A By The Numbers Look At The Weekend’s Action

Alex Kaminsky (WSU photo)

1…Run allowed in 7 IP by Wright State starter Alex Kaminsky in Friday’s 2-1 win over #1/#2 Virginia.  Kaminsky struckout 7 to earn his first win of the season in a head-to-head dual with UVA sophomore ace Danny Hultzen.

2…Wins in the last two years by the Raiders on a top ranked team’s home field.  WSU beat #1 Georgia last year in Athens.

10…Runs and hits allowed in 2 1/3 innings by Kentucky starter Taylor Rogers in Saturday’s 14-13 win over Monmouth.

0 & 9…Hits allowed & strikeouts recorded in 4 IP by Wildcat reliever Matt Little, who earned the win in that game after allowing just two hits.

10…Hit batters by Monmouth pitchers in the loss to Kentucky to tie an NCAA record.  It’s just the third time a pitching staff has hit 10 batters in a game.

4…Straight hit batters by Monmouth pitchers Andy McDonnell (1) and Stephen Prosapio, who hit Kentucky’s Braden Kapteyn with the bases loaded and the score tied 13-13 to give the Wildcats the winning run.

1…Career home run by 5’9-160 pound Kentucky redshirt junior Neiko Johnson, whose long ball on a 2-2 pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning tied the score at 13 just before the four straight hit batsmen.

103…Runs scored by Georgia State in a 4-game series vs. North Carolina Central.

14…Of the runs scored by Georgia State junior Mark Micowski, who transferred to the school this year after Vermont disbanded baseball last year.  Micowski hit for the cycle in the first four innings of Friday’s 32-3 victory.  He batted .636 with 10 RBIs in the four games.

17…Combined strikeouts by George Washington pitchers Matt Branham and Scott DeCecco in Friday’s 5-1 win over USC Upstate.  The combined effort tied a school record.

210…Career Ks by Branham-whose career high 12 strikeouts in the win made him the 3rd pitcher in GW history to top the 200 K mark.

6…Straight wins by USC Upstate prior to the loss-a record for the Spartans since joining the Division One ranks.

1…Hit allowed by West Virginia’s Jarryd Summers in 8 innings in a 1-0 loss to Western Carolina.  Summers fanned 11 in the loss.  The only hit he allowed was a solo home run by WCU third baseman Tyler Kirkpatrick.

3…Hits allowed by Catamount starter Jason Sullivan-who struckout 8 in 9 shutout innings to improve to 3-0 on the season with the win over the Mountaineers.

Blake Kelso (Houston photo)

9…Strikeouts by Houston’s Michael Goodnight in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Texas at the Houston College Classic.

1…Wild pitch by Longhorn starter Brandon Workman-after a triple by Houston’s Blake Kelso-which allowed the game’s only run to score.

2…Losses by Cal State Fullerton in a 3-game series at Arizona to fall to 4-6 on the season.  The Titans started the year ranked in the top 10 in every poll.

1…Inning pitched by Titan All-American Daniel Renken in Friday’s 8-7 loss to the Wildcats.  Renken was lifted after hitting Wildcat CF Joey Rickard to lead-off the 2nd inning.

3…Walk-off wins by Arizona this season after freshman Seth Mejias-Brean singled home classmate Alex Mejia in the bottom of the 11th inning in that win over the Titans.

8…Strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings by Florida starter Alex Panteliodis in Friday’s 7-1 series-opening win over Miami (FL).

7…Strikeouts in 3 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings pitched by Gator reliever Nick Maronde to earn his first save of the season in that same win over the Hurricanes.

Kevin Chapman

4…Shutout innings pitched by Florida reliever Kevin Chapman in Sunday’s series-clinching 4-2 win over Miami.  Chapman gave-up just one hit with two strikeouts to earn his second save of 2010.

17…Combined strikeouts in 12 innings pitched by Duke starters Eric Pfisterer (10) and Michael Ness (7) who each tossed six shutout innings to help the Blue Devils to a 3-game sweep of Temple.

