2014 NSU Baseball Schedule
NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State baseball coach Claudell Clark released his team's 2014 schedule on Wednesday. The slate includes a pair of early-season tournaments, 30 scheduled home games at Marty L. Miller Field, and the return of the MEAC Baseball Tournament to the NSU campus.
"We're really excited about our schedule this year," Clark said. "In addition to playing a large number of games in front of our own fans again, we are also looking forward to four very challenging weekends of non-conference play early in the season. The level of pitching and overall play we'll see will give our coaching staff a good opportunity to evaluate our personnel to get ready for the start of MEAC play."
In a departure from recent seasons, NSU opens the 2014 season with a road tournament. The Spartans are one of four teams, along with Toledo, Xavier and Furman, who will take part in the Furman First Pitch Invitational in Greenville, S.C., Feb. 14-16. The round-robin event will be played at Fluor Field, the home of the Greenville Drive, Single-A minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
The following week, the Spartans will host an in-season tournament of their own when Buffalo, Villanova and Quinnipiac come to Marty L. Miller Field for the Spartan Classic, Feb. 21-23. NSU then concludes its February schedule by facing ACC foe Duke University in Durham, N.C., on Feb. 26.
Fourteen of the Spartans' 21 games in March will be played at NSU. The slate begins with two four-game non-conference series, against reigning MEAC champion Savannah State (March 1-2) and Canisius (March 7-9). After a road game at Longwood on March 12, the Spartans open MEAC Northern Division play by hosting last year's regular-season divisional champion, Delaware State, on March 15-16.
Other non-conference games in March include mid-week home tilts with Lafayette (March 18), North Carolina Central (March 19) and William & Mary (March 26). The Spartans also have road MEAC series at UMES (March 22-23) and Coppin State (March 29-30).
April gets underway with the annual exhibition game against the Norfolk Tides, Triple-A affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles, on April 1. The game, which takes place at Harbor Park in downtown Norfolk, marks the fourth time in the last five years that NSU will scrimmage Hampton Roads' professional baseball team.
Non-conference games in April include road dates at William & Mary (April 9) and VCU (April 16). NSU has four MEAC series in April, with home series against DSU (April 5-6), UMES (April 12-13) and Coppin State (April 18-19) and a road series at DSU (April 26-27).
NSU concludes its regular-season schedule with a three-game MEAC road weekend at UMES on May 3-4 and a three-game home non-conference series with Jackson State on May 8-9.
For the third straight year and sixth time in the last nine, Marty L. Miller Field will again serve as the host site for all games of the MEAC Baseball Tournament. The 2014 championship runs May 14-18.
Clark added: "We look forward to being able to host the conference tournament again this year. We hope that by challenging ourselves during non-conference play, we will be able to get over the 'hump' and make a run at the MEAC championship."
