Day-2 Notebook (2010 Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge)
BIG TEN/BIG EAST CHALLENGE – Day-2 Results
(Feb. 27, 2010 … BIG EAST 7-3 margin for the day, series tied 10-10)
(BIG EAST wins in italics)
GAME 20 – Louisville 17, Michigan State 6 (Jack Russell Stadium)
FINAL STATS | LOU Recap | MSU Recap
GAME 19 – St. John’s 2, Michigan 1 (Al Lang Stadium)
FINAL STATS | SJU Recap | MICH Recap
GAME 18 – South Florida 12, Illinois 3 (Bright House Networks Field)
FINAL STATS | USF Recap | ILL Recap
GAME 17 – Ohio State 10, Notre Dame 2 (Bright House Networks Field)
FINAL STATS | OSU Recap | ND Recap
GAME 16 – Northwestern 7, Rutgers 5 (Naimoli Complex)
FINAL STATS | NU Recap | RU Recap
GAME 15 – Cincinnati 7, Purdue 6 (Jack Russell Stadium)
FINAL STATS | CIN Recap | PUR Recap
GAME 14 – Connecticut 8, Minnesota 2 (Al Lang Stadium)
FINAL STATS | UConn Recap | MINN Recap
GAME 13 – West Virgnia 9, Iowa 5 (Naimoli Complex)
FINAL STATS | WVU Recap | IOWA Recap
GAME 12 – Penn State 3, Seton Hall 2 … 13 inn. (Jack Russell Stadium)
FINAL STATS | PSU Recap | SHU Recap
GAME 11 – Villanova 8, Indiana 1 (Al Lang Stadium)
FINAL STATS | VILL Recap | IU Recap
Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge Day-1 Notebook
Big Ten wins 7-of-10 games on day-1 (note: day-1 notes will be continually added to this post, in blog post format)
2:54 p.m. (2/27/10) – Game-3 highlightes and notes:
Seton Hall 001 200 000 – 3 6 2 Michigan State 000 011 12X – 5 5 0
MSU Notes – Jr. RHP A.J. Achter 5.1IP-3R-5H-2BB-8K … so. LHP Trevor Popp (W-3.2IP-H-BB-3K) … tying run in 7th, 2R in 8th: sr LF Bo Felt/6-hole RBI triple, so. 3B/8-hole Andrew Carpenter (2RBI-R) added RBI single
SHU Notes – Jr RHP Joe DiRocco 5.1 IP-2R/1 ER-2H-3BB-4K … jr. 3B/7-hole Sean Gusrang solo HR … sr. 1B/5-hole Chris Spagnuolo 2-run 2B
• • • • •
1:02 p.m. (2/27/10) – Game-2 highlightes and notes:
Connecticut 000 040 100 0 – 5 10 4 Northwestern 001 004 000 1 – 6 12 3
NU NOTES – So. DH/RHP Paul Snieder (5-hole) scored winning run in 10th (2-for-4/2R-BB; middle relief 2.2IP-2H-3BB-K) … winning sequence in 10th: Snieder leadoff 1B to CF, Colby Everett SAC, so. IF/9-hole Zach Morton 2-out 1B to RF (2-for-3, 2 RBI-R-BB-SAC) … sr. LHP starter Jack Muraski 6.1IP-5R-7H-2BB … game had 8 combined errors
UCONN NOTES – So. CF/3-hole George Springer 3RBI-R-BB-2B-SF … jr. LHP Elliot Glynn 5IP-R-5H-BB-5K … 4R in 5th (4-1 lead) … both teams 10 LOB (UConn left man on 2nd in 8th-9th-10th) … so. RHP Ryan Thompson (L) 0.2IP-R-2H-BB
• • • • •
11:32 a.m. (2/27/10) – Game-1 highlightes and notes:
Rutgers 010 010 001 – 3 7 0 Iowa 101 010 03X – 6 11 0
TOP IOWA PLAYERS: so. LHP Jarrod Hippen 8.2IP-3R-6H-BB-8K … jr. SS/9-hole Kurt Lee 2-3/2RBI-R-2B-SAC-SB … jr. LF/9-hole Kurt McCool 2-3/2R-3B-SAC
RUTGERS NOTES: sr. RHP Casey Gaynor (L) 6.1IP-3R-8H-BB-5K … jr. 1B/cleanup Jared Matthews 3B/R…jr. RF/leadoff Michael Lang RBI 2B … sr. catcher/7-hole Jayson Hernandez 2-out RBI single in 9th, brought tying run to plate (Iowa jr. RHP Kevin Lee rolle up game-ending 6-4 groundout from pinch-hitter Ryan Kapp)
• • • • •
10:29 p.m. (2/26/10) – Day-1 scores and links
The first day of competition in the second Big Ten/BIG EAST Baseball Challenge is complete, with the Big Ten winning 7-of-10 games to take a four-game cushion into Saturday’s series of 10 more games (followed by 10 more on Sunday, the tournament’s final day).