11…Strikeouts in 6 IP by Florida Gulf Coast ace Chris Sale in a 7-2 win over Wichita State.

2…Home runs hit over the weekend by Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz.  The outfielder led the nation with 28 HR last year, but he had been shutout through the first two weeks of the season.

1…Loss this season by Washington State after falling 4-1 in Sunday’s finale of a 4-game series with Utah.  The Cougars had started 9-0 for their best opening to a season since 1988.

Steve Fernandez

138…Pitches thrown by Santa Clara starter Alex Rivers in a 4-0 win over San Jose State.  Rivers scattered seven hits with five strikeouts for his third career complete game.

5…RBIs by St. Louis redshirt freshman Steve Fernandez to help St. Louis down Ohio State 10-9 on Saturday.

109…Pitches thrown by West Virginia’s Chris Enourato, who struckout 9 in seven innings of relief to help the Moutaineers to an 11-8 win over Illinois.  Enourato retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced.

3…Wins by WVU (with seven losses) this season.  Enourato has earned two of the wins and a save in his five relief outings.

16…RBIs in five games by New Mexico State’s Wade Reynoso.  He batted .522 (12-23) with 3 home runs and 11 runs scored as well in wins over New Mexico and St. Joseph’s.

The 2010 college baseball season is underway, and fans across the south flocked to stadiums to see the action.  Four SEC teams, LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi, and South Carolina, had the top weekend averages.  Here’s a breakdown of average attendance for opening weekend games as well as top single-game attendance marks (list below on the page).
By Average (min. 1,200)
School/Avg./ Total #Games
1. LSU 10,992/ 32,976/ 3

LSU's Alex Box Stadium had the top attendance figures during college baseball's opening weekend (LSU photo).

2. Arkansas 7,300/ 21,899/ 3
3. Ole Miss 7,171/ 21,513/ 3
4. South Carolina 7,072/ 21,216/ 3
5. Texas 6,020/ 18,060/3
6. Mississippi State 5,848/ 17,545/ 3
7. Clemson 5,727/ 11,454/ 2
8. Texas A&M 5,164/ 10,328/ 2
9. Florida State 5,049/ 15,148/ 3
10. East Carolina 4,974/ 14,922/ 3
11. Southern Miss 3,512/ 10,536/ 3
12. Florida 3,484/ 10,454/ 3
13. Hawaii 3,355/ 10,065/ 3
14. Miami, Fla. 3,172/ 9,516/ 3
15. TCU 2,934/ 8,803/ 3
16. Tulane 2,837/ 8,510/ 3
17. Arizona State 2,780/ 5,560/ 2
18. Louisiana-Lafayette 2,758/ 5,516/ 2
19. Baylor 2,679/ 8,038/ 3
20. Fresno State 2,607/ 7,820/ 3
21. Cal State Fullerton 2,465/ 7,395/ 3
22. Auburn 2,439/ 7,318/ 3
23. Texas Tech 2,328/ 9,312/ 4
24. Stanford 1,921/ 3,841/ 2
25. Vanderbilt 1,917/ 5,752/ 3
26. Long Beach State 1,908/ 3,816/ 2
27. Georgia Southern 1,847/ 5,543/3
28. Georgia Tech 1,720/ 5,160/ 3
29. Cal Poly 1,246/ 3,738/ 3
30. North Carolina 1,217/ 3,652/ 3

