Dec. 8, 1999
A challenging pre-conference schedule and several strong BIG EAST Conference late-season series at Frank Eck Stadium highlight the University of Notre Dame baseball team’s schedule for the 2000 spring season, as announced today by sixth-year Irish head coach Paul Mainieri.
“We are very excited about our schedule for the 2000 season because it will pose consistent challenges to us early in the year while providing an exciting stretch of home games to c lose the BIG EAST regular season,” says Mainieri, whose 1999 team fashioned a 43-18 record and advanced to the NCAA tournament. “We also will have the chance to measure ourselves versus some of the top teams in the Midwest region, with games versus seven different Big Ten schools in addition to several other teams that are capable of advancing to the NCAAs.”
Notre Dame’s three season-opening tournaments will include 15 games versus several NCAA Tournament-caliber opponents, with the first two weekends seeing the Irish play at the Service Academies Classic in Millington, Tenn., and the Hormel Foods Classic at the Minneapolis Metrodome. Notre Dame then will spend spring break in Jacksonville, Fla., at the sixth annual Kennel Club Classic, a unique three-week, 20-team event that features groups of revolving teams playing at the University of North Florida’s Harmon Stadium and minor-league facility Wolfson Park.
Notre Dame’s 2000 home highlights at Frank Eck Stadium will include the home opener versus the University of Detroit on March 22 and a second half of the schedule that features 23 of 32 games at home. The Irish will close the season with three challenging home BIG EAST series, versus St. John’s (April 29-30), Pittsburgh (May 6-7) and Rutgers (May 13-14), which has battled Notre Dame for the BIG EAST regular-season title during each of the past two seasons (Rutgers finished first in 1998 while the Irish went 20-5 to claim first place in ’99).
Other road highlights include challenging BIG EAST series at Connecticut (April 1-2) and West Virginia (April 15-16), a BIG EAST doubleheader at Seton Hall (April 20) and a fourth straight matchup with Michigan at Old Kent Park in Grand Rapids, Mich.
NOTES
- The Irish will be making their fourth appearance in the Service Academies Classic (also in 1992, ’96 and ’97), with a season-opening game versus Air Force on Feb. 24 followed the next day by a much-anticipated matchup versus Ohio State (the Irish and Buckeyes were the Midwest’s only NCAA Championship regional hosts in 1999). Notre Dame then will play Memphis on Feb. 26 before facing a service academy team on the 27th (matchups will be based on records after the first three games).
- The Metrodome will welcome a talented four-team field, with the Irish facing Wake Forest and Minnesota (both were NCAA tournament teams in 1999) before tangling with an up-and-coming Georgia squad on the final day of the Hormel Foods Classic, which will run from March 3-5.
- Notre Dame’s extended stay in Jacksonville opens with a pair of games on March 11 versus Duquesne and Central Michigan, at Wolfson Park?home of the Detroit Tigers AA affiliate, the Jacksonville Suns. The Irish then will play at UNF’s Harmon Stadium, highlighted by a pair of games versus one of the Midwest’s top teams , the University of Illinois (March 12 and 18), plus single games with North Florida, Butler, Iowa and Akron (March 13, 15-17).
- Notre Dame’s other home games include an early-April conference series with Boston College and matchups with Ball State, Valparaiso, IUPUI, Purdue, Bowling Green, Toledo, Chicago State, Cleveland State, Northwestern and Oakland. The team’s only non-conference road game during April?in addition to the neutral-site matchup vs. Michigan? will be an April 25 night game at Western Michigan.
- In addition to the above BIG EAST road trips, the Irish also will play at Villanova (March 25-26) and Georgetown (April 22). Due to the loss of Providence from the BIG EAST baseball alignment, several BIG EAST series will be at the same sites in 2000 as they were in 1999, including Irish trips to Villanova, West Virginia and Georgetown and Irish home series with Boston College and Pittsburgh.
- The BIG EAST Championship is slated to move to Somerset Ballpark in Bridgewater, N.J., a state-of-the-art facility that serves as the home facility for the independent Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The six-team event will be held May 17-20.
- The NCAA Championship regional round is slated for May 26-28, with the super regionals held June 2-4 and the College World Series on June 9-17.
