Photo by Mark Alexander
The Bruins will open the season with a three-game home series against the North Carolina Tar Heels, beginning on Friday, February 19. UCLA then hosts Long Beach State on Tuesday, February 23, before departing for San Luis Obispo for a three-game set at Cal Poly starting on Friday, February 25.
“We feel this schedule will be the toughest in the country,” said UCLA Head Coach John Savage. “It will provide necessary challenges for us to become the team that we want to be.”
UCLA will play one of the nation’s toughest schedules, including nine teams who qualified for postseason play in 2015. Among those nine teams is Cal State Fullerton, who advanced to the College World Series a season ago.
In addition to the non-conference series with North Carolina, the Bruins will also host the Texas Longhorns for a three-game series from March 11-13. UCLA’s other non-conference opponents include Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.
UCLA will once again be featured in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic, highlighted by a match-up with cross-town rival USC. The Bruins will play the Trojans on Sunday, March 6 at Dodger Stadium. Mississippi State and Oklahoma will serve as the other two institutions in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic, with the Bruins hosting the Bulldogs on March 4 and the Sooners on March 5, both at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins will open Pac-12 conference play on Friday, March 18 with a three-game home series versus the Washington State Cougars. UCLA’s additional conference home weekends include series match-ups against Stanford (April 8-10), Oregon (April 22-24), USC (May 13-15) and Arizona State (May 20-22).
UCLA’s schedule also features a demanding conference road slate with weekends at Arizona (March 24-26), California (April 1-3), Washington (April 15-17), Utah (April 29-May 1) and Oregon State (May 27-29).
Overall, the 2016 schedule features 31 home games, 24 road games and one game to be held at a neutral site.
The Bruins’ strength of schedule has ranked in the top-five each of the last 10 seasons, with the 2015 schedule ranking fifth, as ranked by Boyd’s World (strength of schedule ranking service, boydsworld.com).
UCLA baseball will be offering season ticket packages for the second-straight season in 2016. Season ticket holders will receive access to the best seats in the stadium, priority seating to post-season games and much more. Season tickets will go on sale to the public on Thursday, November 12.
2016 UCLA Baseball Schedule (PDF)
