FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Head coach Corky Palmer announced today the 2009 schedule for the Southern Miss baseball program highlighted by 34 home games plus hosting the 2009 Conference USA tournament.
“This is another demanding schedule,” Palmer said. “I think we play some very tough teams both at `The Pete’ and on the road this season.”
The Golden Eagles are scheduled to play 34 home games at Pete Taylor Park this season where they have won 80% of their games over the last three seasons, accumulating a record of 75-19 over that span. Since Palmer took over the program in 1998 the Golden Eagles are an amazing 257-90 at home.
In addition the Golden Eagles are also hosting this years Conference USA tournament from May 20-24, which will feature the top eight teams in the C-USA regular season standings battling for conference supremacy.
“I am extremely excited about the home portion of our schedule, this is probably the best home schedule in school history,” Palmer added. “Southern Miss players and fans have grown accustomed to us playing a tough schedule and this season will be no different.”
The Southern Miss drive towards a seventh consecutive NCAA Regional will begin Feb. 20 vs. Lehigh University out of Pennsylvania. After the opening three-game series with the Mountain Hawks, UNO and South Alabama will visit for midweek games and Louisiana-Lafayette will visit for a weekend series beginning on February 27th to complete the eight game homestand.
In fact 20 of the teams first 23 games will be at “The Pete.” National power Cal-State Fullerton will make their first ever trip to Hattiesburg for a weekend series beginning on March 6th, returning the Golden Eagles trip from last season to Fullerton.
The Conference USA season opens on March 20th with a three game set against Rice at “The Pete,” a team just a year removed from a trip to the College World Series.
The Golden Eagles will host several fan favorite games this season in addition to the Cal-State Fullerton and Rice three-game series as they welcome in Ole Miss on Wednesday, March 25th and Tulane in for a three-game series beginning on May 1st.
In C-USA action the Southern Miss will also host Marshall (April 3-5) and UAB (April 17-19).
The Golden Eagles will travel to Central Florida (March 27-29), Houston (April 10-12), East Carolina (April 24-26) and Memphis (May 8-10) for C-USA weekend contests.
The team will play two games at Trustmark Park, home of the Class AA Mississippi Braves, in Pearl, Miss. on Wednesday, April 8 vs. Mississippi State and on Tuesday, April 28 vs. Ole Miss.
The schedule also includes a three-game home series with Louisiana Tech on the weekend of March 13th and Tennessee Tech closes out the regular season on the weekend of May 14th.
There are currently two Sunday home games, vs. Lehigh on February 22 and Marshall on April 5, in which the game times will be determined by the visiting team flights out of Hattiesburg. Those times will be announced at a later date.