2000 UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BASEBALL SCHEDULE (as of Dec. 8, 1999)
| Day | Date | Time | Opponent | Site |
| Thursday | February 24 | 4:00 p.m. | ^Air Force | Millington, TN |
| Friday | February 25 | 3:00 p.m. | ^Ohio State | Millington, TN |
| Saturday | February 26 | 6:00 p.m. | ^Memphis | Millington, TN |
| Sunday | February 27 | TBD | ^ Opponent TBD | Millington, TN |
| Friday | March 3 | 12:15 p.m | +Wake Forest | Minneapolis (MN) Metrodome |
| Saturday | March 4 | 1:30 p.m. | +Minnesota | Minneapolis (MN) Metrodome |
| Sunday | March 5 | 5:00 p.m. | +Georgia | Minneapolis (MN) Metrodome |
| Saturday | March 11 | Noon | #Duquesne | Jacksonville, FL (Harmon Stadium) |
| Saturday | March 11 | 3:00 p.m. | #Central Michigan | Jacksonville, FL (Harmon Stadium) |
| Sunday | March 12 | 7:00 p.m | Illinois | Jacksonville, FL (at UNF) |
| Monday | March 13 | 7:00 p.m. | #at North Florida | Jacksonville, FL (at UNF) |
| Wednesday | March 15 | 11:00 a.m. | #Butler | Jacksonville, FL (at UNF) |
| Thursday | March 16 | 3:00 p.m. | #Iowa | Jacksonville, FL (at UNF) |
| Friday | March 17 | 2:00 p.m | #Akron | Jacksonville, FL (at UNF) |
| Saturday | March 18 | 10:00 a.m. | #Illinois | Jacksonville, FL (at UNF) |
| Wednesday | March 22 | 4:05 p.m. | Detroit | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | March 25 | Noon | *Villanova (2) | Philadelphia, PA |
| Sunday | March 26 | Noon | *Villanova | Philadelphia, PA |
| Tuesday | March 28 | 5:05 p.m. | Central Michigan | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Wednesday | March 29 | 5:05 p.m. | Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | April 1 | Noon | *Connecticut (2) | Storrs, CT |
| Sunday | April 2 | Noon | *Connecticut | Storrs, CT |
| Tuesday | April 4 | 5:05 p.m. | Ball State | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Wednesday | April 5 | 5:05 p.m. | Valparaiso | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Thursday | April 6 | 5:05 p.m. | IUPUI | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | April 8 | 12:05 p.m. | *Boston College (2) | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Sunday | April 9 | 12:05 p.m. | *Boston College | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Tuesday | April 11 | 6:05 p.m. | Purdue | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Wednesday | April 12 | 5:05 p.m. | Bowling Green | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Thursday | April 13 | 5:05 p.m. | Toledo | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | April 15 | 4:00 p.m | *West Virginia (2) | Morgantown, WV |
| Sunday | April 16 | 1:00 p.m. | *West Virginia | Morgantown, WV |
| Tuesday | April 18 | 5:05 p.m. | Chicago State (2) | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Thursday | April 20 | Noon | *Seton Hall (2) | South Orange, NJ |
| Saturday | April 22 | Noon | *Georgetown (2) | Washington D.C. |
| Tuesday | April 25 | 7:30 p.m. | Western Michigan | Kalamazoo, MI |
| Wednesday | April 26 | 7:30 p.m. | Michigan | Comstock Park, MI |
| Thursday | April 27 | 5:05 p.m. | Cleveland State | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | April 29 | 12:05 p.m. | *St. John’s (2) | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Sunday | April 30 | 12:05 p.m | *St. John’s | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Tuesday | May 2 | 6:05 p.m. | Northwestern | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Wednesday | May 3 | 4:05 p.m. | Oakland (MI) | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | May 6 | 12:05 p.m. | *Pittsburgh (2) | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Sunday | May 7 | 12:05 p.m. | *Pittsburgh | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Saturday | May 13 | 12:05 p.m. | *Rutgers (2) | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Sunday | May 14 | 12:05 p.m. | *Rutgers | Frank Eck Stadium |
| Wed-Sat | May 17-20 | TBA | ~BIG EAST Tournament | Bridgewater, NJ |
| Thur-Sat | May 26-28 | TBA | NCAA Regionals | TBA |
| Fri-Sat | June 2-4 | TBA | NCAA Super Regionals | TBA |
| Fri-Sat | June 9-17 | TBA | College World Series | Omaha, NE |
All listings indicate local starting times
^Service Academies Classic
#Kennel Club Classic
+Hormel Foods Baseball Classic
*BIG EAST Conference Game
~ at Somerset Ballpark