CINCINNATI – Head Coach Scott Googins has announced the 2018 schedule for his inaugural year at the helm of Bearcats baseball. The upcoming slate includes 55 games with 25 of those to be played within the friendly confines of Marge Schott Stadium.
The Bearcats will face three teams in 2018 that finished the 2017 season ranked in the top 25 and five other teams that competed in last year’s NCAA regional action.
The 2018 season will begin out West as the Bearcats play both the University of California and the University of San Diego in a double header on Friday, February 16 at San Diego. UC will close out the opening weekend by playing California on February 17 and San Diego on February 18.
The following weekend UC travels to Sam Houston State for a three-game set. The 2017 Bearkats of Huntsville won the Lubbock Regional and advanced to super regional play. From there, Cincinnati travels to Tennessee-Martin for four games March 2-4. The first midweek game of the season will be played at Indiana on Wednesday, March 7. The Hoosiers were a No. 2 seed at the Lexington Regional last season.
Action returns to Marge Schott Stadium on Friday, March 9 when UC opens up a weekend series with Tennessee at 4 p.m. The Bearcats and Volunteers will also face off March 10 and March 11 at 1 p.m. After the home-opening weekend, UC travels to Wright State for a midweek 4 p.m. contest on March 14.
The Bearcats will be home for back-to-back weekends in March as Toledo visits March 16-18 for a three-game series. Miami (OH) will make the short trip for a 6 p.m. game on March 20.
UC hits the road to begin vying for an American Athletic Conference title on March 23. The Bearcats open conference play at Tulane March 23-25. They will then travel to Louisville on March 27 to try to relive some 2017 magic. When Cincinnati visited Louisville for a midweek game last March, the Bearcats took down the Cardinals when they were the number one team in the nation.
Following that rematch, UC will return home for a seven game home stand, beginning with a conference weekend series against Houston April 29-31. Wright State will travel to Cincinnati on April 3 for a game under the lights before Memphis makes the trip for the weekend of April 6-8.
The annual Joe Nuxhall Classic is scheduled to be held April 10-11 in Oxford, Ohio. The 10th annual event honors its namesake, the legendary Reds player and announcer, and is designed to showcase collegiate baseball in Southwest Ohio. Cincinnati will open with a game against Wright State on April 10 then face either Xavier or Miami on April 11.
After the Joe Nuxhall Classic the Bearcats will remain on the road and make the trip to UCF for a three-game series April 13-15. On Wednesday, April 18 Coach Googins will face his former team and in-state rival Xavier in a 6 p.m. game at Marge Schott Stadium. UC will stay home the following two weekends to host UConn (April 20-22) and non-conference opponent Kansas (April 27-29).
The month of May will begin with eight-straight games on the road and end with four-straight at home. The Bearcats will make the short trip to Miami (OH) on May 1 and then continue conference play May 4-6 at Wichita State. After another matchup with Xavier on May 8, UC travels to ECU May 11-13.
The regular season concludes in a home stand that begins with a contest with Ohio State on Tuesday, May 15. The final weekend will see UC host USF May 17-19.
The American Athletic Conference Tournament will be held May 22-27 in Clearwater, Florida, with the winner receiving an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Last season, Houston won the tournament in Clearwater and was named a No. 1 regional seed. D1Baseball had the Cougars ranked No. 21 at the conclusion of the 2017 season. UCF and USF received at-large bids in and were both No. 2 seeds.
Cincinnati finished sixth in the regular season AAC standings at 10-14 and 28-30 overall. The 2017 Bearcats’ season ended after an extra-inning postseason loss. UC returns the majority of last year’s squad this season as only three Bearcats were lost due to graduation or the MLB Draft.