Top Game Attendances (min. 2,000)
11,588 Centenary at LSU, 2/19
11,126 Centenary at LSU, 2/20
10,262 Centenary at LSU, 2/21
8,004 Ball State at Arkansas, 2/20
7,926 Duquesne at South Carolina, 2/20
7,713 ULM at Ole Miss, 2/20
7,611 ULM at Ole Miss, 2/19
7,359 Ball State at Arkansas, 2/19
6,910 Duquesne at South Carolina, 2/21
6,536 Ball State at Arkansas, 2/21
6,380 Duquesne at South Carolina, 2/19
6,352 New Mexico at Texas, 2/20
6,189 ULM at Ole Miss, 2/21
5,953 New Mexico at Texas, 2/21
5,920 Rhode Island at Mississippi State, 2/20
5,915 Miami (OH) at Clemson, 2/19
5,819 Rhode Island at Mississippi State, 2/19
5,806 Rhode Island at Mississippi State, 2/21
5,755 New Mexico at Texas, 2/19
5,539 Furman at Clemson, 2/21
5,392 Georgia State at Florida State, 2/20
5,318 Seton Hall at Texas A&M, 2/19
5,254 Georgia State at Florida State, 2/19
5,136 Virginia at East Carolina, 2/20
5,012 Virginia at East Carolina, 2/19
5,010 Seton Hall at Texas A&M (DH), 2/20
4,774 Virginia at East Carolina, 2/21
4,502 Georgia State at Florida State, 2/21
4,109 Oregon State at Hawaii, 2/19
3,723 USF at Florida, 2/20
3,607 Northwestern State at Southern Miss, 2/20
3,569 Northwestern State at Southern Miss, 2/19
3,563 Clemson vs. Michigan State, 2/20
3,464 Oregon at Cal State Fullerton, 2/19
3,422 USF at Florida, 2/21
3,360 Northwestern State at Southern Miss, 2/21
3,309 USF at Florida, 2/19
3,280 Nebraska at Fresno State, 2/19
3,228 Sam Houston State at TCU, 2/19
3,128 Oregon State at Hawaii, 2/21
3,072 Sam Houston State at TCU, 2/20
3,011 Northern Illinois at Arizona State, 2/19
3,003 Boston College at Tulane, 2/19
2,912 Nicholls State at Louisiana-Lafayette, 2/20
2,895 Michigan at Texas Tech, 2/20
2,828 Oregon State at Hawaii, 2/20
2,798 Boston College at Tulane, 2/20
2,715 Southeast Missouri at Auburn, 2/20
2,709 Boston College at Tulane, 2/21
2,706 Georgia at Baylor, 2/21
2,670 Duke & Georgia at Baylor (DH), 2/19
2,662 Duke at Baylor, 2/20
2,605 Nicholls State at Louisiana-Lafayette, 2/19
2,548 Northern Illinois at Arizona State (DH), 2/20
2,503 Sam Houston State at TCU, 2/21
2,494 Southeast Missouri at Auburn, 2/19
2,350 Nebraska at Fresno State, 2/20
2,300 Xavier at Tennessee, 2/19
2,243 Jacksonville State at Texas Tech, 2/19
2,190 Nebraska at Fresno State, 2/21
2,162 Jacksonville State at Texas Tech, 2/21
2,126 Rice at Stanford (DH), 2/20
2,109 Southeast Missouri at Auburn, 2/21
2,027 Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton, 2/21
2,012 Michigan at Texas Tech, 2/21

(Report complied by Wichita State sports information)

Virginia Is Number One For The First Time

LSU Is New Number One

DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues
its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 13th year with its 2010
weekly surveys. Weekly polls will be circulated from Feb. 22-June 29
following the 64th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., and final
CWS competition at historic Rosenblatt Stadium.

The poll voters come from 40 college baseball writers and related media
persons from throughout the nation. This week’s poll has representation
by 11 different conferences among the 302 baseball-playing schools in
the 2010 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 12 circuits in the
initial surveys this season. Last year there were 17 different leagues
(from 30 in NCAA Division I) among the Top 30 polls. For more
information or to join the NCBWA, please go to
www.ncbwa.com< target=_blank href=”http://www.ncbwa.com/”>http://www.ncbwa.com/>.

Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 LSU Southeastern 3-0 2
2 Florida State Atlantic Coast 3-0 6
3 Virginia ACC 2-1 3
4 UC Irvine Big West 3-0 7
5 Georgia Tech ACC 3-0 9
6 Arizona State Pacific-10 3-0 8
7 Florida SEC 3-0 10
8 Texas Big 12 1-2 1
9 TCU Mountain West 3-0 11
10 Miami (Fla.) ACC 3-0 12
11 Cal State Fullerton Big West 1-2 4
12 North Carolina ACC 3-0 13
13 Clemson ACC 3-0 14
14 Rice Conference USA 0-3 5
15 Louisville Big East 3-0 19
16 Arkansas SEC 2-1 15
17 Stanford Pac-10 3-0 30
18 South Carolina SEC 3-0 21
19 Coastal Carolina Big South 2-1 17
20 Oregon State Pac-10 2-1 18
21 East Carolina C-USA 1-2 16
22 Oklahoma Big 12 4-0 25
23 Ohio State Big Ten 3-0 23
24 Mississippi SEC 2-1 20
25 San Diego West Coast 3-1 24
26 Southern Miss C-USA 2-1 22
27 UCLA Pac-10 3-0 27
28 Texas A&M Big 12 3-0 28
29 Kentucky SEC 3-0 NR
30 Vanderbilt SEC 3-0 29

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Others receiving votes
(listed alphabetically): Alabama (2-0), Army (2-1), Baylor (3-1), Boston
College (2-1), Connecticut (0-0), Dallas Baptist (3-0), Elon (3-0),
Florida Gulf Coast (3-0), Florida International (3-0), Fresno State
(3-0), Georgia (2-2), James Madison (0-0), Kansas (0-0), Lamar (3-0),
Middle Tennessee (1-1), Mississippi State (3-0), New Mexico (2-1), Notre
Dame (3-0), Old Dominion (3-0), Oral Roberts (0-0), Oregon (2-1),
Pepperdine (2-1), USF (0-3), St. John’s (3-0), Tennessee (3-0), Texas
State (3-0), Texas Tech (4-0), UC Riverside (3-0), UCF (3-0), UNC
Wilmington (2-1), Washington State (2-0), Western Kentucky (2-1),
Wichita State (0-0), Winthrop (3-0).
Dropped Out: Georgia (26).

By conference: SEC 7, ACC 6, Pac-10 4, Big 12 3, C-USA 3, Big West 2,
Big East 1, Big South 1, Big Ten 1, MWC 1, WCC 1.

LSU Takes Over Top Spot In First Regular Season Rankings

Texas Tops The First Coaches’ Poll Of The Season

The preseason coaches poll has just been released, and, like the other preseason polls, Texas is number one.  Here’s a look at the rest of the Top 25:

Jan. 29, 2010 — preseason poll

Rank	School (first-place votes)	Record	Points	Final 2009 rank
1	Texas (18)	50-16-1	760	2
2	LSU (10)	56-17	721	1
3	Cal State-Fullerton (2)	47-16	671	7
4	Virginia (1)	49-15-1	665	5
5	Florida State	45-18	575	10
6	Rice	43-18	547	9
7	UC Irvine	45-15	534	16
8	Arizona State	51-14	497	3
9	Florida	42-22	489	13
10	Georgia Tech	38-19-1	484	18
11	North Carolina	48-18	456	4
12	TCU	40-18	367	12
13	Miami (Fla.)	38-22	355	20
14	Oregon State	37-19	350	NR
15	Clemson	44-22	334	14
16	Arkansas	41-24	289	6
17	Mississippi	44-20	249	11
18	East Carolina	46-20	224	15
19	Coastal Carolina	47-16	203	23
20	Louisville	47-18	192	17
21	Ohio State	42-19	131	NR
22	Oklahoma	43-20	127	19
23	San Diego	29-25	95	NR
24	Southern Mississippi	40-26	94	8
25	Stanford	30-25	79	NR