The Big Ten outscored the BIG EAST by only 10 runs (56-46), with the day’s action featuring three 1-run games (two of them in extra innings and four others decided by 2-run margins (plus one 3-run game). The BIG EAST had one blowout win (Villanova 13, Purdue 5), while the Big Ten posted the day’s biggest margin when Illinois defeated Notre Dame, 11-1.
BIG TEN/BIG EAST CHALLENGE – Day-1 Results
(Feb. 26, 2010 … Big Ten won 7-of-10)
(BIG EAST wins in italics)
GAME 10 – Louisville 2, Michigan 0 (Dunedin Staduim)
FINAL STATS | LOU Recap | MICH Recap
GAME 9 – Illinois 11, Notre Dame 1 (Jack Russell Stadium)
FINAL STATS | ILL Recap | ND Recap
GAME 8 – Ohio State 4, South Florida 2 (Al Lang Stadium)
FINAL STATS | OSU Recap | USF Recap
GAME 7 – St. John’s 5, Minnesota 4 (Dunedin Stadium)
FINAL STATS | SJU Recap | MINN Recap
GAME 6 – Villanova 13, Purdue 5 (Naimoli Complex)
FINAL STATS | VILL Recap | PUR Recap
GAME 5 – Indiana 10, West Virginia 8 (Jack Russell Stadium)
FINAL STATS | IU Recap | WVU Recap
GAME 4 – Penn State 5, Cincinnati 4 … 12 innings (Al Lang Stadium)
FINAL STATS | PSU Recap | CIN Recap
GAME 3 – Michigan State 5, Seton Hall 3 (Naimoli Complex)
FINAL STATS | MSU Recap | SHU Recap
GAME 2 – Northwestern 6, Connecticut 5 … 10 inn. (Jack Russell Stadium)
FINAL STATS | NU Recap | UConn Recap
GAME 1 – Iowa 6, Rutgers 3 (Al Lang Stadium
FINAL STATS | Iowa Recap | RU Recap
The College Baseball Season: To Extend Or Not To Extend
NCAA To Decide Season’s Length This Week
By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires
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 Red Storm fans a lot more excited than another midweek game against Iona 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 actuall does exceed 80 degrees in Michigan in May.
Long Island 2010 Baseball Schedule
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Head coach Don Maines and the Long Island University baseball team announced the schedule for the 2010 season on Tuesday. The Blackbirds are slated to play 56 games during the 2010 campaign, highlighted by an early-season trip to Florida and a four-game series at Atlantic Coast Conference member Virginia Tech.
Long Island will open up the season with a trip to Kannapolis, N.C., for a neutral-site, four-game set with Canisius beginning on Feb. 26. It will be the first of 10 four-game series for the team, which will all consist of a pair of single games sandwiched around a doubleheader. The Blackbirds will visit Blacksburg, Va., for
LIU head coach Don Maines
four games with Virginia Tech starting on March 5.
