MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis baseball team will play 31 home games and open its 2018 season with a weekend home series against Western Kentucky, head coach Daron Schoenrock announced Friday. Opening weekend at FedExPark will be February 16-18 against the Hilltoppers.
“Once again, we have put together a very challenging schedule,” Schoenrock said. “The more you can put challenges in front of our players, the more resilient they become. Then there’s the ever-challenging American Athletic Conference, which has been somewhere in the neighborhood of the top four leagues since its conception. We are excited about unfolding this thing and the players were excited when they saw it.”
February sees the Tigers at home for seven of their eight games during the month. The only road trip is a midweek showdown in Oxford, Mississippi, where Memphis will take on the Rebels. Memphis swept the two games in 2017, winning both at home and at Swayze Field. Ole Miss is one of five SEC opponents the Tigers will face during the season.
Memphis will travel to Sevierville, Tennessee to participate in the first ever Tri-State Classic. There, the Tigers will face three in-state foes, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee, and East Tennessee State. The games will take place at Smokies Park, which is home to the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, the Tennessee Smokies.
The Tigers will take a midweek trip to Auburn on March 14 before ending the week in a three-game series at North Florida. This trip marks the beginning of a stretch for Memphis that has seven of eight games coming on the road during a two week stretch. The lone home game splits the trip in two, with the Tigers returning home to face Mississippi Valley before heading back on the road to face Houston.
A weekend series against Houston starts American Athletic Conference play for Memphis, with the series coming March 23-25. The first conference series at home is the following weekend when UCF rolls in to town.
The Tigers will play three of their games at AutoZone Park. The team has been playing a select number of games at AutoZone Park for well over a decade. Memphis will play three SEC teams in the stadium, starting with the University of Arkansas on March 27. After a series against UCF, Memphis will return to AutoZone Park to play their annual game in the park against Ole Miss. Wrapping up play there, Memphis will play Mississippi State on April 18.
New to this season is the addition of Wichita State to the American Athletic Conference. This creates a bye-week in the conference schedule and Memphis will host a weekend series against Baylor during their weekend off in conference play. The Bears last made the College World Series in 2005, but were in the NCAA Tournament in 2017.
“The bye-week does add something in the middle of conference play that gives you opportunities to host a great event like the Baylor weekend,” Schoenrock said. “Baylor’s a team that’s been to Omaha, so they’ll present a unique set of challenges.”
Memphis’ only experience playing Baylor was a double header in 2012. The Tigers dropped both of those games against the Bears in Waco.
The second half of conference play sees the Tigers host East Carolina, UConn, and the final series of the season against AAC newcomer Wichita State, which will take place May 17-19. Memphis will travel for conference series against USF and Tulane during that stretch following the bye-week.
The American Athletic Conference tournament will be hosted in Clearwater, Fla. at the end of May.
