Louisville Releases 2015 Baseball Schedule

The road towards a third straight trip to Omaha starts in just four weeks.

2015 Louisville Baseball Schedule (html) | 2015 Louisville Baseball Schedule (pdf)

Here's the schedule release from U of L:

With its debut season in the Atlantic Coast Conference on the horizon, the University of Louisville baseball program released its 2015 schedule on Thursday, highlighted by 28 of 56 games against programs in last year's NCAA Championship.

Among the most challenging schedules in school history, the Cardinals will follow back-to-back College World Series seasons with a 33-game home slate in 2015 featuring perennial ACC leaders Florida State, Miami and Georgia Tech as well as non-conference matchups against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Overall, Louisville will play six games against 2014 CWS clubs with a three-game series at national runner-up Virginia, a two-game home set with Ole Miss and a midweek home contest against reigning NCAA champion Vanderbilt in the annual Battle of the Barrel.

"This schedule is as challenging and demanding as any in the nation and we're excited about the road in front of us in 2015," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "Ten weeks of regular season baseball in the spotlight of the ACC combined with all of the challenging non-conference opponents on this schedule should certainly prepare our players for the postseason and the road to Omaha."

Louisville will open the 2015 season at the Clearwater (Fla.) Tournament where they will face Alabama State (Feb. 13, 3 p.m., ET), USF (Feb. 14, 6 p.m.) and Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 15, 11 a.m.) at Bright House Field. It will mark the fifth time in the last seven years the Cardinals have opened their season in the state of Florida.

The Cardinals' 2015 home-opener at Jim Patterson Stadium is set for Feb. 18 against Eastern Kentucky in a contest that will open an eight-game homestand for Louisville. It will mark the third straight season the Colonels have played in Louisville's home-opener. The homestand will also include a weekend series with Milwaukee (Feb. 20-22), a midweek game against Butler (Feb. 24) and a weekend set versus Xavier (Feb. 27-March 1).

After a visit to EKU on March 3, Louisville will begin its 30-game ACC schedule at home against defending ACC Coastal Division champion Miami on March 6-8. The early-season series will be the second visit to Patterson Stadium in three years for the Hurricanes, who competed in the 2013 NCAA Regional in Louisville won by the Cardinals.

The month of March will continue with a two-game, mid-week home series against Ole Miss (March 10-11), a home weekend series with ACC foe Boston College (March 13-15) and a visit by Purdue (March 17). Following an ACC road series at Notre Dame (March 20-22) and a midweek visit to Indiana (March 24), Louisville closes the month with a three-game conference set at home against Georgia Tech (March 27-29) and a single home game against Miami (Ohio) on March 31.

Louisville begins April with a weekend series at Virginia on April 4-6 before hosting Kentucky on April 8 at Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals then return to the road for a weekend set at Duke (April 10-12) and a midweek game at Ohio State (April 14). On April 17-19, Wake Forest will visit Louisville for a three-game series for the Cardinals travel to Cincinnati for a midweek contest on April 21. Louisville will return home to host Western Kentucky (April 22) and Bethune-Cookman (April 24-26) before closing the month at Kentucky on April 28.

The final month of the regular season will be a challenging slate for the Cardinals with a road series at Clemson (May 2-4), a home series against reigning ACC Atlantic Division champion Florida State (May 8-10) and a midweek visit by Vanderbilt (May 12) for the home finale at Patterson Stadium. Louisville will close the regular season on the road at NC State on May 14-16.

The 2015 ACC Baseball Championship is set for May 19-24 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C., while the 2015 NCAA Championship is scheduled to begin on May 29 with regional play. The College World Series in Omaha, Neb., is slated from June 13-23/24 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.

2015 LOUISVILLE BASEBALL SCHEDULE NOTES
• The Cardinals' annual Elementary School Day at Jim Patterson Stadium is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17 at noon ET against Purdue.

• Cancer Awareness Night at the ballpark is set for Wednesday, April 22 against Western Kentucky.
• The series-opener against Bethune-Cookman on Friday, April 24 will be the Cardinals' annual Patriotic Game at Jim Patterson Stadium.
• Louisville's annual Senior Day ceremony is set for Sunday, May 10 prior to the matchup against Florida State.
• The Cardinals will have a pair of homestands spanning at least eight games. They will host an eight-game stretch on Feb. 18-March 1 and a nine-game stand on March 6-17.
• From April 24 to May 12, Louisville will play 11 straight games against programs that advanced to last year's NCAA Championship (April 24-26 vs. Bethune-Cookman, April 28 at Kentucky, May 2-4 at Clemson, May 8-10 vs. Florida State, May 12 vs. Vanderbilt).
• Overall, the Cardinals will play 12 different programs (28 games total) in 2015 that advanced to the 2014 NCAA Championship (Cal State Fullerton, Xavier, Miami, Ole Miss, Indiana, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Kentucky, Bethune-Cookman, Clemson, Vanderbilt and Florida State).
• Louisville will close the 2015 regular season with seven of its last 11 games on the road.
• ACC foes Boston College, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest will make their first ever visits to Louisville in 2015.
• Florida State will visit Louisville for the first time since sweeping the Cardinals in a three-game series in 1990 when the two programs were members of the Metro Conference.
• The Cardinals' first ACC road series at Notre Dame will be the program's first visit to South Bend since sweeping the Fighting Irish in a three-game set on the final weekend of the regular season in 2010 to clinch the Big East Conference title.
• Louisville will play at Virginia, Duke and NC State for the first time in school history this season.
• The Cardinals' road series at Clemson will be their first matchup against the Tigers since dropping a pair of road games in 1972.
• Ole Miss is making its second visit to Jim Patterson Stadium after the two teams split a pair of midweek games in Louisville in 2012.
• Louisville is 248-82 (.751 winning percentage) all-time at Jim Patterson Stadium, which opened in April 2005.