RICHMOND, Ky. – A new-look 2010 baseball schedule was released on Monday by second-year Eastern Kentucky University head coach Jason Stein. The schedule is highlighted by a series with Purdue at Turkey Hughes Field, a spring break trip through the state of North Carolina, a neutral-site showdown with West Virginia and trips to Tennessee and Louisville.

EKU Head Coach Jason Stein

Instead of hosting an early-season tournament at Turkey Hughes Field, as the Colonels have done the past several seasons, EKU will open the 2010 season with a three game series at Western Carolina from February 26-28. The Colonels fell to the Catamounts last year in Cullowhee, 24-23, in a mid-week, five-hour slugfest.

Complete 2010 Eastern Kentucky Schedule

The Colonels’ home opener will come on March 2 when they host Ohio as the second half of a home-and-home series dating back to last year.

Following a trip to Knoxville on March 3 to take on Tennessee, EKU will spend spring break (March 5-14) in North Carolina facing the likes of Presbyterian, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina A&T and High Point.

Two days after returning home, the Colonels will host the Boilermakers for a two-game series at Turkey Hughes Field from March 16-17.

The series with Purdue is the first third of a homestand that extends to March 23 and features a three game series with Bowling Green and single game with Miami (Ohio).

EKU begins its OVC schedule against the team it ended with in 2009: Eastern Illinois. The Panthers visit Turkey Hughes Field for a three game stand beginning on March 27.

The Colonels will host three more conference series in 2010 against Austin Peay (April 10-11), Tennessee Tech (May 1-2) and Jacksonville State (the final conference series of the year, May 15-16).

Outside of the OVC, EKU will take on West Virginia in Charleston, W.V. on April 13 and will travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals on May 18.

Other non-conference games include a home-and-home with Marshall (home on March 31, away on April 14), a two game series at East Tennessee State (April 6-7), visits from Xavier (May 12) and the University of the Cumberlands (April 20), trips to Western Kentucky (April 28) and Dayton (May 11) and a three game series with future OVC school SIU Edwardsville to end the regular season (May 21-23).

Another point of interest concerning the schedule is that the 2010 OVC Baseball Championship will be held at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn., not at Brooks Stadium in Paducah, Ky. where the tournament had been played the last nine seasons.

The Colonels return three All-OVC players, as well as three OVC All-Newcomers, for the 2010 campaign.

EKU’s Fall World Series will be held at Turkey Hughes Field this Friday and Saturday, November 13-14.