Oct. 3, 2007
2008 Schedule in PDF Format
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ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Highlighted by 38 home games, the UCF baseball team released its 2008 schedule Wednesday and the Knights have a lot to look forward to. However, due to new NCAA rules, they will have to wait until Feb. 22 for opening day, the latest starting date since Feb. 24, 1976, when UCF defeated Bethune-Cookman, 3-1.
"Particularly early in the season, it's going to be a definite advantage for us to play at home and get some confidence going," said head coach Jay Bergman, who led the Knights to a 27-32 record a year ago. "We still have some difficult conference road series and then a lot of in-state road games, including against Stetson, Jacksonville and USF, so those will be very important. But this schedule will give our fans throughout the state a chance to see us play a lot and help identify them with our baseball team.
"Starting in late February shouldn't affect us that much. The new rules give us more time in the fall to practice and teach. However, we now have more midweek games then we are used to, as we play pretty much every Tuesday and Wednesday. So that will really make us develop our pitching staff, while the hitters like it because they will be able to stay in a rhythm easier."
UCF's 38 scheduled home contests are the most in the Jay Bergman Field era (opened in 2001), and the most dating back to 1991 when the Black and Gold played 41 games on its home surface. The activity at Jay Bergman Field should delight all UCF fans, especially after a 2007 season in which the Knights witnessed five of the top 25 crowds in stadium history stroll through the gates.
In all, 18 of those 38 home battles will be against nine different programs that advanced to the 2007 NCAA Tournament: Missouri (one game), Clemson (three), Monmouth (three), Jacksonville (one), Stetson (one), Memphis (three), Rice (three) and East Carolina (three).
"The Rice and Clemson series will be really crowd-pleasing," said Bergman, who enters his 26th season with UCF. "Those are two programs that have been very good historically, and on paper, they have the ability to return to the College World Series. It will be a good chance for our fans to see college baseball at its best."
One major change this season occurs with UCF's first opponent. After seven campaigns of taking on Florida International, the Knights kick off the 2008 slate with a three-game set against Florida A&M Feb. 22-24. They continue their eight-game homestand, which is the longest of the season, when they welcome Missouri Feb. 25. The Tigers were a No. 1 seed and a host team for NCAA Regionals last year, and eventually finished with a No. 23 national ranking.
Following a three-game clash with Central Michigan Feb. 29-March 2, UCF has a midweek home-and-home series vs. Jacksonville before welcoming Monmouth to The Berg for the seventh-straight season from March 7-9. Siena (March 15-16) and Wagner (March 17-19) will be the final two tests before UCF indulges itself with Conference USA foes. The series vs. Siena begins with a doubleheader, which marks the first twin-bill for UCF since Feb. 5, 2006, when it was forced to play two vs. FIU due to inclement weather.
UCF opens the league schedule on the road March 21-23 at Southern Miss, which finished third in the C-USA standings and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Regionals. The Knights also make C-USA trips to Houston, Marshall and Tulane.
The first three C-USA opponents UCF invites to its campus, meanwhile, all advanced to the NCAA Tournament. East Carolina will be the first to invade Orlando when it makes the trip March 28-30, and Memphis follows the Pirates April 11-13.
One of the most memorable home series that UCF has played since Jay Bergman Field opened in 2001 was against then-No. 1 Rice in 2006, the first top-ranked program to visit UCF, and the Owls return April 25-27. Rice is coming off a journey to the College World Series, where it fell just one win why of reaching the championship series vs. Oregon State.
To conclude the regular season, the Knights host UAB in their C-USA finale May 9-11. UCF received its bye weekend during the final week of league play, and decided to fill it by bringing in Clemson May 15-17. The Black and Gold traveled to North Carolina to face the Tigers in 2004 and took the series, 2-1, when Clemson was ranked No. 13 in the country. The Tigers are still one of the best teams in Division I, as they were a regional champion in 2007 and completed their campaign ranked as high as No. 12.
The C-USA Championship will be hosted by Tulane at its newly renovated Turchin Stadium May 21-25.
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.