30 conference champions earn automatic berths into the field of 64 in the 2010 NCAA Division One baseball tournament.  We will list them as they secure their bids.

CLICK HERE to see the NCAA selection handbook, which includes at-large selection criteria and more information.

NCAA Tournament Selection Timeline

America East-Stony Brook

ACC:  Florida State

Atlantic Sun:  Mercer

Atlantic 10-St. Louis

Big East-St. John’s

Big South-Coastal Carolina

Big Ten-Minnesota

Big 12-Texas A&M

Big West-Cal State Fullerton

CAA-Virginia Commonwealth

CUSA-Southern Mississippi

Horizon:  Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Ivy League-Dartmouth

MAAC-Rider

MAC-Kent State

MEAC-Bethune-Cookman

Missouri Valley-Illinois State (Won First Ever Tournament)

Mountain West-TCU

Northeast-Central Connecticut St.

Ohio Valley-Jacksonville St.

Pac 10-Arizona State

Patriot League-Bucknell

SEC-LSU

Southern-The Citadel

Southland-Texas St.

SWAC-Grambling St.

Summit League-Oral Roberts (Won 13th straight tournament)

Sun Belt-Florida International

WCC-San Diego

WAC-Hawaii (First title since 1992)

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate baseball team has proven, even with the move to Division I, that it is not afraid of a challenge, and the 2010 season will be no exception, as the Spartans will play 32 of its 56 games in 2010 against teams that finished 2009 with non-losing records, 21 against teams with 30 or more wins, 18 against teams with an RPI of better than 100 and seven against teams that competed in the NCAA Regionals, as head coach Matt Fincher announced the schedule on Monday.

USC Upstate Head Coach Matt Fincher

Upstate, celebrating its 25^th season of play in 2010, will not stray from the path that Fincher has laid out for the team in its move to the Atlantic Sun Conference and Division I play. Once again, the team will find itself challenged every step of the way, beginning with a game against Appalachian State, which went 33-21 and finished 83^rd in the RPI in 2009, on Feb. 20.

Complete 2010 USC Upstate Schedule (PDF)

The Spartans will have a few more advantages up its sleeves in their schedule during the 2010 season, thanks mainly to 30 games in the friendly confines of Harley Park and no non-conference mid-week games more than three hours from the Spartanburg campus, heading only as far south as Charleston and as far north as Knoxville, Tenn.

Upstate will also continue to develop rivalries with traditional regional foes and powers, like the Atlantic 10’s Charlotte (at Charlotte, March 31; at Harley Park, April 6), the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Clemson (at Clemson, April 21), the Southern Conference’s The Citadel (at Charleston, March 10; at Harley Park, May 12) and the Southeastern Conference’s South Carolina (April 20, Columbia), and Tennessee (March 23, Knoxville). Upstate will also keep rivalries with the Big South’s Presbyterian (Feb. 20, Harley Park; Feb. 21, Clinton; April 7, Clinton), UNC Asheville (March 30, Harley Park; April 14, Asheville) and Gardner-Webb (March 3, March 24, Harley Park), all within an hour’s drive of Spartanburg, and Charleston Southern (March 9, Charleston; March 16, Harley Park).

The team will also start a few other non-conference relationships, including home-and-home agreements with SoCon power the College of Charleston (April 13, Harley Park; May 11, Charleston) and 2009 NCAA Regional participant Georgia State (Feb. 23, Atlanta; Feb. 24, Harley Park).

Fincher has also worked to keep developing the working relationship with Wofford for the Courtyard by Marriott Classic, a co-operative classic run by the two schools. This season, the tournament will occur on the second weekend of the season, from Feb. 26-28, with five games occurring in three days at Harley Park and Wofford playing four games at Russell C. King Field. The Spartans will host Dayton, NJIT and Butler during the tournament.

A reduction in the number of conference games from 30 to 27 in the 2010 season will also allow Upstate to play three more games at home, as the Spartans host George Washington for a three-game non-conference set on March 6-7. The Spartans will also play a two-game homestand to end the season on May 18-19 against the Colonial Athletic Association’s William & Mary.

