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Phoenix Hosts 2010 Elon Classic To Open Season

ELON, N.C. – Among the 56 games on the 2010 Elon Phoenix baseball schedule announced on Monday are 10 games against teams that participated in the 2009 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Of those 10 games, seven will be played against teams that advanced to either the Super Regionals or the College World Series (CWS) a year ago. Highlighting the slate compiled by head coach Mike Kennedy will be home dates with CWS participant North Carolina, Super Regional squad East Carolina and a three-game Southern Conference set with 2009 SoCon Tournament champ Georgia Southern. Ticket prices for the 2010 season have also been set.

“I believe that we’ve put together a very challenging schedule again in 2010,” said Kennedy. “This is the kind of schedule that, if we play well, will put us in a position to make a third straight trip to the postseason. The Southern Conference is always a competitive and balanced league. Our non-conference portion of the schedule is as tough as you

Elon Head Coach Mike Kennedy

will find with the likes of Rice, Nebraska, North Carolina, Clemson and East Carolina. The obvious challenge will be how well we handle such a demanding schedule.”

Complete 2010 Elon Schedule

Elon will open its 2010 campaign by hosting the Elon Classic beginning with a 4 p.m. contest against Towson on Feb. 19. The Phoenix will also play host to Ohio and North Carolina A&T in the Classic that weekend.

Following a trip to Triad rival High Point (Feb. 23), Kennedy’s Phoenix will take flight to Houston, Texas where the squad will play in the Rice Invitational. In the opener, Elon will face 2009 Super Regional entrant and tournament host Rice at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 26. On the 27th, the Phoenix will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi before concluding the tournament with a tilt against Nebraska on the 28th.

The next weekend, Latham Park will host the Elon Invitational, which will feature the Phoenix taking on Bucknell (March 5), Princeton (doubleheader on March 6) and Radford (March 7).

After hosting Old Dominion (March 10), the Phoenix will open its SoCon regular-season title defense with play at Furman on March 12-14. The first home league series will come against The Citadel on March 19-21, following a mid-week home contest with UNC Wilmington (March 16).

The first of two six-game road swings begins with a two-game set at Super Regional squad Clemson (March 23-24). League foe Davidson (March 26-28) and Super Regional participant East Carolina (Mar. 30) follow on the trip before the Phoenix returns home to take on Wake Forest (March 31) to end the month of March.

April begins with a SoCon series at UNC Greensboro (April 2-4) before North Carolina visits Latham Park (April 6). After hosting Georgia Southern (April 9-11), the Phoenix will pay a visit to former Big South Conference rival Liberty (April 13).

Western Carolina will visit Elon (April 16-18) for a league weekend right after the Phoenix returns from the short trip to Wake Forest (April 14). High Point makes the return trip to Elon (April 21) right before Kennedy’s program heads to Mt. Pleasant, S.C. for a weekend SoCon series at College of Charleston (April 23-25).

Elon will play mid-week games at home with Liberty (April 27) and at North Carolina State (April 28) before visiting Wofford (April 30-May 2) for a SoCon set. The six-game road trip will conclude with visits to North Carolina (May 3) and UNC Wilmington (May 5).

The Phoenix is slated to play its final seven regular-season games at home, beginning with a SoCon series with Appalachian State (May 7-9). Two days after the conclusion of that series, the Phoenix will host East Carolina (May 11). Elon’s final SoCon set comes against Samford (May 19-21).

The 2010 Southern Conference tournament will be held at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C. beginning on May 25. The championship game will be played on May 29.

(Release)

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TEMPE, AZ Arizona State Baseball will begin its quest for its sixth National Championship and 22nd trip to Omaha and the College World Series on February 19th when the Sun Devils host the Northern Illinois Huskies at Winkles Field- Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark in the 2010 Season Opener. Announced today by head coach Tim Esmay, the 2010 schedule features 35 games at Packard Stadium, including two non-conference match-ups with in-state rival Arizona on April 20 and May 4.

ASU Interim Head Coach Tim Esmay (ASU Photo)

regular season on March 16 and 17 at Goodwin Field in Fullerton.

Complete 2010 ASU Schedule

Arizona State will play an exhibition game at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark on March 2, when they host Meiji University from Japan.

The rest of the non-conference slate features two straight four-game series to open the 2010 season. Northern Illinois opens the year in Tempe from Feb. 19-21, followed by Towson from Feb. 26-28. The SEC’s Auburn Tigers will visit Tempe for a three-game set beginning March 12, and the Houston Cougars will play at Packard Stadium for three games starting March 19. Grand Canyon (March 9), San Diego (April 5-6), San Francisco (April 27-28) and BYU (May 10-11) will also visit Tempe.

