Oct. 22, 2003
Complete Schedule
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami released its 2004 baseball schedule Wednesday, highlighted by 12 games with NCAA Super Regional qualifiers and 13 more games with NCAA Regional qualifiers.
“I think we have put together another good schedule this season,” Head Coach said. “This is a challenging schedule that will put us in a position to be ready at the end of the year. We have a lot of really great home games this season — even more than normal.”
The 55-game slate includes 44 games at Mark Light Field, true road contests at FIU, South Florida, Georgia Tech and Florida State. Miami will also travel to Homestead to face FIU and LaSalle. Although a date and time have not been set, the Hurricanes and Florida Marlins are expected to play an exhibition game once again this season.
The Hurricanes open the season with a three-game series with the Florida Gators on Feb. 13-15 at Mark Light Field. The opener is set for 7 p.m. with the Gators returning to Mark Light Field for the first time since Miami knocked them out of the Coral Gables Regional last season.
Fellow Southeastern Conference foe Tennessee visits ‘The Light’ the following weekend on Feb. 20-22. UM swept three games from the Volunteers last season in Knoxville and won two-of-three from UT in Coral Gables in 2003.
Miami will then travel across town to Florida International to face the Golden Panthers at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26. The Hurricanes then have two games in Homestead with FIU and LaSalle on Feb. 26-27. UM will close out the month of February on Feb. 29 at 1 p.m. with a single contest with Big Ten contender Minnesota.
The Hurricanes open the month of March with Maine on Wednesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. A three-game set with Coach Morris’ alma mater Elon follows on March 3-5 with Campbell making a return to Mark Light Field on March 10. Rutgers will then visit Coral Gables for a three-game series before Miami makes its first road trip of the season to South Florida on March 16-17.
A home game with FIU on March 24 is squeezed in between a three-game series with Illinois-Chicago on March 19-21 and Penn State March 26-28.
Miami opens the month of April with six straight road games against national powers Georgia Tech (April 2-4) and Florida State (April 9-11). The Hurricanes return home to finish their home-and-home series with the Seminoles, who are coming off of a Super Regional appearance last season, on April 9-11.
“This is going to be a challenging stretch of games, but I really didn’t have a problem with that,” Morris said. “We are going to go two weeks in a row against really good competition on the road and I don’t see any problems with that. I think challenges are good for our team.”
Miami will get a look at another Atlantic Coast Conference team one season before joining the ACC with Virginia returning a trip to Coral Gables after Miami won two-of-three games last season in Charlottesville. The Cavilers series is slated for April 23-25.
After a three-game series with Coastal Carolina (April 30-May 2) and Jacksonville (May 7-9), UM’s fourth ACC opponent, Super Regional qualifier North Carolina, rolls into town. The Tar Heels and Hurricanes are set for a three-game series on May 14-16.
Florida Atlantic visits Coral Gables on Wednesday, May 19, with Ball State opening a three-game series the following night (May 21-23).
Long Beach State just missed making the College World Series last season, losing to Stanford in the Super Regional in Palo Alto. The Dirtbags return a trip to Mark Light Field to close out the regular season after dropping two-of-three games to Miami last season in California.
Miami will be looking for its 32nd consecutive postseason appearance with the NCAA Regionals slated on June 4-6. The Super Regionals are scheduled for the following weekend, June 11-14. Miami will then be looking for its 21st trip to the College World Series, which runs from June 18-28 in Omaha, Neb.
