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Bubble Teams Not Fans Of Lobos, Tigers…

Heading into this week’s Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament there was no reason to be thinking highly of No. 6 seed New Mexico. Someone forgot to tell head coach Ray Birmingham.

Ray Birmingham

The Lobos had lost seven straight games heading into the MWC Tourney, but the first four of those losses came at Oklahoma and the last three setbacks were to conference rival TCU. Both of those teams have already eclipsed 40 wins this season as they shoot to get back to Omaha after trips there last year.

Birmingham’s Lobos have been seemingly unfazed by their late season misfortunes since arriving in San Diego, and now find themselves one win away from a return trip to the NCAA tournament. New Mexico (19-39) has beaten #3 seed BYU, #1 seed TCU and #2 seed Utah in succession to advance to Friday’s MWC Championship game against either TCU or Utah.

“This team has been through a lot,” Birmingham said after Thursday’s win over the Utes. ” There is a method to my madness and we’re getting there.”

That “madness” has included a brutal schedule this season after Birmingham guided New Mexico to its first NCAA bid in nearly five decades in 2010. The Lobos started the season by dropping three games at Arizona State (a fourth game was rained-out). Their non-conference slate also included games against Oklahoma State, Arizona, Texas Tech, Gonzaga and Oklahoma, finishing just 1-17 against those teams which are all in the NCAA conversation this weekend.

The Lobos also faced TCU, which was a preseason #1 team in some polls, six times (going 1-5) in conference play during the regular season.

“A lot of blogs said we had the hardest schedule in the nation and I believe we did,” Birmingham said after his team’s tournament win over TCU. “We’re not afraid to face the best now. We know how to face the best.”

New Mexico, a team with an RPI of 158 entering the week, is just the second No. 6 seed to advance to the championship game of the MWC Tournament. The only other team to do it was Utah in 2009. The Utes claimed the title that year.

TCU and Utah play at 6 p.m. ET Friday. New Mexico faces the winner at 10 p.m. A Lobo win would give them the tournament title and automatic NCAA bid. If the TCU/Utah winner beats UNM they would play an “if necessary” winner take all game on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. All games are televised by the Mtn. Network and CBS College Sports (channels 616 and 613, respectively on DirecTV).

Missouri players celebrate after Thursday's win (courtesy Big 12).

Missouri is another team that is causing migraines for NCAA bubble teams this week. The Tigers brought just a 24-30 record into this week’s Big 12 Tournament, but they won four of their last five conference series to close the regular season. Those wins all came against teams with higher seeds in this week’s tournament: Texas A&M (2), Baylor (5), Kansas State (6), and Texas Tech (7).

Two teams Missouri did not beat during the regular season were No. 1 seed Texas and No. 4 seed Oklahoma State. The Tigers dropped all six match-ups to the Longhorns and Cowboys in back-to-back weekends at the start of April, but their fortunes changed in rematches this week in Oklahoma City.

Missouri knocked-off top-seeded Texas 6-4 on Wednesday and then held-off OSU 6-5 on Thursday to advance to the tournament semifinals. Missouri led Oklahoma State 5-0, only to see the Cowboys score five runs over the last two innings to tie the game before Eric Garcia‘s walk-off hit with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“I’m really proud of these guys, not just this weekend, but the last five or six weeks,” Mizzou head coach Tim Jamieson said after his team’s fifth walk-off win of the season. “These guys read the blogs and read the websites much more than I do. They know we have to finish above .500 or win the tournament. We can’t finish above .500, so it’s pretty simple math.”

The Tigers now have Friday off and wait until Saturday morning at 10 ET to face the winner of Friday’s Texas-Oklahoma State elimination game. The eight-team Big 12 Tourney is formatted similarly to the College World Series, so if Mizzou wins Saturday it moves on to Sunday’s championship game (Texas A&M is 2-0 in the other four-team pool). If the Texas/OSU winner beats Missouri Saturday morning there will be a rematch that afternoon.

The Big 12 Championship game is Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET on Fox Sports Regional Networks.

Elsewhere…

Auburn and Georgia were both teams with work to do to heading into the SEC Tournament, but the bubble has already burst for one of those teams. Georgia (29-29) eliminated Auburn (29-29) in more ways than one with Thursday’s 3-2 victory.

Since a team must finish above .500 to receive an NCAA at-large bid, Auburn’s season is now done. With that in mind, Georgia must not only beat South Carolina on Friday, but they would also have to beat Florida Saturday afternoon to meet the above .500 requirement. South Carolina fell 7-2 to Vanderbilt Thursday night, while Florida is 2-0 with wins over Mississippi State and Alabama.

