Will the Tony Gwynn Classic be played at Petco Park, or will one of the local universities host it? Giving some thought to possibly going out to San Diego for it.
Updated with the Georgia dates. That series - in Athens - will be the regular season finale. Some have wondered why Arkansas always plays the last regular season series away from home and it is because the UA has earlier final exam dates than many other schools in the SEC.
I don’t think Dave Van Horn minds the trips. He seems to always galvanize his team during that long combined trip for the final series and the SEC Tournament.
Arkansas is waiting for the SEC to choose its Thursday-Saturday series before it officially releases the schedule. That probably will happen sometime in October.
It sounds like Texas is coming to Baum Stadium for a midweek in 2018, but I haven’t been able to get the date(s) yet.
I got some more information on the schedule today.
Arkansas has received the contracts to play Texas and Texas Tech at Baum Stadium, although I do not have the dates yet. Both of those series will be two games in the midweek. Arkansas already has committed to go back to Texas in 2019 during the week of spring break and is hoping to get a return to Lubbock some time in the future.
The Razorbacks have scheduled an extra game in San Diego in February. They will play Arizona the night before the Tony Gwynn Classic begins at San Diego State’s home park. Arkansas will play San Diego and San Diego State during the Tony Gwynn Classic, and another team that has yet to be determined.
The midweek series vs. UNC-Charlotte in Charlotte will be coupled with the trip to Florida. Arkansas has a signed contract to play SEMO the midweek before the Florida trip, so that Charlotte midweek will either be on the back end of the Florida trip - which is during spring break - or a replacement for the SEMO series. Not sure yet on that.
So if you’re keeping count, Arkansas will play nonconference games vs. Southern Cal, Arizona, Texas, Texas Tech and Missouri State in the coming year. That is a strong schedule that is coming together.
I already have my lodging reservations. After my late night adventures in Frisco, Texas last year, I have concerns about driving in an unknown large city. So, I’m not renting a car. After some research, I have found that San Diego has a great public transportation system that will get anywhere in the city and it runs late into the night. I’m good to go.
I’m not sure if Arkansas has rescheduled its series with SEMO, but it now will play at Charlotte on March 20-21. The first game will be at the Triple-A ballpark downtown and the second will be on campus.