Complete 2010 Long Island Schedule
From there, Long Island will head to the sunny climes of Winter Haven, Fla., on March 12 for a nine-day, six-game road trip. There, the Blackbirds will take on Central Michigan, Army, Maryland-Baltimore County, North Dakota State, Dartmouth and NJIT. Long Island will return to Brooklyn for its first contest at LIU Field on March 23 when local rival Manhattan visits.
Northeast Conference play opens on March 26 when the Blackbirds visit their Staten Island neighbor Wagner for four games. Following a midweek, non-conference tilt at St. John’s on March 30, Long Island will host its first NEC series beginning on April 1 against Fairleigh Dickinson.
The Blackbirds will also host midweek games at LIU Field against Saint Peter’s (April 7) and Hofstra (May 4). Long Island will visit non-conference foes NYIT (April 13), Rider (April 21 and May 16) and Lafayette (April 28).
This season, Long Island will host NEC series against Sacred Heart, Monmouth and conference newcomer Bryant. The Blackbirds will be on the road against Quinnipiac, Mount St. Mary’s and Central Connecticut State, wrapping up the season in New Britain, Conn., with four games against the Blue Devils beginning on May 21.
The home series against Bryant, beginning on May 7, will be played at KeySpan Park, the Coney Island home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones. The Blackbirds will also take on Le Moyne at KeySpan in a doubleheader on May 14.
(Release)
Minnesota 2010 Baseball Schedule
MINNEAPOLIS– The Minnesota baseball team released its 2010 schedule on according to an announcement by Golden Gopher head coach John Anderson.
Minnesota’s 2010 schedule features one non-conference team that competed in the
Golden Gopher Head Coach John Anderson
NCAA Super Regionals in 2009 and four out of conference opponents that were part of NCAA Regional play in 2009.
Complete 2010 Minnesota Schedule
The Golden Gophers will start things off when they bring back the Pro-Alumni Game for the first time since 2007. It will take place on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6:05 p.m.
Minnesota will open up the season against Akron (19-33, 12-15 in 2009) in Fort Myers, Fla. on Feb. 19-21. The next week, the Golden Gophers will travel to St. Petersburg, Fla. where they will compete in the Big East-Big Ten Challenge. Minnesota will face St. John’s (30-22, 16-11) in Dunedin on Friday, Feb. 26, Connecticut (36-24, 14-13) in St. Petersburg on Saturday, Feb. 27 and 2009 Super Regional participant Louisville in St. Petersburg on Sunday, Feb. 28.
The Golden Gophers will return home to host the Dairy Queen Classic on Mar. 5-7. Minnesota will welcome Loyola Marymount (30-29, 13-8), Northwestern (14-35, 5-17) and 2009 NCAA Regional participant Oklahoma State (34-24, 9-16) to the 26th annual installment of the Dairy Queen Classic. Minnesota will face Loyola Marymount on Friday, Mar. 5 at 6:35 p.m., Oklahoma State on Saturday, Mar. 6 at 6:35 p.m. and Northwestern on Sunday, Mar. 7 at 3:05 p.m.
Following the Dairy Queen Classic, the Golden Gophers will host Division III National Champion St. Thomas (41-13) at the Metrodome on Wednesday, Mar. 10. Minnesota will host the Metrodome Tournament on Mar. 12-14. The Golden Gophers will welcome Creighton (31-25, 14-9), Harvard (13-28, 10-10) and South Dakota State (26-30, 17-10) to the Metrodome that weekend. Minnesota will host Harvard on Friday, Mar. 12, Creighton on Saturday, Mar. 13 and South Dakota State on Sunday, Mar. 14.
After the Metrodome Classic, Minnesota will embark on six-game road trip to Alabama and Samford. The Golden Gophers will face 2009 NCAA Regional participant Alabama (37-21, 18-11) in a two-game series on Mar. 16-17. Minnesota will then head to Samford (17-35, 9-21) for a four-game series on Mar. 18-21.
Minnesota will host North Dakota State (16-28, 10-14) at the Metrodome on Mar. 23-24. The Golden Gophers will host a three-game series against Louisiana Tech (29-22, 13-11) on Mar. 26-28. The Saturday game will be played at Target Field at 1:05 p.m., while the Friday and Sunday games will be at the Metrodome.
