Baseball Unveils Complete 2014 Schedule
10/11/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 11, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Coming off a 37-win season and a second place finish in the BIG EAST Conference, the Seton Hall baseball team announced its 2014 schedule on Friday.
As is typical with college baseball teams in the Northeast, the Pirates will play the majority of their early season, non-conference games on the road. Seton Hall will open the year with 13 of their first 14 games away from Owen T. Carroll Field. However, the Pirates were one of the best teams in the nation on the road in 2013, winning 18 road games, fifth-most in the country. Seton Hall enters the 2014 season riding a nine-game road win streak.
To begin the 2014 campaign, Seton Hall will travel to the University of Oklahoma for a three-game set, Feb. 14-16. The Sooners are coming off a 43-win season, which included a Big-12 Championship and a berth in the NCAA Super Regional before they were eliminated by LSU. The Pirates and Sooners have never met previously.
Seton Hall will remain on the road and travel to the University of Richmond the following weekend. The Pirates are just 3-6 in nine prior meetings with the Spiders and most recently split a pair of high-scoring games in 2009. Richmond went 31-24 in 2013.
On Wednesday, February 26, Seton Hall will host Lehigh for its 2014 home opener at Owen T. Carroll Field. It's the first home opener in the month of February in over 25 years.
The Pirates will head back on the road to begin a three-game set at the University of Arizona on Friday, February 28. Seton Hall and Arizona split a pair of games at the 2011 NCAA College Station Regional. Jon Prosinski tossed a complete-game, 4-0, shutout of the Wildcats in the Regional opener, but Arizona bounced back to eliminate the Pirates with a 6-0 win two days later. The following year, the Wildcats won the College World Series.
"We wanted to continue to make the schedule as competitive and national as we could," said head coach Rob Sheppard. We have an opportunity to play two national powerhouses early in Oklahoma and Arizona, which will help prepare us for games later in the season. Exposing our kids to quality opponents in those types of environments helps with preparation and shows them what big-time college baseball is all about."
Seton Hall will return to New Jersey to continue its long rivalry with Rutgers. The Pirates will face the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway on March 5 for the first time since 1994 as non-conference opponents. Two days later, Seton Hall will begin a weekend series at James Madison University. In their last meetings, the teams split a pair of games at a neutral site in 2007. The Dukes are coming off a 25-30 season in 2013.
On Friday, March 14, Seton Hall will begin a stretch of eight of its next nine games at home. The Pirates will host Manhattan, led by Pirate baseball alum Jim Duffy, for three games, March 14-16. Duffy's Jaspers went 24-28 during the 2013 campaign and split a pair of games with Seton Hall. On Wednesday, March 19, the Pirates will host Saint Peter's.
The following weekend, Seton Hall will play a unique split-location series with Fairleigh Dickinson. The Pirates will travel to Teaneck for a game on Friday, March 21, but host the Knights on Saturday and Sunday at Owen T. Carroll Field. FDU went 12-36 in 2013.
In a pair of midweek contests, Seton Hall will host Fairfield on Tuesday, March 25, and Lafayette on Wednesday, March 26.
On Friday, March 28, Seton Hall will play its first of four road games in six days against four different opponents. The Pirates will travel to Iona on Friday, Central Connecticut State on Saturday, Rider on Tuesday and Princeton on Wednesday. The Hall went 3-0 against those teams in 2013, but did not face Central Connecticut State.
Seton Hall will open its new-look BIG EAST portion of its schedule on Friday, April 4 for the first of three games at Butler University. The Pirates have never faced the Bulldogs, who are coming off a 22-34 record and 10-22 ledger in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
The BIG EAST baseball conference will consist of seven teams in 2014, with each team playing a balanced three-home series, three-away series schedule. The top four programs in the final standings will qualify for the 2014 BIG EAST Championship.
"It's going to be a really competitive conference," Sheppard said. "It is reminiscent of how the old BIG EAST started with a smaller number of similar schools seeing each other more regularly. I think the addition of Creighton brings a little more national feel to the conference, and that'll be enjoyable for our kids and fans."
The Pirates will return home on April 9 for a midweek matchup with Wagner University. The Hall defeated Wagner, 12-5, in their only meeting last season. Seton Hall will remain home, April 11-13, for a weekend series with the New York Institute of Technology. The Pirates are 31-12-1 all-time against NYIT and most recently beat them, 16-7, in 2012.
After another trip to Iona on April 15, Seton Hall will travel to Georgetown for a weekend series, April 17-19. The Pirates took two of three games from Georgetown at Owen T. Carroll Field last season and own a commanding 72-22 all-time series lead.
The Hall will host Monmouth on Tuesday, April 22, and then travel to Lehigh the next day, before hosting Villanova for a three-game set starting Friday, April 25. The Wildcats missed the BIG EAST Tournament last season and Seton Hall earned a three-game road sweep. It'll be the 113th, 114th and 115th all-time meetings between the programs, with Seton Hall having won 71 prior games.
After a midweek game on April 29 at Saint Peter's, Seton Hall's final non-conference opponent, the Pirates will travel to Creighton University for a three-game series starting Friday, May 2. Seton Hall has never faced the Bluejays, which are coming off a 30-18 season and play in beautiful TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. The state-of-the-art venue is also home to the NCAA College World Series.
Finally, Seton Hall will wrap up its 2013 regular season by hosting Xavier and St. John's during the final two weekends. The Pirates will face the Musketeers for three games May 9-10 (double-header on May 10). Xavier is coming off a 32-26 season. Seton Hall will complete its regular season with St. John's as its opponent for the third straight season. Last year, the Pirates won two of three regular season games with the Red Storm, and eliminated them from the BIG EAST Tournament with a 7-2 victory in Clearwater.
"Given the long history between the programs, it'll nice to have St. John's as our opponent in our final weekend again this year," Sheppard said. "It's important to note though, given the size of the conference, every series is going to be crucial. Only four teams will get in to the tournament, so every conference series will have a little added importance this year."