The leader in West Coast attendance for the past five years, Arizona State will once again enjoy one of the nation’s best home field advantages. Over 125,000 fans came through the turnstiles to watch the Devils play in 2009, as ASU averaged 3,207 fans per home game. Thanks to tremendous fan support that creates an unmatched atmosphere at home, the Sun Devils went 36-4 at home, winning their third consecutive Pac-10 championship and advancing to the College World Series for the third time in five years.

For the eighth straight year, Arizona State will travel to Surprise, Ariz., for the Coca-Cola Classic at Surprise Stadium, Spring Training home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. The Devils will face 2009 NCAA Tournament participant Cal Poly, who played in the Tempe Regional, on March 4, Pac-10 rival Oregon State in a non-conference match-up on March 5, UC Riverside on March 6, then wrap up the weekend in Surprise against former ASU assistant coach and current Florida International head coach Turtle Thomas and the Golden Panthers on March 7.

In addition to an always difficult non-conference schedule, the three-time defending Pac-10 Champion Sun Devils will once again compete in one of the toughest conferences in all of college baseball. Conference adversaries visiting Tempe include Cal (March 26-28), USC (April 16-18), Washington (April 23-25) and 2009 NCAA Tournament participant Oregon State (May 21-23). The Sun Devils will travel to Eugene, Oregon for the first time in school history when they take on the Ducks for a three-game series beginning April 1. ASU will also travel to 2009 NCAA Tournament team Washington State (April 9-11), UCLA (April 30-May 2), in-state rival Arizona (May 15-17) and close out the regular season at Sunken Diamond in Palo Alto, Calif. for three games with Stanford (May 27-29).

Arizona State will be seeking its 11th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, which will begin on June 4. Super Regionals will follow from June 11-14 with the college baseball season culminating in the College World Series, beginning June 19 at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. 2010 marks the final season the College World Series will be played at Rosenblatt Stadium, as the annual championship tournament will move to TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha beginning in 2011.

(Release)

Terps To Face Eight 2009  NCAA Tournament teams

Maryland Head Coach Erik Bakich

The Terps open their first season under head coach Erik Bakich on Feb. 19 when they travel to Miami, Fla., for a three-game set with Florida International.

Complete 2010 Maryland Baseball Schedule

Maryland will open a 10-day, eight-game homestand when they welcome in Delaware the following weekend, Feb. 26-28. Virginia Military Institute comes to Shipley Field on Tuesday, March 2, Towson visits on Wednesday, March 3 and Hofstra comes to College Park for a three-game set March 5-7.

ACC play gets underway on Friday, March 12, as Maryland travels to Blacksburg, Va., for a three-game set with Virginia Tech.

Maryland’s next seven ACC series are against 2009 NCAA Tournament participants: the Terps host Georgia Tech March 19-21; travel to Tallahassee to take on Florida State March 26-28; welcome North Carolina, which has made it to the past four College World Series, April 2-4; travel to Boston College April 9-11; host 2009 CWS participant Virginia April 23-25; visit Miami, which made its 37th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance in 2009, April 30-May 2; and host Clemson May 7-9.

The Terps wrap up regular season play at Wake Forest May 20-22. The ACC Tournament will be held in Greensboro, N.C., May 26-30.

(Release)

HARRISONBURG, Va., Nov. 3, 2009 – A four-team tournament in Myrtle Beach, an extended trip to Florida, a home-and-away series with Virginia, 12 games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams, and home night games for the first time in program history highlight the 2010 James Madison baseball schedule released Tuesday.

JMU Head Coach Spanky McFarland

his 13^th season with the Dukes.  “It’s a little harder because I feel we have an experienced team that should be able to handle it.  Any time you have a lot of experience, you want to play as good a schedule as you can.  The thinking is to try to give the team more than one way to get into the NCAA tournament.  We want to get the RPI high enough that we can get an at-large bid into the tournament if we don’t win the CAA.”

Complete 2010 James Madison Schedule

Overall the schedule features eight games against top 50 teams in the 2009 RPI and 17 against the top 100.  Additionally, the Diamond Dukes will play 12 games against teams that qualified for the 2009 NCAA field of 64, including games against College World Series qualifier Virginia in Charlottesville on March 2 and at home on March 17.  The home contest against the Cavaliers will be one of the marquee games for JMU’s first season in Veterans Memorial Stadium and the first home night game in program history.

