Cardinal Nine Releases 2006 Schedule
December 06, 2005 | Baseball
Dec. 6, 2005
2006 Baseball Schedule in PDF Format
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville baseball team will open its 2006 season visiting four-time College World Series Champion Miami (Fla.) on February 15, one of six first-time opponents in the first season of competition in the BIG EAST for the Cardinals.
"I am very excited about our schedule this season in our first full year in Jim Patterson Stadium and first season in the BIG EAST," said Head Coach Lelo Prado.
"This year we will have the opportunity to play two National Champion programs in Georgia and Miami on the road before we get into the conference slate. It should be a great test for what we think is going to be a solid team."
After the meeting with the Hurricanes, U of L will remain in Florida for a three-game series against 2005 NCAA Regional qualifier Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton for the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
Louisville's home opener will be on February 22 at 3:00 p.m. ET against Xavier, the first of an eight-game home stand in Jim Patterson Stadium where the Cards will also host Northwestern for three games and Eastern Michigan in a four-game set.
The Cardinals will travel to Athens, Georgia for three games, March 10-12 to face the Bulldogs, against whom the Cards took two of three last season.
Rutgers will be the conference opener for Louisville on March 24 at Patterson Stadium in the first of three over the weekend.
The Cards will also host Connecticut, Cincinnati, Villanova and Seton Hall in BIG EAST play, playing the Huskies, Wildcats and Pirates for the first time.
Road games in the BIG EAST will be at Georgetown, a team the Cards will play for the first time, South Florida, West Virginia and Notre Dame.
The 2006 schedule will also feature the traditional midweek home-an-home games against regional rivals Eastern Kentucky, Evansville, Kentucky and Western Kentucky, as well as home games against Murray State and Morehead State.
The BIG EAST tournament will be held May 24-28 at a site to be determined, and will be a double-elimination format featuring the top eight teams in the 12-team league.
The Cardinals return 22 letterwinners, including 12 pitchers from a team that was 32-24 overall, and 15-14 in Conference USA last year.
Prado, who is in his 11th season as head coach of the Cardinals has 289 wins, just 20 behind Dr. John Heldman Jr. who is the winningest coach in U of L history.