The conference season favors Upstate this year as a mix of tough match-ups will head to Harley Park, as both the 2009 A-Sun Tournament champions and the two-time defending A-Sun regular season champions will visit Upstate. FGCU, the regular-season champs will kick off Upstate’s A-Sun season on March 12-13 while 2009 A-Sun Tournament champs Jacksonville visit on April 2-3. Also on Upstate’s home slate in A-Sun series are Campbell (April 16-17) and Kennesaw State (May 14-15).

The Spartans will hit the road five times for three-game A-Sun series, heading to ETSU (March 19-20), Belmont (March 26-27), North Florida (April 10-11), Mercer (April 23-24) and Stetson (May 7-8).

The Spartans return four starters and six pitchers from a squad that went 17-37 overall in 2009. The Spartans will be led by senior catcher Jimmy Tanner (Fayetteville, Ga./Starr’s Mill), who was an All-Star this summer in the Northwoods League, and senior Matt Branham (Columbia, S.C./Spring Valley), who went struck out a school-record 82 batters in 82 innings before being drafted in the 47th round of the MLB draft by the Houston Astros in June.

(Release)

VMI Head Coach Marlin Ikenberry

Highlights of the home schedule include visits from 2009 College World Series participant Virginia (April 14), along with in-state rivals Virginia Tech (April 27), Longwood (April 6), James Madison (April 7), Richmond (May 11) and VCU (May 19).  Also included will be Big South matchups against Coastal Carolina (April 23-25), Winthrop (May 14-16), Radford (April 30-May 2), Charleston Southern (March 26-28) and Presbyterian College (May 20-22).
Complete 2010 VMI Schedule
The schedule kicks off on Friday, Feb. 19, when Bucknell comes to town for a three-game set.  That series will be followed by the VMI’s only road trip of the season’s first month, taking on Richmond at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23.  Home series against Lafayette (Feb. 26-28), Maryland-Eastern Shore (March 5-7) and La Salle (March 11-14) follow, with a visit from Bryant also included (March 8) in the mix.

The Keydets hit the road over Spring Break in mid-March, traveling south for a two-game showdown against military rivals, The Citadel (March 16-17).  It will mark the first time that VMI has played a member of the Southern Conference since leaving the league following the 2003 season.

The trip then continues to High Point, as the Keydets will open Big South play against the Panthers for the second time in three seasons, coming March 19-21.  A road game at James Madison ends the six-game road stretch on March 24, capping VMI’s longest road swing of the season.

VMI returns home for a Big South series against Charleston Southern, marking VMI’s lone home Big South weekend among their first five conference series.  The Keydets hit the road again following that series, heading to Blacksburg for a March 30 matchup versus the Hokies before traveling to Asheville, N.C. for a conference weekend against UNC Asheville (April 2-3).

Following home games against Longwood and James Madison, the team heads to Gardner-Webb for the first time in program history on April 9-11 after knocking the Bulldogs out of the Big South Championship last season.  That trip will mark VMI’s last regular season venture outside the Commonwealth, as each of VMI’s final 22 games will be played either at home or at in-state foes.

The Cavaliers pay a visit to Gray-Minor Stadium on Wednesday, April 14.  It will mark the first time Virginia has played in Lexington since April 3, 2007, when the Keydets knocked off a third-ranked Cavs’ squad, 5-2, in front of 1,265 fans.  VMI then hits the road for four games, including a conference series at Liberty (April 16-18) and a trip to William & Mary on April 21.

The home stretch literally begins from there, as the Keydets will play not only their final four conference series of the season at home, but overall will finish the regular season with 15 of their final 17 contests at the friendly confines of Gray-Minor Stadium.  Coastal Carolina kicks things off before a visit from Virginia Tech on Tuesday, April 27.  A quick trip to Richmond for an April 28 date against VCU at The Diamond precedes a seven-game home stand for VMI, including dates against Radford, Richmond and Winthrop.

The regular season’s final week begins with a visit to Charlottesville to take on Virginia May 18, while the Keydets return home the next evening against VCU in VMI’s final non-conference tilt.  Presbyterian College wraps up its season on May 20-22, playing a three-game set in Lexington.

The 2010 Big South Baseball Championship will be held in Rock Hill, S.C. on May 25-29 and will be hosted by Winthrop.

(Press Release)