The fact that Georgia and Auburn could both finish below .500 after qualifying for the SEC field could indirectly help the at-large cases of two teams that didn’t make it to Hoover. Three-time defending SEC champion LSU (36-20 overall) is home this week with an RPI of 23, while Ole Miss (30-25) awaits selection Monday with an RPI of 40.
The only realistic shot the Big East had to get two teams in the NCAA Tournament was for someone other than Connecticut to win its conference tourney. That’s closer to happening after defending champion St. John’s (34-18 and this year’s #2 seed) downed Pittsburgh 6-4 Thursday to improve to 2-0, while UConn (40-16-1) was upset 4-3 by #4 seed Seton Hall (31-23) to fall into the elimination bracket.

The Huskies (38 RPI) are still in good shape for an at-large bid, but anything other than a conference tournament title would all but kill any chances of hosting a regional for a second straight year.
Houston pulled-off its second straight upset at the Conference USA Tournament Thursday. The No. 6 seed Cougars downed No. 2 Southern Mississippi 7-6 a day after downing No. 3 East Carolina 8-5. As we reported earlier this week, Southern Miss. is without two of its top three starting pitchers, Geoffrey Thomas and Jonathon Thompson, who are suspended for academic reasons. Houston (27-30) now faces No. 7 Tulane (30-26).
It didn’t quite match Wednesday’s 20-inning marathon between Western Carolina and Elon in the SoCon Tournament, but Georgia Tech outlasted North Carolina State 6-5 in 15 innings Thursday at the ACC Tourney. Yellow Jacket Matt Hyde stole home in the top of the 15th to give his team the win in the longest game in ACC Tournament history. Georgia Tech, NC State, Clemson and Florida State all are 1-1 in Pool B.

No. 8 seed Arkansas-Little Rock has clinched spot in Sunday’s Sun Belt Championship game. UALR (22-32) has wins over No. 1 Troy and No. 4 Western Kentucky.

 

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A By The Numbers Look At The Latest Week’s Action

We comb through hundreds of box scores, game recaps and releases each week to find our Notebooks nuggets.  If there’s something noteworthy you think we need to add drop us an email.

D.D. Hanks (USA photo)

7…Wins apiece for South Alabama pitcher D.D. Hanks and Asher Wojciechowski of The Citadel.  Both earned their nation-leading wins Friday night.

8:13 P.M…The time (Eastern) South Alabama’s 9-2 win over New Orleans ended Friday night, making Hanks (7-1) the nation’s first 7-game winner.  He struck out 9 in his fourth complete game effort of the season.

9:37 P.M…The time (Eastern) The Citadel’s 3-2 win over Wofford ended Friday night, to make Wojciechowski the nation’s second 7-game winner.  He fanned 9 as well in 8 innings of work.

46…Combined wins by Arizona State and UCLA to open the 2010 season.

2…Combined losses by ASU and UCLA Friday night, as they both tasted defeat for the first time to Pac 10 foes.  ASU’s 24-game winning streak and UCLA’s 22-game streak were both respective school records.  Both the Sun Devils and Bruins would win their series finales to win 2 of 3 games on the weekend.

5:24…Time of ASU’s 6-5 loss in 12-innings to Oregon Friday night in Eugene.  The game featured an hour and five minutes of rain and lightening delays.

3…Sun Devil errors in the loss, leading to five of six Duck runs being unearned.  Junior Marcus Piazzisi had the

Marcus Piazzisi

game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning.

1…Career home run by ASU’s Drew Maggi-a solo shot that gave the Sun Devils a 1-0 win over the Ducks in the series-opener to run their record to 24-0.

7…Runs scored by Stanford in the 5th inning en-route to their 8-4 win over UCLA that same night.

6…Of those runs that were unearned due to a throwing error that started the frame.  Four runs crossed the plate with two outs.

9…Innings pitched by Stanford’s Jordan Pries (3-1) who notched the second complete game of the season for both he and his team while handing the Bruins their first loss.

Jordan Pries

3…Home runs hit by Virginia Tech in Saturday’s 8-7 win at Florida State.  Coupled with Friday’s 10-5 series-opening win over the Seminoles, the Hokies notched their first series win ever over FSU (the lost 9-6 in Sunday’s series finale).

400…Career wins for Virginia Tech head coach Pete Hughes after the weekend’s two wins over the ‘Noles.  Hughes is in his 14th year as a head coach.

