuesday, February 20th at 4 p.m.
The Blue and Gold hits the road for the next four games as it heads to Knoxville, Tennessee for a matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers of the Southeastern Conference. It will be a three-game series February 23-25. The Spartans follow that trip with a short jaunt across the Triad Feb. 28th to take on a Wake Forest team that qualified for the 2017 Super Regionals. Wake Forest fell to the eventual College World Series National Champion, Florida Gators, in Super Regionals last season.
UNCG will host another NCAA Regional qualifier the following weekend, welcoming the Marist Red Foxes to Greensboro for the second time in three seasons. Marist qualified for the NCAA Gainesville Regional, falling in games against Florida and Bethune-Cookman. Marist won the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference after entering the MAAC tournament 29-21 and winning three-straight games to take the MAAC championship and qualify for the NCAA Regionals.
The Spartans will hit the road for a pair of midweeks following the Marist series. UNCG will matchup with the Winthrop Eagles for the first time since leaving the Big South Conference after the 1997 season March 6. After the matchup in Rock Hill, the Blue and Gold will head over to Elon, North Carolina for a matchup with the Elon Phoenix at 4 p.m. on March 7.
UNCG returns for a four-game stretch following the midweek action. The Spartans host the Lafayette Leopards March 9-11. Elon and UNCG close out the 2018 series Tuesday March 13th at the UNCG Baseball Stadium at 4 p.m.
The Spartans head out to Nashville, Tennessee for the weekend March 16-18. UNCG will take on the Lipscomb Bison for the first time in program history at Ken Dugan Field.
The cross-town matchup at First National Bank Field will again be played March 21st at 6 p.m. as the Spartans will take on the North Carolina A&T Aggies at the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers. This will be the eighth time since 2006 that Greensboro’s NCAA Division I college baseball teams will play at the home of the Grasshoppers.
The Blue and Gold host eight-straight games from March 23-April 3. The home stand begins with the opening of Southern Conference play against the VMI Keydets at the UNCG Baseball Stadium the weekend of March 23-25. March 27th will pit the Spartans against the High Point Panthers before UNCG welcomes back the Georgetown Hoyas to Greensboro. This is the second time in three seasons the Hoyas will be coming to the Gate City March 29-31. Charlotte comes to Greensboro April 3 to wrap up the home stand. It is the second meeting between the Spartans and 49ers and first in Greensboro.
UNCG heads out to Cullowhee, North Carolina, April 6-8 for a SoCon series against the Western Carolina Catamounts. The midweek contest against High Point is scheduled for April 10 at Willard Stadium on HPU’s campus.
The Blue and Gold will host another eight-game home stand April 13-24. The stretch starts off with a SoCon series against ETSU April 13-15 before closing the season series against Wake Forest April 17th at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. Samford comes to Greensboro for a three-game SoCon series April 20-22 before North Carolina A&T and UNCG close out the season series at the UNCG Baseball Stadium April 24th.
The Spartans hit the road for a three-game series with the Wofford Terriers in Spartanburg, South Carolina April 27-29 at Russell C. King Field.
UNCG closes out the home schedule with a four-game home stand, including a three-game SoCon series against the Mercer Bears, May 5-7. The final home game of the season pits the Spartans against Winthrop May 8th.
The regular season closes out with six games on the road. UNCG heads to Charleston, South Carolina for a three-game series with The Citadel. The regular season wraps up with the Spartans taking on the Furman Paladins in Greenville, South Carolina May 17-19. UNCG and the Paladins met six times in 2017, with the Spartans taking the season series 5-1. Three of those matchups were played in the Southern Conference Tournament, including UNCG’s tournament championship clinching game.
Following the series with Furman, UNCG and the other Southern Conference schools will head back to Greenville, South Carolina, for the SoCon Tournament, presented by Holston Gases May 22-27 at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive.
