UConn Baseball Releases 2019 Schedule

UConn baseball had a strong season in 2018, finishing with a 37-22-1 record and as a finalist in the Conway Regional, losing to eventual College World Series participant Washington.

On Monday, the team found out its road to another NCAA Tournament appearance when the school released the 56-game schedule for 2019.

The headliner is on opening weekend as the Huskies face off against Louisville, who has made the NCAA Tournament each year since 2012, including a 2017 College World Series appearance. The teams will play Feb. 15-17 at the Detroit Tigers’ spring training facility in Lakeland, Florida.

The Cardinals are one of eight teams that reached the NCAA Tournament on the docket. Hartford (March 12), Indiana (March 2) and Northeastern (March 1 and April 10) each feature on the non-conference portion of the schedule, with Coastal Carolina (March 2), the host of the Regional where the Huskies played last year, also figuring in.

ECU (April 18-20), Houston (March 22-24) and USF (May 10-12) joined UConn in the NCAA Tournament from the American Athletic Conference last year.

“The American has clearly established itself as one of the top three or four baseball conferences in the country based on the RPI over the last few seasons,” head coach Jim Penders said of his tough schedule in a release. “So, the argument against scheduling so aggressively early in the year could be considered valid. It is true that we have one of the only programs in the Northeast whose RPI will benefit from conference play. However, philosophically, I still believe we need to prepare for the rigors of the AAC with quality opponents on the road in February, March, and beyond. In short, if we want to be the best, we have to beat the best.”

UConn will also play 38 games against RPI top-100 competition, just 10 of which will come at home.

As is typical, the Huskies will spend lots of time on the road and will play neutral site series in the early parts of the season against Michigan State in Greenville, South Carolina from March 15-17 at the home of the Single-A Greenville Drive.

Two weekends prior, the team will participate in the CCU Baseball Tournament with Northeastern, Indiana and Illinois, in addition to the hosts Coastal Carolina. This will mark the third trip to Springs Brooks Stadium for UConn in the last two years, after last year’s midweek battle in addition to the aforementioned NCAA Tournament.

In nonconference play, the Huskies will also travel to the College of Charleston (Feb. 22-24), Sam Houston State (April 26-28) and Texas State (March 8-10) for weekend series. Midweek battles include Bryant (April 9), Rhode Island (May 14), UMass (April 16) and Virginia (March 20).

Due to the timing of the season, UConn will only play 19 home games — 15 in Storrs as part of the final season of J.O. Christian Field and four more in Hartford at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

The home opener is scheduled for March 12 against Hartford, with the first games downtown coming in the first two games of a series against Cincinnati on April 5 and 6. The series will finish up the following day on campus and the other pair will be May 3 and 4 against Wichita State, with a finale in Storrs on May 5.

The Huskies will also host Memphis (April 12-14) and USF (May 10-12) in conference play. Midweek, non-conference games at home will feature Boston College (March 26), CCSU (April 22), Fairfield (April 2), Rhode Island (April 24) and UMass Lowell (April 3).