One of the key early weekends on the schedule will be the Baseball at the Beach event hosted by Coastal Carolina at BB&T Coastal Field, home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A Carolina League in Minor League Baseball.  The weekend will have the feel of a four-team NCAA Regional as JMU will be joined by Coastal Carolina (Feb. 26), UC Irvine (Feb. 28), and North Carolina State (Feb. 27).  The Anteaters spent much of the 2009 season ranked first in the nation and, along with CCU, finished in the top 30 of the final RPI.

McFarland commented on the weekend in Myrtle Beach, “We tried to put ourselves in a regional atmosphere so that if we do make it, we’ll have the experience of playing at some tough places against good teams.  It should be a good test early in the season.”

The new stadium will officially open the first weekend of the season when JMU hosts Marist College in a three-game set Feb. 19-21.  The Red Foxes reached the NCAA Tournament as champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.  Other games against NCAA teams include May 18 at East Carolina, May 12 at Monmouth, and March 26-28 at George Mason.

The week after Baseball at the Beach, JMU will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. for eight games in a span of 10 days.  The trip includes three games against host North Florida (March 5, 11, 13) along with two games against Illinois State (March 12 & 14), and single games against Alcorn State (March 6) and Stetson (March 9 at Stetson).

The Florida trip will also feature an exhibition game against the Japanese Collegiate All-Stars on March 7.  McFarland stated, “I think that’s one of those once-in–a-lifetime experiences that transcends everything.  It’s an opportunity to meet other people and see how the sport is played in a different country.  It will be a good cultural experience for the guys.   And they are a very good team so it will be another good test.”

The Colonial Athletic Association portion of the 2010 schedule features eight three-game series in the traditional Friday, Saturday, and Sunday format and will culminate in the four-team CAA Championship May 27-29 at UNC Wilmington’s Brooks Field.  JMU will play home series against Towson (March 19-21), William and Mary (April 9-11), UNCW (April 16-18), and Delaware (April 30-May 2).  Road series include George Mason (March 26-28), Old Dominion on Easter Weekend (April 2-4), Hofstra (May 14-16), and VCU (May 21-23).

In addition to Virginia, the Dukes will play home-and-away series against Radford, Longwood, Liberty, Maryland, and VMI.  They will also have a three-game trip to Kennesaw State in Georgia April 24-25.

July Photo of Construction On JMU's Veterans Stadium

JMU’s new stadium, Veterans Memorial Stadium, is nearly completed construction and will be available when the team begins practice in early February.  The facility features a synthetic turf playing surface throughout (including the infield dirt area) with seating for 1,200 and lights.  The complex also includes renovations to JMU’s Memorial Hall with new locker rooms, offices for coaches, team meeting rooms, indoor batting cages, sports medicine, and strength training facilities.  The indoor areas will be occupied during JMU’s winter break.

The schedule at the new stadium includes a total of 11 night games with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. at all games with the exception of Sundays beginning March 19 through the remainder of the season.  JMU, which has traditionally played only a handful of night games in a season, will play nearly 20 night contests home and away in 2010.

McFarland added, “I’m excited about the night games.  When we return from Florida we’ll start immediately.  I think that will be fun.  We’re going with 6:30 games so kids can come to games and still get home at a decent time.  It’s also late enough that it’s after work and dinner so hopefully people can get there.”

JMU returns an experienced roster in 2010 with 23 of 29 letterwinners back from last year’s 30-24 squad.  The Dukes return starters at all eight field positions and players who accounted for 1,655 of the team’s 1,960 total at bats.  On the mound, JMU returns nine pitchers who threw at least 25 innings last year and players who accounted for 413 2/3 of the team’s 474 total innings pitched.  In addition, the Dukes return a starting catcher who missed all but 10 games in 2009 due to injury and a pair of probable starting pitchers who sat out the entire season due to an injury and a transfer redshirt.

NOTE: The Veterans Memorial monument at the entrance to the new baseball/softball complex will be dedicated this Sunday, Nov. 8, as part of Veterans Day celebrations in the city of Harrisonburg.  A parade downtown will begin at 2 p.m. with the monument dedication at 3:15 p.m. in the softball stadium at the new complex.  Members of the JMU baseball and softball programs along with the Marching Royal Dukes will be in attendance as part of the ceremony.

(Press Release)