Others receiving votes: South Carolina (40-23) 75; Vanderbilt (37-27) 75; UCLA (27-29) 73; Texas A&M (37-24) 51; Georgia (38-24) 48; Minnesota (40-19) 48; Arizona (30-25) 33; Kansas (39-24) 24; Kansas State (43-18-1) 19; Wichita State (30-27) 19; Oral Roberts (33-15) 18; Pepperdine (31-23) 15; Middle Tennessee (44-18) 13; Fresno State (32-30) 9; Missouri (35-27) 9; Oklahoma State (34-24) 9; Alabama (37-21) 6; North Carolina-Wilmington (31-23) 6; Boston College (34-26) 5; Florida Gulf Coast (36-18) 5; James Madison (30-24) 5; Kentucky (28-26) 4; Long Beach State (25-29) 4; Cal Poly (37-21) 3; Gonzaga (36-18) 3; St. John’s (30-22) 3; Florida International (34-23) 2; Jacksonville (37-22) 1; Nebraska (25-28) 1; Western Kentucky (42-20) 1.

The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association.

The 2010 board: The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2010 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; David Eldredge, Southern Utah; Mike Gaski, North Carolina-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Daniel Heefner, Dallas Baptist; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; Steve Kittrell, South Alabama; Paul Kostacopoulos, Navy; Kevin Leighton, Manhattan; Gary McClure, Austin Peay; Mervyl Melendez, Bethune-Cookman; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, North Carolina-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.

NCAA To Decide Season’s Length This Week

An NCAA Committee will vote this Friday (Jan. 15) on whether or not to extend the length of the college baseball season from 13 to 14 weeks.  Actually, it will vote on whether to override a vote that has already added a 14th week to the beginning of the season.  What?

The 2010 season was originally supposed to start on Feb. 26, but in July a week was added at the front of the season, making the start date Feb. 19.

The vote on the issue was split pretty geographically.  Most Southern schools wanted the extra week, while most Northern schools opposed adding the extra week to the start of the season.  (Anyone who can look out their window and see the snow that I see on the ground right now can understand why.)

Here’s a compromise:  Add the week, but Southern schools from BCS Conferences have to start returning some hospitality & travel north at the end of the season.

We have the Big Ten/Big East Challenge again this year, but how about the Big Ten/SEC Challenge and the Big East/ACC Challenges next year?   Rutgers already traditionally goes to Miami (FL) and Georgia Tech early in the year.  Let the ‘Canes or Yellow Jackets go to Bainton Field in May & listen to that rock clank against the backstop for a weekend…(Seriously).  How about Ole Miss, Florida or LSU rolling into Columbus to face Ohio State in May?

Forget about Northern teams going South to start their seasons when many of them are seeing real ground balls  and high skies for the first time.  With the extra week at the end of the season the teams from the North can play host to their Southern counterparts in May in midweek contests when classes and finals are over.  Most schools have a conference bye week in May anyway, so it shouldn’t be hard to find room in the schedule.

I’ve talked before about being creative to grow college baseball in the Northern areas, and there would be nothing better than to get some of those traditional powers from the South to come North to create some buzz prior to postseason play.

How excited do North Carolina fans really get about having Maine, Michigan or St. John’s come to town?  It’s nice, but North Carolina going to Maine, Michigan or St. John’s would get fans of those teams a lot more excited than another midweek game against Northeastern, Bowling Green or NYIT.

It’s only fair for those teams from the South to make Northern cameos even if only once every couple years.  The whole issue is supposed to be about missed class time caused by playing more midweek games in 13 instead of 14 weeks.  How are Southern schools missing more class time than their Northern counterparts when they are playing roughly 35 home games compared to about 23 home games for teams in the North?

It’s not a stretch to think the issue is less about missed class time and more about not worrying about finding a fifth starter to pitch an extra midweek game every week.  Teams like Texas and Rice have already lightened their regular season slates by playing games in the fall to compensate for the shorter season.  Teams in the North that are serious about an NCAA at-large bid don’t have that luxury, because they need every game to try to get to 40 wins to build their NCAA case.

Here’s a quick look at the differences in a few schedules based on geography:

Texas:  Plays its first 27 games in the state of Texas, including 20 of those games in Austin.  Trips to Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas State are their only games outside of Texas prior to the postseason.  36 home games.

