HARRISONBUG, Va. – The James Madison baseball team announced its 56-game schedule for the 2019 season on Thursday afternoon. Following the regular season, JMU will host the Colonial Athletic Association Championship for the second straight year. The Dukes will face two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponents on the road, Louisville and Virginia, while traveling to the west coast for Cal State Fullerton.
“I’m really excited about this year’s schedule which gives our guys the opportunity to travel out west as well as playing at Louisville, which is one of the best college baseball programs in the country,” Head Coach Marlin Ikenberry said. “It helps our national recognition while enhancing our strength of schedule and we will also be hosting numerous outstanding programs here in Harrisonburg. Our conference opponents are very competitive so between them and non-conference games, we have a challenging schedule this season.”
James Madison will open its season at home, welcoming Norfolk Sate for a weekend series from Feb. 15-17. The following week, the Dukes will host Longwood for their first mid-week contest on Tuesday, Feb. 19 and travel to Richmond the next day, Feb. 20, to face the Spiders on Wednesday afternoon.
JMU will return to the ‘Burg for a home series against Lafayette Feb. 22-24 before traveling to Louisville on March 1-3 for a weekend series against the Cardinals. Louisville is coming off a 45-19 season and a trip to the NCAA Regionals.
Following the Kentucky trip, JMU will host George Mason on Tuesday, March 5, High Point March 8-10 and Lehigh on March 12-13. The Dukes will travel to Fullerton, Calif. to face Cal State Fullerton in a weekend series on March 15-17. This is the first time the programs have met since the 1995 South Regional in Baton Rouge, La.
Also on the JMU midweek schedule are VMI (Feb. 26, March 27), Fairfield (March 19-20), home versus Richmond (April 2), Virginia (April 9, April 24), Maryland (April 16, May 14), St. Bonaventure (April 18-19) and George Mason in Fairfax (May 7).
JMU has eight conference series and will play host to Delaware (March 22-24), College of Charleston (April 5-7), Hofstra (April 26-28) and Towson (May 3-5) while traveling to Elon (March 29-31), William & Mary (April 12-14) and Northeastern (May 10-12). The Dukes close out their season in Wilmington, N.C. for a series against reigning CAA Champion UNCW on May 16-18.
At the conclusion of the regular season, James Madison will host the CAA Championship May 22 through May 25.
