USA Baseball Releases 2014 Schedule
The University of South Alabama baseball head coach Mark Calvi released their 2014 schedule on Thursday. The schedule includes six NCAA Regional and two College World Series participants from last season. They also include last year’s national runner up.
The Jags will open the season with a three game series against Tennessee Tech at Eddie Stanky Field on February 14-16. They will then host Alabama State on February 18 in a mid-week series. They then travel to New Orleans to face former conference foe New Orleans in a three game series on February 21-23.
They return back to Eddie Stanky Field to host Jacksonville State for a two game mid-week series on February 25 and 26. They then begin a five game road trip when they travel to Fayeteville, Arkansas to face the University of Arkansas for a three game series from February 28 – March 2 who finished runner-up at the NCAA Manhattan (Kansas) Regional last season. The Jags then face Jackson State on March 4 in Mississippi then they end the road trip with a game at Mississippi State on March 5 for a rematch of last year’s NCAA Starkville (Mississippi) Regional winner’s bracket game that the Bulldogs won on their way to a runner-up finish at the College World Series.
The Jags will then host a three game series against Southern Illinois University March 7-9, followed by a mid-week trip to Hattiesburg to face Southern Miss before returning home for a Conference opener against Troy on March 14-16.
Throughout the conference season the Jags will have games against LSU (March 19 in Baton Rouge), Nicholls State (March 25), Southeastern Louisiana (April 1, Hammond, Louisiana), Southern Miss (April 2), Nicholls State (April 9, Thibodaux, Louisiana), Southeastern Louisiana (April 15), Auburn (April 22, Auburn, Alabama), Alabama State (April 30, Montgomery, Alabama).
The Sun Belt Conference Championship will be held in Mobile at Eddie Stanky Field from May 21 through May 25.
“It’s a good schedule,” coach Calvi said. “With our league being as tough as it is, you want to get your guys ready for that type of competition. To be ready for the postseason and get to where we want to go, you have to get used to playing high-quality teams. It’s a great experience for our guys. They come to South Alabama for the tradition and the fact that we’ll play anybody on the road or at home.”
“As we continue to improve and get the program back to where it was, it’s a drawing card as well,” Calvi continued. “We’re excited about this schedule. We definitely have our hands full. There’s no doubt about it, good competition allows you to see what you have and don’t have. It’s a great measuring stick to play a tough schedule.”
The full schedule can be found here.
Go Jags!