2…Wins by Georgetown in its three-game series with Notre Dame to give the Hoyas their first ever series win over the Fighting Irish.

1…Grand slam hit by North Carolina State’s Andrew Ciencin to help the Wolfpack upset #3 Virginia Sunday.  The win gave NC State its second win over the Cavs in the 3-game series.

9 of 9…Virginia closer Kevin Arico’s record in save opportunities this season prior to his first blown save in Friday’s 6-5 loss in 11 innings to NC State.

500…Wins at NC State by head coach Elliott Avent after the Friday night win.  He’s just the second coach in school history with as many victories.

16…Strikeouts in 9 innings by South Florida’s Andrew Barbosa in Friday’s 5-0 win over Cincinnati.

9…Combined strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings by Cincinnati relievers Brian Garman and Andrew Burkett in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Bulls.  Garman (3-0) fanned 7 of the 9 batters he faced to earn the win, while Burkett K’d 2 of 3 Bulls in the 9th to notch his 5th save.

3…Grand slams hit in a span of five games by East Carolina’s Zach Wright, who connected on his third slam in Tuesday’s 8-0 win over Elon.

Zach Woods

15…Strikeouts by ECU pitcher Zach Woods-a career-high-in that same win over Elon.  He fanned 7 of the first 9 batters he faced to become just the second Pirate pitcher in the last 40 years record 15 punch outs in a game.

20 & 23…Runs scored Thursday and Friday by Cal State Fullerton in wins over UC Davis to give the Titans back-to-back 20-run games for the first time in 30 years.  They won Saturday’s finale 3-2 to open 3-0 in Big West play.

21 2/3…Innings pitched by Texas hurlers prior to surrendering a run to Oklahoma en-route to a 3-game weekend sweep.  The Longhorns won by finals of 5-0, 2-0 and 9-3 in Norman.

11…Game winning streak by #35 Pittsburgh-a school record-heading into last weekend’s Big East series at Rutgers.

5…Runs scored by Rutgers in the bottom of the 9th inning of Thursday’s 9-8 series-opening win to snap Pitt’s streak.  The Scarlet Knights won game two 6-1 to run their winning streak to eight before falling 6-5 to the Panthers in the finale.  Since a 1-8 start to the season RU has won 13 of its last 16 games.

3…Straight complete games pitched by UT Arlington right-hander Jason Mitchell (4-2) after Thursday’s 4-0 win over Nicholls State.

3…Games played away from home this season by Arizona, which opened the season with a 20-5 record at Kindall Field/Sancet Stadium.

Andrew Clark (Louisville photo)

3…Losses by Arizona at Cal in their first road trip of the year.  The Golden Bears beat the Wildcats by finals of 7-2, 8-0 & 4-3 in Berkley over the weekend in the second Pac 10 series of the season for both teams.

13…Total bases for Louisville’s Andrew Clark in Thursday’s 12-4 win over Villanova.  The senior first baseman was 5-for-5 with two home runs, two doubles and 5 RBIs in the game.

13…RBIs for Clark in his last seven games since returning from a rib cage stress fracture.  Clark’s 9th inning game-winning HR in Tuesday’s 5-4 win over Indiana is among the four home runs he’s hit in that stretch.

28 2/3…Scoreless innings streak by Indiana pitcher Drew Leininger that ended with Clark’s home run.

26…Runs scored by IU in Sunday’s 26-6 win over Michigan-the most runs ever scored by a Hoosier team in Big Ten play.  The final scored was also the most lopsided win for IU in the 186 game series vs. the Wolverines, who still won the series 2-1.

1…Hit allowed by Rice’s Taylor Wall in Thursday’s 6-0 win over cross-town rival Houston.  Wall struck out seven with one BB to earn the Rice pitching staff’s first complete game of the season.

6…Sacrifice bunts by TCU-a school record-in Thursday’s 4-1 win over visiting San Diego State.

14…Straight batters retired by Horned Frog freshman pitcher Matt Purke from the 3rd through the 7th inning of that game.  Purke struck out 10, but settled for a no-decision in the win.  (TCU won the series 2-1.)

2-1…Score of Pacific’s Big West series-opening win at Long Beach State.

1998…The last time Pacific won a road game at LBSU (the Dirt Bags still won the series 2-1).

12…Strikeouts in 8 innings by UC Irvine pitcher Daniel Bibona in a series-opening 16-2 win over Cal State Northridge en-route to a 3-game sweep to open Big West Conference play.