The Golden Gophers will open up Big Ten play on the road at Purdue on Apr. 2-4. Minnesota will return home to the Metrodome for the first Big Ten series against Michigan State on Apr. 16-18.
Minnesota’s other road series in the Big Ten will be against Northwestern (Apr. 16-18), Iowa (Apr. 30-May 2) and 2009 Big Ten Regular-Season Champion Ohio State (May 20-22). The Golden Gophers will have home conference series at the Metrodome against 2009 Big Ten Tournament Champion Indiana (Apr. 23-25), Michigan (May 7-9) and Penn State (May 14-16).
The Golden Gophers will also play midweek games during the conference season against Concordia-Moorhead (Mar. 31), Hamline (Apr. 6), South Dakota State (at home Apr. 14, on the road Apr. 20), North Dakota State (on the road Apr. 28) and at Kansas State (May 4-5).
Minnesota returns 20 players who saw action from a 2009 squad that finished 40-19, finished second in the Big Ten regular-season at 17-6, advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Championship and advanced to the final game of the NCAA Regionals in LSU.
(Release)
Fordham 2010 Baseball Schedule
Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham baseball head coach Nick Restaino announced the team’s 2010 schedule today, as the Rams will begin play on February 19th in Virginia.
Except for 1944, the Fordham baseball program has played every year since 1859 and stands as the winningest program in NCAA history. The Rams will be competing for their fifth Atlantic 10 Championship tournament berth in
Fordham Head Coach Nick Restaino
the last seven years, in hopes of being at the 2010 Atlantic 10 Championship, which will take place May 26-29 at Campbell’s Field in Camden, New Jersey.
Complete 2010 Fordham Schedule (PDF)
Fordham is scheduled to have 17 home games this season, which includes four Atlantic 10 weekend series at Houlihan Park.
Fordham will open the season at Old Dominion for a three-game series, February 19-21, followed by three games in Durham, North Carolina, against the Duke Blue Devils, February 26-28.
The Rams will then have their home opener on March 3rd, as they host cross town rival Manhattan College at Houlihan Park.
Fordham returns to the road for a three-game set at George Mason, March 5-7, before a home game against New York Tech on March 10th. The Rams then begin a seven-game stretch in Florida over Spring Break, where they have a three-game series with Pittsburgh (March 12-14) in West Palm Beach, Florida, a two-game series with Miami (Fla.) (March 16-17), and a three-game series versus Michigan at the Mets Training Facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida (March 19-20).
The Rams then begin Atlantic 10 play on the road at Richmond for three games, March 26-28. Besides Richmond, Fordham will play conference road series at St. Bonaventure (April 9-11), Dayton (April 23-25), Saint Joseph’s (May 7-9), and George Washington (May 14-16).
The Rams’ first home conference series will take place April 1-3, as they host Rhode Island. Fordham will also host Atlantic 10 opponents Saint Louis (April 16-18), La Salle (April 30-May 2), and Duquesne (May 20-22) at Houlihan Park.
In non-league play, Fordham will renew rivalries with Stony Brook, Fairfield, Rutgers, Iona, St. John’s, Columbia, Marist and Seton Hall this season.
(Release)
Notre Dame 2010 Baseball Schedule
Fighting Irish will play six games against teams that reached the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team’s 2010 schedule, recently finalized and approved for release, will include early-season trips to Mississippi, Florida and Texas along with BIG EAST road series at USF, Georgetown, Seton Hall, West Virginia and Villanova. The slate also features the second annual Big Ten-BIG EAST Baseball Challenge, hosted by the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Sports Commission.
Notre Dame’s four BIG EAST home series will include games versus Rutgers, Cincinnati, St. John’s and Louisville. The Irish will also host Michigan State for a three-game set and play a home-and-home series with Michigan, while the midweek games at Frank Eck Stadium will feature some of Notre Dame’s traditional non-conference rivals, most notably Ball State, UIC, Western Michigan and Central Michigan.
