NORFOLK, Va. – Non-conference games against strong in-state competition, the second annual Spartan Classic and the fifth installment of the popular exhibition series with the Norfolk Tides are highlights of the 2015 Norfolk State University baseball schedule, which was released on Wednesday.
The Spartans’ non-conference slate features games against Richmond, Virginia Tech and VCU. NSU also has non-conference home weekend series against Navy and Ohio in addition to hosting the second annual Spartan Classic, featuring Fairleigh Dickinson, Lehigh and Iona.
“We're really excited about our schedule this year. Our mid-week slate features a handful of very good, well coached programs that should be very competitive contests,” NSU head baseball coach Claudell Clark said. “We are also looking forward to four very challenging weekends of non-conference play early in the season, which includes our second annual Spartan Classic. The level of pitching and overall play we'll see will give our coaching staff a good opportunity to evaluate our personnel before the start of MEAC play.”
The Spartans open the season with a three-game road series at North Carolina Central on Feb. 14-15 in Durham, N.C. The teams play in opposite divisions of the MEAC, so the games will not count toward conference standings. NSU and NCCU play a doubleheader on Feb. 14 and a single contest on Feb. 15.
One week later, NSU hosts Navy for a three-game set on Feb. 21-22 to open the home schedule at Marty L. Miller Field. The following week, the Spartans venture to the state capital to face the University of Richmond for a mid-week game on Feb. 25. It will be the first game between NSU and UR since 2008.
NSU is home for the following two weekends, beginning with the Spartan Classic from Feb. 27-March 1. NSU, FDU, Lehigh and Iona will all face each other in the three-day, round-robin event at Marty L. Miller Field.
The Spartans cap the pre-MEAC portion of their schedule with a four-game home series with Ohio University of the MAC from March 6-8, and a mid-week road game at Longwood on March 10.
NSU’s 24-game MEAC slate opens at two-time North Division champ Delaware State on March 14-15. The Spartans host Longwood on Tuesday, March 17 before playing another road MEAC series at UMES (March 21-22).
The end of the March schedule features NSU’s first-ever game against the Hokies of Virginia Tech on March 24 in Blacksburg. That precedes the Spartans’ first home MEAC series of the year, against Coppin State on March 28-29. The CSU series the first of three straight home MEAC weekends for NSU, prior to visits from Delaware State (April 3-4) and UMES (April 11-12).
NSU’s fifth-ever exhibition game against the Norfolk Tides, Triple-A minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, takes place on Tuesday, April 7 at Harbor Park. This year’s game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start. The previous four games between the teams have drawn more than 31,000 fans to Harbor Park.
April’s schedule is light on non-conference games, with just a single mid-week game at VCU on April 29. NSU must close out the weekends in the month of April with road series at Coppin State (April 18-19) and UMES (April 25-26).
The Spartans play their final seven regular-season games in May and all of them are at home. A third matchup with Coppin State (May 2-3) rounds out the MEAC schedule. NSU then welcomes VCU back to Marty L. Miller Field on May 5 before hosting Jackson State of the SWAC for a three-game series to close the regular season on May 7-8.
The MEAC Baseball Championship begins a three-year stint in Salisbury, Md. in 2015. After NSU hosted the tournament the last three years, the tournament now moves to Perdue Stadium, home of the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds – another minor league affiliate of the Orioles. The 2015 tournament, which will debut a six-team, double-elimination format, takes place May 13-16.
The Spartans return 19 letterwinners from last year’s team that went 23-26 and advanced to the MEAC Tournament championship round.