“We are really excited about our 2007 schedule as we are playing 12 games against teams that were in the the 2006 NCAA Tournament,” said second-year Hilltopper head coach Chris Finwood. “This is probably the toughest schedule in WKU history, but it will prepare us well for the always tough Sun Belt Conference. We will continue to play a demanding schedule in the future so that we can attract the type of player who wants to compete against the best.”
The Hilltoppers waste no time taking on top competition as it opens the season in Wilmington, N.C., against three teams that made the NCAA field a year ago. WKU will open the year against UNC-Wilmington on Friday, Feb. 9, then take on South Carolina and Oklahoma on Feb. 10 and 11 to close out the opening weekend. Both the Gamecocks and Sooners reached the 2006 Super Regionals, and were each one victory away from advancing to the College World Series.
WKU will then open a nine-game homestand at Nick Denes Field, which includes weekend series against Miami (Ohio) (Feb. 17-18), Xavier (Feb. 23-25) and Purdue (March 2-4), and a midweek contest against Vanderbilt (March 6). The Hilltoppers will also return games with two of those teams as they travel to Nashville to take on the Commodores on March 18, and play their final midweek contest of the year at Purdue (May 15).
Following a game at Louisville on March 7, the Toppers begin Sun Belt Conference play at home against league newcomer Florida Atlantic March 9-11. That will be the first of five home SBC series on the year as defending league champion Troy (March 30-April 1), Arkansas State (April 13-15), Arkansas-Little Rock (April 27-29) and South Alabama (May 11-13) will also visit Nick Denes Field. WKU will also go on the road for conference series at Florida International (March 16-18), Louisiana-Lafayette (April 6-8), Louisiana-Monroe (April 20-22), New Orleans (May 4-6) and Middle Tennessee (May 18-20).
The remainder of the 56-game slate includes a weekend home series with Albany (March 23-25), a March 21 road game at Kentucky and home games against Austin Peay (April 24) and Evansville (May 1). Along with Vanderbilt, WKU will also play midweek home-and-home games with U of L, Belmont and Eastern Kentucky.
The Hilltoppers are currently in the midst of fall practice as they welcome 32 new faces into camp. That group includes a recruiting class that was recently recognized as one of the nation’s best by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