6…Runs scored with two outs in the 8th and 9th innings of Tennessee’s 10-6 win over Ole Miss on Sunday to win the series 2-1.

7…Straight losses to open SEC play by the Vols before winning the last two games of the series vs. the 12th ranked

P.J. Polk (UT photo)

Rebels.

2…Home runs by Tennessee outfielder P.J. Polk in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Mississippi.

10…Doubles hit by North Florida-a school record-in a 13-5 win over East Tennessee State.

4…Of those doubles that were hit by UNF catcher David Eldredge.

20…Game hitting streak by Central Florida’s Chris Duffy after recording at least one hit in all five UCF games last week.  Duffy is among the nation’s leaders with a .478 average, 13 HR and 48 RBIs.

12…Strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in two appearances by Wichita State reliever Cobey Guy.  The senior logged a career-high 3 1/3 innings with 6 Ks after entering the game in the first inning of Sunday’s 17-2 win over Evansville.

1,700…Career wins by Wichita State head coach Gene Stephenson after Sunday’s victory over the Purple Aces, making him just the second coach in Division 1 baseball history to reach that milestone.

This was probably the busiest week since June.  Here’s a look at some of the new things on the site this week.  (Just in case you missed them!)

1.  Two Sport Report #5…an update on college baseball players (including Toby Gerhart, Golden Tate & Russell Wilson) who are playing other sports this fall.

2.  Arkansas Pine Bluff pitcher Kevin Edwards tragically dies in car crash.

3.  Arizona State names Tim Esmay interim head baseball coach.

4.   Andy Stankiewicz leaving ASU to join Seattle Mariners organization.

5.  UK pitcher James Paxton sues the University of Kentucky.

6.  A By The Numbers look at Toby Gerhart’s college football & baseball careers at Stanford.

7.  A classic podcast interview with Notre Dame receiver/outfielder Golden Tate.

8.   Gerhart & Tate shine in regular season football finale (Stanford vs. Notre Dame football).

9.  Villanova receiver/infielder Matt Szczur leads Wildcat football team to FCS playoff win.

10.  NC State quarterback/infielder Russell Wilson throws 4 TDs in Wolfpack football season finale.

11.  University of South Florida to get new baseball stadium.

12.  Texas to retire Longhorn great Keith Moreland’s jersey number.

13.  A slew of 2010 schedules released this week, including: Miami (FL), Oregon State, Oklahoma, and Arizona.

Series versus Florida, North Carolina and Virginia highlight home slate

Miami Head Coach Jim Morris

The 56-game slate also features an exhibition contest against the Florida Marlins on March 3, 19 games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams and a total of 44 games played inside the state of Florida.

Complete 2010 Miami Schedule (PDF)

The Hurricanes will open the 2010 season with a seven-game homestand beginning with a weekend series versus Rutgers, Feb. 19-21. It marks the second straight year UM will open its season at home against the Scarlet Knights.

Miami will open the month of March with a trip to Tampa to play USF at George Steinbrenner Field – the spring training home of the New York Yankees – on March 2. The next day, the `Canes will take on the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter before playing host to rival Florida for a three-game set at Alex Rodriguez Park, March 5-7.

The `Canes will open Atlantic Coast Conference play at home against Boston College, March 12-14. The remaining home series in league play include Wake Forest (April 2-4), North Carolina (16-18), Maryland (April 30 – May 2) and Virginia (May 20-22). The series against the Cavaliers will mark the conclusion of the regular season schedule.

Miami’s road schedule in league play begins with a series at Duke (March 19-21 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park), followed by trips to NC State (March 26-28), Virginia Tech (April 9-11), Florida State (April 23-25) and Georgia Tech (May 14-16).

The 2010 ACC Tournament will be held May 26-30 at Greensboro’s NewBridge Bank Park. Full tournament passes are on sale now by calling (336) 268-BALL or by visiting www.theacc.com. Individual game tickets for the ACC Tournament will go on sale in April 2010.

Regional play of the NCAA tournament will be held the weekend of June 4-6, followed by Super Regionals, June 11-13, and the College World Series, June 19-30.

The `Canes return 17 letterwinners from last year’s 38-22 team, including 2009 All-ACC performers Chris Hernandez, Yasmani Grandal and Scott Lawson. In addition, two-time All-ACC performer Eric Erickson returns after missing the 2009 season rehabilitating from an injury.

