BOCA RATON, Fla. – With the squad on the practice fields for the fall, the 2018 schedule for the Owls’ baseball program has been released by the Florida Atlantic University athletic department, with a three-game home set teeing off the campaign in mid-February.
The Owls will host George Washington at FAU Baseball Stadium for the first time in 14 years, with the series starting on Feb. 16. The Opening Night first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. After a midweek matchup at Florida in Gainesville, four straight games are scheduled at home (three hosting Delaware and the squad’s lone home game of the season versus Miami).
Following that, as the calendar turns to March, FAU will take the program’s longest road trip in history, four games in Eugene, Oregon, to take on the University of Oregon, March 2-5. The non-conference schedule, with the exception of a handful of midweek games sprinkled throughout Conference USA play, ends with five straight at home, against Seton Hall and North Florida.
“I am really excited about our schedule this year,” said Head Coach John McCormack. “We have some new home opponents in UNF, Delaware, George Washington and Seton Hall, along with our in-state stalwarts in Miami, UF, UCF, FGCU and Bethune-Cookman. We will round out the non-conference schedule with a four-game series in Oregon.”
The C-USA schedule begins on the road against Old Dominion, March 16-18, and the first league home series is next, against defending conference regular season champion Southern Miss (March 23-25). Midweek games at Miami and Bethune-Cookman are also set for the month.
A road series against Marshall splits March and April (March 30-31 and April 1), and April features three C-USA home sets (Charlotte, UTSA and UAB) and one on the road, against 2017 conference tournament champion Rice (April 20-22). Once more, the squad travels to Miami as well as to Fort Myers to take on FGCU, and the team will host Bethune-Cookman and FGCU.
Finally, May sees the Owls have back-to-back C-USA road trips, to FIU and Middle Tennessee, and UCF will be the non-conference in-state opponent this month, both home and away. The regular season ends at FAU Baseball Stadium, hosting WKU from May 17-19, and the Conference USA Baseball Championship will be held in Biloxi, Mississippi from May 23-27. NCAA Regionals and further are all scheduled for the month of June.
“The conference will be as competitive as ever,” said McCormack. “The teams in the league are really doing a good job in attracting high-level talent and it will be a dogfight like it is every year.”
