DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson baseball released its 2018 schedule Monday, which will see the Wildcats look to build on their best season in school history a year ago. Davidson will face two teams that finished the 2017 slate in the Top 25, while a third received votes and four total that finished with a Top 50 RPI schedule.
The ‘Cats are coming off their first conference championship in the program’s 115-year existence, and then went on to become just the second No. 4 seed to ever sweep a NCAA Regional. The squad finished the season appearing in multiple national polls, another program first.
“We are excited about the 2018 schedule as, once again, we will play some great non-conference teams including some of the best teams in the region from the ACC and SEC. Our A-10 schedule will be very challenging as well and with 32 games at home, there will be ample opportunity for students and fans to come watch some exciting college baseball,” head coach Dick Cooke said of his team’s upcoming campaign.
Davidson will play eight league series and 21 of their first 24 games at home. The team will welcome 2017 Winston-Salem Regional champion Wake Forest for the series 130th all-time meeting as part of that 21-game stint. The ‘Cats travel to Charlottesville, Va., to face 2017 Regional participant Virginia during that stretch, and turn around to face yet another 2017 NCAA team in Ivy League powerhouse Yale. All three teams finished the season in the Top 50 RPI.
Davidson continues home-and-home series with long-time opponents Duke and Winthrop and will once again travel to Columbia, S.C., to face SEC foe South Carolina. This season, the ‘Cats will host the Blue Devils in Charlotte at BB&T Ballpark, home of the Charlotte Knights (triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox). Davidson-Duke is one of six games to be held Uptown in what has become a recent tradition and partnership with the Knights and local schools.
“Our game with Duke at BB&T Ballpark is a great way to continue our relationship with the Knights as it will be the third time in the last four years we will be involved in a game in their great ballpark. And, with Duke’s head coach, Chris Pollard, being a former player and coach at Davidson – and a close friend – I’m confident we will have a great crowd that evening,” Cooke said.
The ‘Cats will play Fordham (March 23-25), George Mason (April 6-8), VCU (April 27-29) and Dayton (May 17-19) for their Atlantic 10 series at Wilson Field, and will travel to Rhode Island (March 30-April 1), Saint Joseph’s (April 13-15), Richmond (April 20-22), and Saint Louis (May 4-6) to round out their conference schedule.