Prior to the season-opener against Rutgers, the team will hold three of its biggest annual events — the preseason banquet, the alumni game and golf tournament – all in the same weekend. The weekend kicks off with the banquet on Friday, Feb. 12, followed by the alumni game on Saturday, Feb. 13 and the team’s golf tournament on Monday, Feb. 15. Former Hurricane and current MLB All-Star Ryan Braun will be the guest speaker at the banquet.

(Release)

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Boston College baseball team released its schedule for the 2010 season. The 58-game slate begins on February 19 at Tulane and concludes with a nine-game home stand that features two perennial ACC powerhouses.

BC Head Coach Mikio Aoki

following weekend, BC will compete in a tournament at Auburn where it will face the host Tigers, Florida Atlantic and Missouri.

Complete 2010 Boston College Schedule

Boston College’s annual exhibition game with the Boston Red Sox is scheduled for March 3 at 6:05 p.m. at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla. Last season, BC nearly won for the first time as it led 1-0 after four and a half innings (in a six inning game). The Red Sox scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth and went on to win, 7-1.

The Eagles will stay in Florida until March 14 as they have a three-game series at Florida Atlantic (March 5-7) and then a two-game midweek set at Florida International (March 9-10). BC then opens ACC play at Miami on March 12. The Hurricanes finished No. 20 in the final USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and reached the NCAA Regionals.

Boston College returns to New England for two more away contests at Connecticut (March 16) and Bryant (March 17) before traveling to Virginia, which reached the College World Series and finished No. 5 in the country.

The Eagles open their home schedule on March 23 when they host Hartford at Eddie Pellagrini Diamond at Commander Shea Field. Holy Cross visits Chestnut Hill the next day before Duke comes into town for a three-game ACC series beginning March 26.

BC’s early ACC away schedule does not get any easier as the next weekend it heads to South Carolina to take on Clemson, which finished No. 14 in the poll and advanced to the Super Regionals.

The Eagles will spend a good amount of time at home after their Clemson trip as it hosts Maryland beginning April 9, sandwiched by two non-conference games at Shea Field against Bryant (April 7) and Massachusetts (April 13).

Wake Forest will make a trip to Chestnut Hill on April 16 for a three-game series and BC will also host Harvard in a local tilt on April 21.

The Beanpot is also scheduled for April but dates and times will be announced at a later date. The championship game of the Beanpot is annually played at Fenway Park.

Boston College will be back on the road for two more ACC series at NC State (April 23-25) and Virginia Tech (April 30-May 2) before closing out the season with a nine-consecutive games in Chestnut Hill.

The Eagles will host non-conference match ups against Northeastern (May 4), Connecticut (May 10) and St. John’s (May 18) to finish up its out of league contests. BC will also host a pair of ACC and national powers to close out the season as Florida State (May 7-9) and Georgia Tech (May 20-22) come to town. The Seminoles reached the Super Regionals and finished No. 10 in the poll and the Yellow Jackets advanced to the Regionals and ended at No. 18.

The 2010 ACC Baseball Tournament will be held May 26-30 at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C.

(Release)

Blue Devils Release Challenging Slate

Duke Head Coach Sean McNally

North Carolina and Virginia, NCAA Super Regional qualifiers Clemson and Florida State and NCAA Regional teams Baylor, Georgia, Boston College, Miami and Georgia Tech.

Complete 2010 Duke Schedule (PDF)

Five of those series will take place at home in Durham, N.C., with four being played at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home to the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The home sets against North Carolina, Miami, Clemson and Virginia will all be played at the DBAP, while the three-game showdown against Florida State will be at Jack Coombs Field on the West Campus of Duke University.

The Blue Devil baseball program recently announced an agreement with the Durham Bulls to play 18 home games in 2010 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which is one of the top minor league facilities in the country and will now serve as one of the top-tier venues in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Along with the aforementioned conference series at the DBAP, Duke will also host Fordham and Temple for a pair of three-game sets at the park.

Duke’s schedule boasts 11 teams that won at least 30 games in 2009 and four that finished with at least 40 wins. Duke’s 2010 opponents combined for a 654-575 (.531) record last year. Of Duke’s 56 games scheduled for 2010, 25 will be played against 2009 NCAA Tournament participants.

Rounding out Duke’s ACC schedule will be road trips to Boston College, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and NC State. Exempt from the Blue Devils’ ACC slate this year is Maryland, which will be replaced on the 2010 slate by Florida State, who Duke has not played since 2006.

