WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary head baseball coach Brian Murphy releases a challenging schedule for the 2018 season. The 57-game slate is highlighted by five matchups against NCAA Tournament teams and a grand total of 31 home games at Plumeri Park.
“We are excited about the makeup of this spring’s schedule,” said Murphy. “We’ll have a chance to test ourselves against some quality competition in the non-conference and mid-week games, which will prepare us well for CAA play. We’re also excited about having 31 home dates at Plumeri Park.”
The Tribe begins the season with a trip down south to visit 2017 NCAA Regional host Clemson for a three-game series. The weekend series in Clemson, S.C., is slated for Feb. 16-18.
W&M will open up its home schedule the following week with five consecutive games at Plumeri. The Green and Gold welcomes in-state foe VCU (Feb. 20) and Maryland (Feb. 21) for mid-week action, before hosting a three-game set against Quinnipiac that weekend (Feb. 23-25). The last time the Tribe met Quinnipiac was in 2012. The Tribe will cap the month of February at in-state rival and NCAA Tournament qualifying Virginia on Feb. 28.
The Tribe will spend the majority of spring break in Williamsburg with another set of five straight home games. After its second home series against High Point (March 2-4), W&M hosts Commonwealth foe Radford for the first time since 2014 in back-to-back contests on March 6-7.
Following a weekend visit to Campbell from March 9-11, W&M will meet Lehigh in a mid-week tilt (March 14) for the first time since 1985. East Tennessee State will come to town for the Tribe’s final non-conference home series on March 16-18.
The remaining mid-week games consist mostly of in-state rivals in George Washington (March 20, April 4), George Mason (March 21), Old Dominion (March 28, April 10), Norfolk State (April 17), Richmond (April 24) and Virginia Tech (May 15). A trip to Maryland (April 3) is the only instance the Tribe travels out-of-state for a mid-week contest.
In regard to Colonial Athletic Association play, W&M splits the weekend collisions with four each at home and on the road. The Tribe travels to the College of Charleston (March 23-25), James Madison (April 13-15), Northeastern (April 20-22) and Elon (May 17-19). The conference opponents that will come to Plumeri Park include UNCW (March 30-April 1), Towson (April 6-8), Hofstra (April 27-29) and Delaware (May 11 [DH] & 13).
The final non-conference series of the season will be at W&M’s fourth ACC opponent in North Carolina State on May 4-6. The Wolf Pack was just one win away from advancing to the NCAA Super Regional last year.
Hosted by James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., the 2018 CAA Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 23-26. The top six teams in the league standings will qualify for the double-elimination postseason tourney, and the champion receives an automatic bid to NCAA’s.
In 2017, W&M made its fifth consecutive postseason appearance, which is a program-best since qualifying started for the CAA Baseball Tournament. Furthermore, the Tribe reached the championship game in three of the last five seasons.
2018 William and Mary Schedule
