CSU Baseball Releases 2012 Schedule

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Head Coach Stuart Lake and the Charleston Southern baseball team released their 2012 season schedule on Monday.  The Buccaneers will open the season with an eight game home stand and will take on two-time defending National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks, as well as some other top talent from the SEC, ACC, Big East and Big Ten before embarking on Big South Conference play.

“Our 2012 schedule will be very challenging, as have all three years prior,” says Lake, who enters his fourth season at the helm of the Buccaneers.   “I want to continue to put our players in venues that they will play in when we are in Regionals and Super Regionals. We also travel to National Champion South Carolina again this year and back to Clemson for midweek games. We play at Auburn University against Southern Mississippi, (Conference USA), Purdue (big Ten) and Auburn (SEC) plus our usual midweek games against cross-town rivals the College of Charleston and The Citadel.”

 The Bucs will welcome the Big East’s Georgetown Hoyas to CSU Ballpark to kick off the 2012 season on February 17-19.  The three game series will be followed by a midweek contest versus Savannah State (February 22).  The Thundering Herd of Marshall (Conference USA) will also travel to Charleston for a four-game series starting February 24. 

“We open at home with Big East member Georgetown in a three game series,” comments Lake.  “I’m excited to get an opponent of such quality to play us at CSU Ballpark.”

The squad will head to Auburn, Ala., at the beginning of March to take part in a four-team tournament hosted by Auburn at Plainsman Park.  The Buccaneers will first face defending Conference USA Champions Southern Mississippi on March 2 before taking on the Auburn Tigers on March 3.  CSU will wrap up play in Alabama with a March 4 contest vs. the Purdue Boilmakers, who return six All-Big Ten honorees after leading the conference with 37 wins in 2011. 

Southern Mississippi is an old rivalry for Coach Lake from his days coaching at Ole Miss.  In fact, most of the nonconference schedule will be a reunion for the skipper, who has previously coached with Ray Tanner (South Carolina), John Pawlowski (Auburn) and Fred Jordan (The Citadel). 

CSU will host Georgia Southern and USC Upstate at CSU Ballpark on March 6 and 7, respectively.    The MAAC’s Rider University of New York will head to Charleston that weekend (March 9-11) for a three-game series.     CSU will look to continue its success vs. the MAAC after sweeping Siena 3-0 last season. 

The Bucs will hit the road on March 13, heading to Columbia, S.C., to take on the two-time defending National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks.  The next day, the team will head to Georgia to wrap up a home-and-home series with Savannah State.   CSU will return to Charleston that weekend to host the Ivy League’s Penn at CSU Ballpark on March 17-18 in a three-game series. 

Cross town rivalries highlight the week of March 20, with CSU heading to Joe Riley Park to take on the Citadel (March 20) before hosting the College of Charleston (March 21) at CSU Ballpark. They will head to Mount Pleasant for a rematch with CofC (March 27) before hosting the Bulldogs (April 4) the following week.

CSU will open Big South play on the weekend of March 23, hosting High Point for a three-game series before traveling to Buies Creek, N.C., to play new BSC member Campbell on March 30 and 31.  The Bucs will return to the Tar Heel State on April 6-7 for a trio of games at UNC Asheville. 

Next on the slate is a rematch with USC Upstate (April 11), followed by a home contest vs. UNC Wilmington.   The Bucs will also see UNCW on May 15 in Wilmington.  CSU will remain at home to play host to Gardner-Webb (April 13-15) before hitting the road for a midweek match up at Clemson (April 17). 

Savannah State travels to Charleston on April 18 for the second part of a home-and-home series before the Bucs again hit the road for a three-game swing through Clinton, S.C., to take on Presbyterian (April 20-22).  They will then head to Georgia to kick off the month of May with a match up at Georgia Southern (May 2). 

CSU will host Big South foe Winthrop (May 4-6) before making the trek to Lexington, Va., to take on VMI in their final road swing of the season.  They will then return to Charleston to wrap up the regular season with a three-game home stand against in-state rival Coastal Carolina (May 17-19). 

The Big South tournament will take place May 22-26 in High Point, N.C., followed by NCAA Regionals on June 2-4 and NCAA Super Regionals June 9-11.  The 2012 College World Series will take place in Omaha, Neb., on June 16-27. 

Season tickets for all CSU home games are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 843-863-7591.