Complete Notre Dame 2010 Schedule (PDF)
Irish Head Coach Dave Schrage
In all, Notre Dame will play six games (Louisville, Ohio State, Gonzaga and Kansas State) against teams that reached the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
The Irish will open the 2010 season with a two-game series against Mississippi Valley State on Feb. 19-20. The Irish and Delta Devils will first play on the MVSU campus on Friday before travelling to Pearl, Miss. for a meeting at Trustmark Park – home of the Mississippi Braves (Class AA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves) on Saturday. Notre Dame concludes the opening weekend of the season with a second game at Trustmark Park against Jackson State on Sunday.
The Irish then head down to Clearwater, Fla. for the second annual Big Ten-BIG EAST Baseball Challenge on Feb. 26-28. Notre Dame plays Illinois on Friday at Jack Russell Stadium, Ohio State on Saturday at Bright House Networks Field and Penn State on Sunday at the Naimoli Complex.
Notre Dame returns to Florida the following week for the Stetson Tournament during the first stage of its Spring Break trip (March 6-7). The Irish will play Harvard and Kansas State on the first day of the tournament before facing the host Hatters on Sunday.
Notre Dame will then head west for a mid-week, two-game series at UT-Pan American on March 9-10 before concluding the Spring Break schedule in the familiar surroundings of San Antonio (March 11-14) at Wolff Stadium. The Irish will face Bradley on Thursday, Pacific on Friday, Gonzaga on Saturday. Notre Dame will play a fourth game that weekend against one of the previous three schools depending on a round-robin finish.
Each of the 12 BIG EAST baseball teams is again scheduled to play nine others in three-game series (Notre Dame will not face Connecticut or Pittsburgh in the 2010 regular season). All but one of the series involving Notre Dame will be three-day series, with a nine-inning doubleheader scheduled for the second day of the two-day series at West Virginia (May 8-9). Fans are reminded that the road series versus Georgetown (Bethesda, Md./Povich Field; April 1-3) and Villanova (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Villanova Ballpark; May 14-16) are played at off-campus venues.
In addition to those games mentioned above, dates for Notre Dame’s other BIG EAST road series include March 26-28 at USF and April 16-18 at Seton Hall. The BIG EAST home series are April 9-11 vs. Rutgers, April 23-25 vs. Cincinnati, April 30-May 2 vs. St. John’s and May 20-22 vs. Louisville.
The BIG EAST Tournament again will be played under an eight-team format from May 26-30, at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, Fla. The format will mirror the College World Series with two four-team brackets playing double-elimination games on the first four days. The bracket winners then will meet in a single title game on May 30.
(Press Release)
Louisville Baseball 2010 Schedule
Cards to play 31 home games, 41 games vs. BCS Conference foes & 12 games against 2009 NCAA teams
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville baseball head coach Dan McDonnell released the Cardinals’ 2010 schedule on Thursday and it includes 31 games at Jim Patterson Stadium, 41 games against BCS Conference schools and 12 games against NCAA Regional teams from last year.
The Cards, which won swept the BIG EAST Conference and regular season titles and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional in 2009, will play seven games against Big Ten competition and six games against Southeastern Conference teams, including a three-game series at reigning SEC champion Ole Miss.
Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell
“The 2010 schedule features some great opponents in some great venues that should really challenge our squad each week,” said McDonnell, who is 135-63 in three seasons in Louisville, including three straight NCAA appearances and back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament titles in 2008 and 2009. “As in years past, we continue to put an emphasis on playing against the best competition in the nation by scheduling more than 40 games against teams from the BCS conferences, as well as numerous NCAA Regional caliber squads. And as always, we’ve made it a priority to take advantage of having one of the top home facilities in the nation by playing more than 30 games at Jim Patterson Stadium.”
Louisville will open the 2010 season at home on Feb. 19-21 with a three-game series against reigning Mid-American Conference champion Bowling Green at Jim Patterson Stadium and will follow that with a mid-week game at home against Morehead State on Feb. 23.
