The 2016 FGCU baseball schedule, as announced by head coach Dave Tollett earlier this week, will feature seven teams that participated in the 2015 NCAA Baseball Tournament including a pair of College World Series participants, an additional Super Regional participant and three conference champions.
The seven NCAA Tournament teams include CWS semifinalist, defending SEC Tournament Champion and preseason No. 1 Florida, CWS participant and preseason No. 4 Miami, Super Regional participant Illinois, defending A-Sun Tournament Champion Lipscomb, defending MEAC Tournament Champion Florida A&M and a pair of familiar in-state foes in USF and FAU. A total of 19 games, including the first eight games of the season, will be played against those seven programs.
The Eagles’ current 52-game slate includes 23 home contests, 28 road games and a neutral-site matchup against Michigan State in Port Charlotte, Fla., on March 9. Included in their 23-game home schedule, the Green and Blue will welcome the No. 4 Hurricanes to town as the in-state rivals are scheduled to play at Hammond Stadium, the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins, on Tuesday, April 5. In addition to matchups against a pair of preseason top-five teams in Florida and Miami, FGCU will also play six teams receiving votes in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll including USF, FAU, Illinois and conference opponents Lipscomb, UNF and Stetson.
“It’s going to be a test right out of the gate, but we’re looking forward to the challenging schedule this season,” said Tollett. “It’ll give us a good idea of where we stand early in the season, and I believe will make us stronger for a postseason push come May. The guys are excited to cross the white chalk and get the season started.”
The season gets underway with a trip to Gainesville, Fla., to take on the No. 1 Gators in a three-game series from Feb. 19-21. With a 52-18 overall record a season ago, Florida was not only crowned SEC Tournament Champions, but also entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 national seed and made the program’s ninth CWS appearance, ultimately falling to eventual national champion Virginia in a win-or-go-home semifinal matchup.
Before the team’s home-opening series against Illinois from Feb. 26-28, the Eagles will remain on the road for the first of two in-state matchups with USF on Tuesday, Feb. 23. A season ago, the Bulls posted a 34-26-1 record under first-year head coach Mark Kingston and earned the No. 3 seed in the Gainesville Regional. The two teams will also meet at Swanson Stadium on Tuesday, March 22.
The Fighting Illini, on the other hand, won a program-record 50 games in 2015 and entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 national seed. They advanced to a Super Regional matchup with 2014 NCAA Champion Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., after playing host to and winning the Champaign Regional. The Green and Blue went 0-1-1 against the Fighting Illini a year ago.
A mid-week matchup with preseason No. 4 Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., on March 2 marks the first of three matchups with the Hurricanes in 2016. Along with the aforementioned meeting at Hammond Stadium, the in-state rivals will meet again in Coral Gables on May 17. Miami is coming off its 24th CWS appearance a season ago after returning to Omaha for the first time since 2008. The ‘Canes posted a 50-17 overall record and earned the No. 5 national seed heading into the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Following its challenging opening slate, the Eagles travel to Daytona Beach, Fla., for a three-game weekend series with Bethune-Cookman from March 4-6 before playing Michigan State, its second BIG opponent of the season along with Illinois, in the aforementioned neutral-site game in Port Charlotte. The matchup will mark the first ever meeting between the Eagles and Spartans.
A five-game home stand ensues as the Eagles welcome Quinnipiac to Swanson Stadium for its only four-game set of the season. The weekend series takes place from March 11-13 with a double header scheduled for Saturday. Then, it’s a quick turnaround as BIG opponent Rutgers comes to town for a two-game, mid-week series from March 15-16, marking only the second series between the two teams.
The Green and Blue return to the road for a weekend series with former A-Sun opponent East Tennessee State from March 18-20. FGCU currently holds 16-5 record against the familiar Bucs. Following their second meeting with USF on Tuesday, March 22, the Eagles travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for a matchup with FAMU, its fifth 2015 NCAA Tournament team of the season, from March 24-26. The Rattlers posted a 23-25 record a season ago and entered the postseason by way of winning the MEAC Tournament. Then, FGCU returns to Fort Myers to host FAU, yet another 2015 tournament team, for a mid-week game on Tuesday, March 29. The Panthers posted a 42-19 overall record in 2015 and earned the No. 2 seed in the Gainesville Regional before falling to the Gators in the championship.
To that point in the season, 15 of FGCU’s first 25 games are on the road, including 11 of 18 games during March, while 12 games will be played against teams coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance.
April gets underway as FGCU travels to Evansville, Ind., for its first ever meeting with the Purple Aces from April 1-3. Evansville came up just shy of the 30-win mark as season ago as they went 29-24.
Following the aforementioned meeting with Miami at Hammond Stadium on April 5, the Green and Blue get into conference play and host the Stetson Hatters, who are one of four A-Sun teams to receive votes in the preseason, from April 8-10. Like Evansville, Stetson just missed the 30-win barrier as they posted 29 wins in 2015.
FGCU then travels to Boca Raton, Fla., for its second and final meeting with FAU on Tuesday, April 12, before returning home for its second A-Sun series of the season with conference newcomer NJIT from April 15-17.
The Green and Blue face another daunting flurry of road matchups as 10 of its final 16 games are contested at away venues, starting with a weekend series at Jacksonville from April 22-24.
Then, FGCU welcomes defending A-Sun regular season champion UNF, who posted a 45-16 overall record and went 16-5 in conference play a season ago, to Swanson Stadium for a three-game tilt from April 29-May 1. The Eagles will attempt to take revenge on the Ospreys, who are also receiving votes in the preseason poll, as they knocked the Green and Blue out of the A-Sun Baseball Championship after defeating them in a semifinal matchup, 8-2.
A pair of three-game series in Spartanburg, S.C., and Nashville ensue as FGCU faces USC Upstate and defensing conference tournament champion Lipscomb in its final two road series of the season from May 6-8 and May 13-15, respectively. Lipscomb is the final of four A-Sun teams to receive votes in the preseason and the last of seven 2015 NCAA Tournament teams on FGCU’s schedule. The Bison went 39-20 a season ago and posted a 13-8 conference mark.
Following its third and final meeting with Miami in Coral Gables on May 17, the Green and Blue will honor the four seniors on the 2016 roster in Brady Anderson (Arcadia, Fla./DeSoto County HS), Colton Bottomley (Parkland, Fla./Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS), Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) and Tyler Selesky (Estero, Fla./Estero HS)as they host Kennesaw State in the final series of the regular season from May 19-21.
Seeing that the Eagles finish inside the conference’s top-six during the regular season, FGCU will return to Nashville for the A-Sun Baseball Championship hosted by Lipscomb from May 25-28.
Since joining the A-Sun in 2008, FGCU has gone 153-71 in conference play and won 55 of a possible 74 three-game series. Its 153 conference wins are nearly 30 more than the closest A-Sun opponent.
Information about season-ticket packages will become available at a later date by visiting FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets or calling 239-590-7145. Single-game ticket prices are $7 for adults and $5 for youth (12 & under) and military.