The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Announces 2006 Baseball Schedule
10/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Oct. 20, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team has released its schedule for the upcoming 2006 season, seventh-year head coach Larry Giangrosso announced Thursday. The Blazers will play 56 games, including 31 home contests at Young Memorial Field. This will also mark the first year of the new-look Conference USA, with three new schools joining the nine-team league. Nine of the 22 teams on UAB's 2006 schedule received bids to last year's NCAA Tournament, four of which finished the season ranked in Baseball America's top-25.
Alabama, East Carolina, Michigan, Mississippi State, North Carolina A&T, South Alabama and Southern Miss all competed in 2005 NCAA Regionals while Tulane defeated Rice in a Super Regional and advanced to the College World Series. The Green Wave was ranked third in the final national poll, followed by Rice (13th), Alabama (20th) and Mississippi State (22nd).
UAB will play 39 of its 56 games in the state of Alabama, including home-and-home series with Samford, Birmingham-Southern, Troy, Jacksonville State and Alabama. In addition to the Crimson Tide, the Blazers will also play a pair of games against SEC opponent, Mississippi State. UAB will also face six teams on its schedule for the first time, including Kennesaw State, Michigan, Mercer, North Carolina A&T, as well as new C-USA members Rice and UCF.
"We're really excited about our conference schedule this season with the realignment," said Giangrosso. "This league annually sends up to six teams to the NCAA Tournament and that is a definite possibility again this season. I feel like our schedule gives us a chance to play against some great competition while giving us national recognition at the same time."
The Blazers open up the 2006 campaign on Feb. 17 with a three-game series at home against Ball State before heading to Kennesaw State Feb. 22 and then Dothan, Ala., for the Wiregrass Classic. After a pair of games on back-to-back days against in-state rival Samford, UAB opens a 12-game homestand from Mar. 3-19. The Blazers host three-game weekend series against Mercer, Rider, and NC A&T on consecutive weekends with mid-week games against Birmingham-Southern, Georgia State and Mississippi State sandwiched in between.
After traveling to Starkville for a rematch with the Bulldogs on Mar. 21, the Blazers come right back home to open their Conference USA schedule with three games against Southern Miss beginning Mar. 24 at Young Memorial Field. UAB then hits the road again for its next eight games. After a mid-week game at Jacksonville State on Mar. 28, the Blazers head to Ruston, La. for a series at Louisiana Tech from Mar. 31-Apr. 2. The Crimson Tide will then welcome UAB to Tuscaloosa for an Apr. 5 showdown before the Blazers face their first C-USA road test of the season at Rice Apr. 7-9.
For the remainder of the season, UAB alternates home and road weekend conference series with in-state, non-conference games during the week. After wrapping up the season series with Jacksonville State at home on Apr. 11, the Blazers play host to the Marshall Thundering Herd from Apr. 14-16. A road game at Troy followed by a series at UCF in Orlando is on tap beginning Apr. 18 before UAB returns home to host Alabama and Houston the following week to finish out the month of April.
Seven of UAB's 11 games in May will be played on the road, beginning with a contest down the road at Birmingham-Southern May 2 followed by a C-USA series at Memphis May 5-7. The Blazers then return home for just one game against Troy on May 9 before traveling to East Carolina for a series with the Pirates May 12-14. UAB finishes out the regular season by hosting national power Tulane May 18-20. The Conference USA Tournament will be hosted by Rice and held from May 24-28 in Houston, Texas. The league's top-eight teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament.
The Blazers went 31-27 in 2005, including a 14-16 record in Conference USA games. Both win totals were the highest for Giangrosso since taking over as head coach in 2000. UAB also advanced to its second consecutive C-USA Tournament last season.
