Auburn will play 29 of its 56 games against participants in last year's NCAA
Tournament as first-year head coach Sunny Golloway released the Tigers' 2014
baseball schedule Wednesday.
The Tigers will play 36 home
games at Plainsman Park, 15 in the SEC and 21 in non-conference play. Eleven of
Auburn's 14 mid-week games will be in its home park.
"Our staff is excited, we think
it's a great schedule and one that's going to prepare our student-athletes for
the demanding conference we're in," Golloway said. "The main thing is we've got
to learn to be consistent. We can't be too high, we can't be too low. Just go
out and compete each and every day and understand that every day is a new day."
For the first time since 1999,
Auburn will open a baseball season away from Plainsman Park. The Tigers will
travel to Port Charlotte, Fla., to compete in the Snowbird Classic, which runs
Feb. 14-16 with games played at the Tampa Bay Rays' spring training facility.
Auburn will face Ohio State, Connecticut and Indiana State in the tournament
with dates for each matchup yet to be determined.
"I think our pre-conference
schedule is going to be a demanding one," Golloway said. "We tweaked it a
little so we could travel as a team (to open the season). I think it's always
good to travel as a team, it gives a new team and a new coaching staff an
opportunity to become a lot closer when you're on the road, so that's why we
set that first weekend to be on the road. Down the road, I think we'd much
rather be able to open at home. It's exciting for our fans and our players. But
this year, I think it would be best-suited for us to go on the road.
"It's going to be very
demanding. We're going to have Ohio State, Indiana State and Connecticut. UConn
is a team that always makes the NCAA Tournament; in fact, I had a chance to
compete against them in a regional last year, so I know how talented they're
going to be early on. That's going to be a great test for us."
The Tigers' home opener will be
Wednesday, Feb. 19, against Alabama State. The following weekend, Auburn will
welcome East Tennessee State, California and Arkansas-Pine Bluff for the annual
Tiger Classic, which runs Feb. 21-23 at Plainsman Park.
"We've got the Cal Bears coming
to town for the Tiger Classic," Golloway said. "They're going to be very
talented, without a doubt. They're a team that's made it to Omaha in recent
years, so I think that three-game set is good. ETSU was in the NCAA Tournament
last year. I like the format of playing different teams – in two weekends, we
will have played six different opponents. I think that's better than playing
the same teams over and over, which is what we'll do once we get into
conference play."
The remaining two non-conference
weekends will see the Tigers play host to Presbyterian (Feb. 28-March 2) and
NCAA Tournament participant Mercer (March 7-9), with non-conference games
against Alabama A&M and Kennesaw State included in the pre-conference
stretch.
Auburn will also face Alabama
on Tuesday, March 4, in the annual Capital City Classic at Riverwalk Stadium in
Montgomery.
"The early non-conference games
will help us settle in with our team," Golloway said. "There will be a lot of
teaching early on. I think the pre-conference schedule allows us to teach, to
make some mistakes, to learn from our mistakes and hopefully be able to find
victory every day. We also have to make sure our players understand that our
pre-conference schedule is going to be very important at the end of the road
regarding our RPI."
Conference play begins with a
home series against Texas A&M (March 14-16) before a trip to Tennessee
(March 21-23). March wraps up with a home series against Missouri (March
28-30).
The month of April will see the
Tigers on the road for three of four weekends in conference play. Auburn plays
back-to-back road series at Ole Miss (April 4-6) and Alabama (April 11-13)
before returning to Plainsman Park for three games against South Carolina
(April 18-20). The Tigers then travel to Arkansas (April 25-27) to set up the
season's stretch run.
Defending national runner-up
Mississippi State visits Auburn the following weekend (May 2-4), followed by
the season's final road trip to Kentucky (May 9-11). The regular season wraps
up with a three-game set at home against LSU (May 15-17).
During conference play, Auburn
will play midweek home games against Alabama State, Bethune-Cookman, Coppin
State, Kennesaw State, Samford, South Alabama, Troy and UAB. Auburn will have
just one non-conference road game the last two months of the season, at Samford
on April 15.
INFORMATION SOURCE: Auburn Athletics Dept.