The Cardinals will then take to the road for the first time for their first appearance in the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge hosted by St. Petersburg/Clearwater Sports Commission on Feb. 26-28. Louisville will play Michigan on Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Dunedin Stadium, spring training home for the Toronto Blue Jays, in the only night game on the opening day of the event, which will feature 10 games each day matching up teams from the Big Ten and BIG EAST.
Following the opener, the Cardinals will face Michigan State on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m. ET at Jack Russell Stadium, the longtime spring headquarters for the Philadelphia Phillies, while Louisville’s finale will be against Minnesota, a 2009 NCAA Regional squad, on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. ET at the Naimoli Complex, former spring training host for the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Cards will return home from Florida to host a five-game homestand at Jim Patterson Stadium. Louisville will host a mid-week game against Evansville (March 3), a three-game weekend series with NCAA Division I independent Le Moyne College (March 5-7) and a mid-week game against Indiana (March 9) in a rematch of the last year’s NCAA Regional first round game in Louisville. The Cardinals will play a return game against the Hoosiers on March 30 in Bloomington.
U of L will then return to the road for a three-game series in Oxford, Miss., against Ole Miss on March 12-14 in a match-up of reigning conference championship programs. It will also be a reunion for McDonnell, who served as an assistant coach at Ole Miss from 2001-06, and Cards’ senior first baseman Andrew Clark, who played one season for the Rebels before transferring to Louisville.
After hosting 2009 NCAA Regional team Xavier on March 15 for Elementary School Day at Patterson Stadium, the Cardinals will host their final non-conference weekend series on March 19-21 against Ball State.
Following a mid-week return game at Evansville on March 23, the Cards will the defense of their 2009 BIG EAST Conference title with a three-game series at home against Connecticut on March 26-28 at Jim Patterson Stadium. The series will be a rematch of last year’s BIG EAST Tournament title game, won by Louisville 11-3 in Clearwater, Fla.
Along with UConn, the Cardinals will host BIG EAST foes Villanova (April 1-3), Seton Hall (April 23-25), Rutgers (April 30-May 2) and St. John’s (May 14-16). Louisville will play four BIG EAST opponents on the road, including Pittsburgh (April 9-11), West Virginia (April 16-18), Georgetown (May 7-9) and Notre Dame (May 20-22).
The Cardinals will play the first of two games against rival Kentucky on April 6 in Lexington, while the Wildcats will visit Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville on April 28. U of L will also play two games against 2009 NCAA Regional squad Western Kentucky on April 14 in Bowling Green and on April 21 in Louisville and a mid-week home game against in-state foe Eastern Kentucky on May 18.
On May 4-5, Louisville will travel to Columbus, Ohio for a two-game, mid-week series against 2009 NCAA Regional participant Ohio State, while on May 11, the Cards will be in Nashville, Tenn., for a mid-week game at Vanderbilt in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Regional title game, which was won by Louisville 5-3.
The 2010 BIG EAST Championship is set for May 26-30 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla., where the Cardinals have won the last two tournament titles and have an 11-2 record overall. The 2010 NCAA Championship is set to begin on June 4 with regional play.
The 2010 Louisville squad returns seven position starters and most of its pitching staff from a team that finished the season ranked 14th in the nation after making the program’s second NCAA Super Regional appearance in McDonnell’s three years as the head coach.
Growing College Baseball
Four Ways To Promote The Game Where It Needs Promoting
By CB360 Editor Sean Stires
I have been thinking about writing this for a while, so I thought I should actually sit down and do it before October is over. It seems like every year around NCAA Tournament selection time we hear about “growing college baseball”. IE: “If we are going to grow college baseball (insert a team from the north) needs to have a chance to be in the tournament”.
I don’t completely disagree with that. I do think that if the game of college baseball is to grow in popularity teams north of the Mason Dixon line need to be represented in the field of 64. However, I don’t think that sending Rhode Island or St. John’s to regionals in Austin or Tempe (hypothetically) is the best way to grow and promote the sport in those areas. Here are a few things that I do think that would help to grow the sport in the north (and it won’t even take more fertilizer or watering.)