Florida State:  Plays its first 16 games in the state of Florida.  Doesn’t make its first road trip until March 19 at North Carolina.  35 home games.

Arizona State:  Plays its first 17 and 23 of its first 25 games in Arizona.  Plays 30 home games plus four more games in nearby Surprise, AZ.

North Carolina:  Doesn’t leave North Carolina until starting an ACC series on April 2 at Mayland.  23 of the Tar Heel’s first 27 games are in Chapel Hill, with a 3-game series just a Levi Michael line drive away in Durham vs. Duke.  38 home games.

LSU:  Plays its first 12 and 20 of its first 21 games at home (the other game in Natchitoches, LA).  March 26 is the first venture outside of Louisiana for the defending national champs.  38 home games.

Now the Northern schools:

Ohio State:  Plays its first 22 games on the road.  Plays its home opener on March 31.  21 home games.

Notre Dame:  Plays its first 15 games on the road.  Home opener is March 20.  25 home games.

St. John’s:  Plays its first 13 games on the road.  Home opener is March 16.  24 home games.

Michigan:  Plays its first 18 games on the road.  Home opener is March 26.  22 home games.

It’s easy to see that there’s an inherent competitive disadvantage for Northern teams.  They don’t just have to travel for those extra road games, they also have to fly to most of those games while many if not all of the road trips for the Southern teams are via bus.  That means even more cost (there’s no airline discount for baseball teams for checking 70 plus bags per trip.)

The argument can be made that the Northern schools I’ve mentioned are from BCS Conferences, so they should be able to afford the travel.  But what about teams from conferences like the America East, Atlantic 10 & Horizon League (and others)?  They don’t have the BCS trickle down (or even windfall from multiple NCAA basketball tourney bids), but they still have to fly south while their counterparts in the Big South, Atlantic Sun, etc. have shorter bus trips (mostly) and they also occasionally get teams from the ACC and SEC to play in their home parks.

A case can also be made that if Northern teams are serious about winning they should invest more in their baseball programs.  Scaling down their travel costs and adding a few more marquee games to get more fans through the turnstiles won’t change any program overnight, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Look at the Big Leagues.  Kansas City doesn’t come close to packing Kauffman Stadium on a daily basis, but they (and every other team) see attendance spikes when the Yankees and Red Sox come to town.  That’s the kind of effect teams like LSU, UNC, Florida State and the rest would have.

Fans in the South get to see top teams all the time, but most fans in the North don’t get to see those same teams until they’re on TV in Super Regionals and at the College World Series.

I have talked to a couple of coaches who don’t want to say anything on the record right now, but there is a good chance we will see a “major” program or two venture North in the near future.

True equity is never going to happen, because there are so many schools in so many parts of the country involved.  But what’s better for college baseball in May – Louisiana Tech vs. Texas in Austin or Texas vs. Michigan in Ann Arbor?

By the way, mercury actually does exceed 80 degrees in Michigan in May.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast University baseball head coach Dave Tollett released the Eagles 2010 schedule on Friday and it includes 27 games at Swanson Stadium, 11 games against BCS Conference schools and 15 games against NCAA Regional teams, two of which advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals last season.

FGCU head coach Dave Tollett

newcomers to a squad that returns seven position starters and four starting pitchers.

Complete 2010 FGCU Schedule

The Eagles’ 55 game slate features six games against ACC competition, four games against Sun Belt teams, three games against the Missouri Valley Conference and the Atlantic 10, two games against the Big 12, along with single games against the SEC, Big East, & Big 10.

Head coach Dave Tollett talked about the Eagles’ schedule: “We wanted to play as tough a non-conference schedule as we could, knowing that this will be our first opportunity for postseason play.  With games against Wichita State, Florida, Michigan, Clemson, Oklahoma State, and Miami, we think we’ve got one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.  By playing quality teams throughout the season, we expect to be prepared not only for the A-Sun regular season, but also the conference tournament, and hopefully the NCAA tournament as well.”