Duke will still use Jack Coombs Field, its home stadium since 1931 on the West Campus of Duke University, as a practice facility and home field. Along with the home series against Florida State, Duke will host non-conference foes Quinnipiac, High Point, William and Mary, Davidson, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils will also make road trips to non-conference opponents Wofford and Liberty.

Duke’s 2010 season opens on Feb. 19, 2010, in Waco, Texas, as part of the QTI Apparel Opening Weekend Classic, hosted by Baylor where Duke will face both Baylor and Georgia. The season finale takes place on May 22 at NC State, just before the start of the ACC Tournament on May 26-30 in Greensboro, N.C.

(Release)

Football/Baseball Standout Has Big Day In Wolfpack Upset Of Tar Heels

QB/IF Russell Wilson

For the game, Wilson completed 20 of his 27 passes for 259 yards through the air. Senior Toney Baker rushed for 62 yards on 17 carries.

Wilson just finished his redshirt sophomore season with the Wolfpack football team.  He completed 224 of 378 passes (59.3%) for 3,027 yards, 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season.  He will be a junior on the N.C. State baseball team in 2010.  He and other college baseball/football players (and a swimmer and soccer player who also play baseball) have been featured throughout the fall in the exclusive Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Reports.   CLICK HERE to listen to a CB360 podcast interview with Wilson.

The Wolfpack maintained the victory thanks to a pair of big defensive plays. First, as Carolina drove the field late in the game, the drive stalled and Casey Barth came out to try a 38 field goal. But defensive tackle Alan-Michael Cash tipped the low line drive right as it crossed the line of scrimmage. The ball fell harmlessly to the ground before reaching the goal line.

Then, after the Wolfpack offense picked up a three first downs before turning the ball over on downs, senior safety Clem Johnson intercepted a deep pass by Yates near midfield.

After Wilson took a knee, the sold out crowd at Carter-Finley Stadium began celebrating its third consecutive victory over the Tar Heels.

N.C. State finishes the season with a 5-7 record overall and 2-6 in the ACC. North Carolina falls to 8-4 and 4-4.

Yellow Jackets open schedule with eight games in first 10 days

Georgia Tech Head Coach Danny Hall

“I think when you look at our schedule the one thing that you’ll see right away is that we get to open up earlier this year than we did last year,” head coach Danny Hall said. “The NCAA gave us an extra week to play our season, which I’m excited about because it doesn’t force us to play every Tuesday and Wednesday. Now we can space out some of those Tuesday-Wednesday games and have a little more room to play the season.”

Complete 2010 GT Schedule

The Jackets will open ACC play at home against Wake Forest on March 12, one of five home conference series in 2010. Duke (Apr. 2-4), Clemson (Apr. 16-18), Virginia Tech (Apr. 23-25) and Miami (May 14-16) also will visit Russ Chandler Stadium.

Tech travels to Maryland (Mar. 19-21), North Carolina (Mar. 26-28), Virginia (Apr. 9-11) and NC State (Apr. 4-Mar. 2) before concluding with a three-game series at Boston College May 20-22.

Not on the schedule this year is Florida State, as the Seminoles roll off the ACC slate for the next two seasons.

“I think that Florida State is one of the premier programs in the ACC, and I don’t like not having them on the schedule. I understand why we’re not playing them, but it’s not something that I really like because they always produce great games whether we’re playing in Russ Chandler Stadium or at Florida State.”

The mid-week schedule is filled with in-state teams, including a three-game series with rival Georgia. The Jackets and the Bulldogs square off March 16 on the Flats and Apr. 14, in Athens before concluding the series with the annual Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta contest at Turner Field Apr. 27.

“I think it’s a very competitive schedule that will challenge our team to the fullest,” added Hall. “You look at the three games we have with Georgia. We play Georgia Southern four times. We play Mercer twice. We play Kennesaw State twice.”

The 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament will take place May 26-30 in Greensboro, N.C. The five-day tournament will be held at Greensboro’s NewBridge Bank Park.

“The ACC Tournament in Greensboro is a new experience in that we’ve never played there. I’m hearing that it’s very hitter-friendly in the power alleys. I’m not sure that I like that, particularly with an aluminum bat. But everyone else has to play in it, and I think the biggest thing for us is making sure we’re in that tournament because only the top eight teams in the league go. We definitely have our sights set on getting to Greensboro and then hopefully playing extremely well in that tournament.”

The 2010 NCAA Tournament will kick off June 4 with regional action, to be followed by super regionals (June 11-14) and the College World Series (June 19-30).