- Allow fall exhibition games that do not count against the 56 game limit. Teams like Texas, Rice and Baylor (to name a few) are already playing a handful of games each fall so they don’t have to cram a bunch of mid week games into a shorter season. Teams like Michigan, Indiana and Iowa are playing games this fall as well. Teams from the Big 12, SEC, ACC, and Pac 10 don’t have to worry about losing a few games in the spring, because they know their RPIs are going to be high enough to get them an at-large NCAA bid if they win 30 games, but teams from the north need every game they can get to 40 wins as they build their at large resume.
- Use college football to showcase college baseball in the north. (This is assuming step #1 is in play.) This can most easily be accomplished in September when the weather is still in the 80s and 90s pretty much across the country (including places like Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, South Bend, and Columbus…just in case those from states farther south might not be aware). Fresno State was the defending national champion last year. The Bulldog football team opened the 2008 season at Rutgers. What if the Scarlet Knight baseball team could have had the defending champs play on their campus in a fall exhibition game (or games)? Oregon State went to Penn State to play football two years ago when the Beaver baseball team was the defending CWS champion. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Fresno State and Oregon State are never going to go to New Jersey or Pennsylvania in March or April, but September is perfect, and they don’t even have to worry about whether they
Penn State's Beaver Stadium with baseball's Medlar Field at Lubrano Park upper right
win or lose. Just show up, play a game Friday night and/or Saturday morning before the football game ) when 50,000 to upwards of 100,000 fans are around to see the games) and then do some tailgating and watch a football game and go home. It’s not limited to defending national champs though. Some other football games that would be good fits for a fall baseball pairing include: Arizona @ Iowa, USC @ Ohio State, Stanford @ Notre Dame, North Carolina @ UConn, Oregon @ Purdue, Virginia @ Indiana, Florida State @ BYU (I could go on). All of those football games have either taken place recently or will take place within the next couple years.
- Use football part II. The idea of using college football to promote college baseball is not limited to having one school’s baseball team tag along with the football team to go barnstorming in the north. (EG: Penn State vs. Oregon State in both football and baseball as mentioned above.) Baseball teams like LSU, Texas, Arizona State, Miami, Florida State (and a few others) could go just about anywhere independent of their football teams and draw a crowd. So, Michigan plays Eastern Michigan in Ann Arbor on the gridiron on September 19, but Michigan plays Texas on the diamond the night before or that same morning.
- BE CREATIVE. Schools like Rhode Island and St. John’s don’t have the big football programs to prop up the rest of their programs like Penn State, Michigan or Notre Dame, but they could still make something happen in the fall. How about the Red Storm playing Joba Chamberlain’s alma mater, Nebraska, at Yankee Stadium in September after the Yankees play Baltimore? Or what if Dustin Pedroia’s college team, Arizona State, played Rhode Island at Fenway Park?
Boston's Fenway Park
The biggest objection to something like this would likely come from the schools like Texas, LSU and ASU who would have to pick up the bill for the extra travel in September. But look at it this way: Those three traditional powers will average about 36 home games next spring. Michigan, St. John’s, Notre Dame, and Ohio State averaged 24 home games last spring.
Ohio State played its first 21 games in Florida in 2009 before its first home game on March 31st. Next season Texas will play its first nine games in Austin, and won’t leave the Lone Star state until a 3-game set at Oklahoma the first weekend in April. The Longhorn’s only other trip out of Texas during the regular season is at Kansas State in early May.
In other words, it shouldn’t be too much to ask the biggest programs in the sport to make an extra trip or two in September to help the growth of the sport.
Have you ever been in a campus basketball arena when the Tennessee or UConn women’s basketball teams come to town? Those teams are treated like rock stars by adoring young fans in front of sell out crowds, because they are the teams that are on national TV all the time. If the Vols and Huskies are the Pied Pipers of women’s hoops, the Longhorns and Tigers can take the “ping” to the people on Saturdays in September.