The Eagles will open the 2010 season at home on Feb. 19-21 with a three-game series against Temple at Swanson Stadium before traveling south to face Miami in their first of two meetings on Feb. 24. The Hurricanes will travel to Fort Myers on Apr. 14 for the second meeting between the schools. Miami earned a berth in the 2009 NCAA Regionals after being ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation, posting a 38-22 record last season.

After their first road trip, the Eagles land back home to host a four-game set with Sacred Heart on Feb. 26-28. The series includes a double-header on Feb. 27.

On Mar. 3, FGCU hosts Michigan in the first meeting between the two schools.  After that, the Eagles hit the road to face Wichita State on Mar. 5-7. The Eagles will play a three-game series against the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference champions, who lost two one-run games in the 2009 NCAA Regionals.

The Eagles open A-Sun conference play on the road against USC Upstate on Mar. 12-13. The Eagles have an all-time winning record against nine of the ten A-Sun opponents they face; against Belmont, FGCU is 3-3 all-time.

Following a mid-week game against FIU on Mar. 16 at Swanson Stadium, the Eagles travel to Stetson for a weekend A-Sun matchup on Mar. 19-20. Along with FIU (Mar. 16 and May 18), FGCU will also face Sun Belt foe FAU (Apr. 20 and May 11).

The Eagles stay on the road to face Florida on Mar. 24 in Gainesville, Fla. Florida advanced to the NCAA Super Regional last season but fell to Southern Mississippi in two games. The Eagles have a 1-1 record against the Gators after each team earned road wins last season.

FGCU will host A-Sun foe Kennesaw State on Mar. 26-27 for the first time at Swanson Stadium. In the Eagles first two seasons, FGCU has beat out the Owls to earn back-to-back regular season titles.

On Mar. 30-31, FGCU will travel to Stillwater, Okla. for a two-game, mid-week series against 2009 NCAA Regional participant Oklahoma State.

The Eagles return home Apr. 2-3 for a weekend A-Sun series against Mercer.  FGCU has won five of the six meetings between the two schools.

Conference play continues the following weekend as the Blue and Green travel to Buies Creek, NC, for a three-game set with Campbell Apr. 9-10.  The Eagles have never lost to the Camels in their previous six meetings.

On April 14 the Miami Hurricanes will make their first trip to Fort Myers.  The Eagles have dropped the previous two meetings between the two schools, although the Blue and Green gave Miami a big scare in 2008, falling to the No. 1 ranked Hurricanes 4-2 in 11 innings.

FGCU heads back on the road to face A-Sun foe Lipscomb in a three-game series Apr. 16-18 in Nashville.  The Bison earned the No. 2 seed in the A-Sun tournament last season, finishing with a 17-13 conference record.

Following a home game against Florida Atlantic (Apr. 20), the Blue and Green will host Belmont Apr. 23-25.  The Bruins finished 29-29 overall last season, 15-15 in A-Sun play.

Beginning Apr. 27 FGCU will play five straight non-conference road games, beginning with a single game at South Florida on Apr. 27.  Following that the Eagles will travel to Clemson, SC for their first-ever meeting with the Clemson Tigers.  That four-game series starts on May 1 and wraps up May 4.

FGCU resumes conference play with a home series against ETSU on May 7-8, followed by a road game at Florida Atlantic (May 11).

The Eagles will travel to Jacksonville to do battle with last year’s A-Sun tournament No. 1 seed, the Jacksonville Dolphins, May 14-15.  The Dolphins took two out of three games from FGCU last year, but the Eagles swept JU in 2008.

After a road game at Florida International (May 18), FGCU returns home to close out the regular season against A-Sun foe North Florida May 20-21.  The Eagles swept the Ospreys in Jacksonville last year.

The 2010 A-Sun Championship is set for May 25-29 at Lipscomb’s Dugan Field at Marsh Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., for the Eagles’ first appearance. The 2010 NCAA Championship is set to begin on June 4 with regional play.

(Release)

Texas Tops Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s First 2010 Rankings