Nov. 12, 2007
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech has released its 2008 baseball schedule, which is highlighted by a total of 25 games against teams that competed in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, head coach Danny Hall announced Monday.
Tech opens the season Feb. 22 against Youngstown State when the Yellow Jackets host the Penguins in a three-game series beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
Other non-conference highlights include a trio of games against archrival Georgia (Apr. 9 in Atlanta, May 7 in Athens, May 13 at Turner Field), four games against instate rival Georgia Southern (Feb. 26-27 in Atlanta, Apr. 15-16 in Statesboro) and weekend series against Big South champion Coastal Carolina (May 2-4) and Big East champion Rutgers (Feb. 29-Mar. 2). The Jackets will also play a single game against the Southern Conference’s 2007 regular season champion Western Carolina, which is now coached by former Yellow Jacket associate head coach Bobby Moranda.
“As always our non-conference schedule is very good because there are so many good baseball teams just in our state alone,” Hall said. “We have Georgia, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State and Georgia State in addition to Mercer, which is back on our schedule this year. All of us recruit very hard in-state, and we look forward to playing each other every season.
“The non-conference schedule starts tough, not only with our instate teams, but with Rutgers, which won the Big East last season. We also have Coastal Carolina on the schedule, which played very deep in the NCAA Tournament last year, and you can’t overlook Western Carolina, which is coached by Bobby Moranda and is a team that came in here and beat us last season.
“Our non-conference schedule is extremely difficult, and when you combine that with the way the Atlantic Coast Conference has been the last couple of years it’s going to make for a very challenging schedule.”
The Yellow Jackets open conference play with a three-game series against Virginia Tech Mar. 7-9 at Russ Chandler Stadium. The Hokies are one of three teams the Jackets will face in the same location as 2007 after the Atlantic Coast Conference re-balanced the baseball schedules over the summer. Tech will make return trips to North Carolina (Apr. 4-6) and Virginia (May 15-17).
“Over the last two years, our league has not only been loaded with good teams, but with talented players,” Hall stated. “If you look at the preseason draft projections alone, Miami has three guys they think could go in the first round, Florida State has a potential first-rounder in Buster Posey, North Carolina returns several players, Clemson is still very good, and Virginia returns the top pitcher in the conference. So our league will be as good as it’s always been. You even have teams that have been down but are getting a lot better and it makes for a tough conference week-in and week-out.”
After Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech will host Duke (Mar. 21-23), Miami (Apr. 11-13) and Wake Forest (Apr. 25-27) before concluding their home schedule with a three-game series against the Clemson Tigers May 9-11.
“We have a very good home schedule, starting with Virginia Tech and Duke early and continuing through Miami in early April,” Hall added. “We haven’t seen Wake Forest over the last few years, but they made the NCAA Tournament last season and are coming in here at the end of April before we conclude with Clemson, which is a natural rivalry for us. Overall, it’s going to be a great home slate, and one of the things that we have to be prepared for is to play very well at home.”
Tech will travel to Florida State (Mar. 14-16), Boston College (Mar. 28-30) and Maryland (Apr. 18-20) in addition to Chapel Hill and Charlottesville.
The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament will begin May 21 at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville, while NCAA play starts May 30 on campus sites.
For a complete copy of the 2008 baseball schedule, click HERE or go to: http://ramblinwreck.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/sched/geot-m-basebl-sched.html.
