Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Raider Softball Releases 2019 Schedule
12/4/2018 11:00:00 AM | Softball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Fresh off a Conference USA Championship and NCAA Regional appearance, the Middle Tennessee softball team and Head Coach Jeff Breeden have announced the 2019 schedule. The slate features five early-season tournaments where the Blue Raiders will face five Power Five schools and three conference champions from a year ago. The Blue Raiders will also go up against in state and SEC rival, Tennessee in a return to the MidState Classic in Columbia, Tenn.
Of the Blue Raiders 36 opponents in 2019, eight were post season teams from 2018. This year the Blue Raiders will face two squads who appeared in NCAA Super Regionals. One is South Carolina, who won 49 games last year and the other is Tennessee, who won 48. MT will also go up against Regional participants USF, Albany, Mississippi State and DePaul. Rounding out the postseason teams the Raiders will face are National Invitational Softball Championship competitors Austin Peay and Stephen F. Austin.
As mentioned, the Raiders will also go head-to-head with Power 5 opponents including Iowa and Purdue of the Big Ten and Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee of the SEC. MT has posted 28 wins over Power 5 opponents in program history and holds four wins over this group including a 2-1 all-time series lead over Purdue.
"We have stepped up our non-conference scheduling for 2019," said Breeden. " We know that with being the C-USA Champions from 2018 comes with the bullseye on your back. Knowing that, we put together a very tough early season travel schedule that should have us prepared for the start of C-USA play."
The Blue Raiders will kick-off the season at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic from Starkville, Miss. hosted by Mississippi State. MT will open the 2019 slate by facing Valparaiso on February 8. Middle will also face the hosts, Mississippi State, and Stephen F. Austin in the three-day tournament.
Then, the Blue Raiders take to the skies for their third consecutive trip to California. MT will compete in the Campbell/Cartier Classic hosted by San Diego State. Middle will take on SDSU, Grand Canyon, UC Santa Barbara and Northern Illinois during a six game stretch from Feb. 14-17.
Two of MT's five tournaments are in Florida as the Raiders participate in the Madeira Beach College Invitational for the second-straight year. MT will meet Purdue, Colgate, Siena, Albany and South Dakota from Feb. 22-24. Then, Middle returns to the Sunshine State to play six games in the USF Under Armour Invitational from March 1-3 in Clearwater, Fla. At the tournament, the Raiders will go up against Penn, Incarnate Word, Iowa, USF, South Carolina and Furman.
"All of our players are looking forward to playing in the warm Southern California sun at San Diego State's Tournament, as well as the Florida sunshine at the Madeira Beach and South Florida Tournaments," Breeden said.
In the midst of their early season tournaments, the Raiders have also scheduled their home opener. The annual meeting between MT and Austin Peay is slated for Feb. 27.
The Raiders will also host Wright State in a doubleheader on March 6 before heading out for their final tournament of the spring. MT will play two games in the UofM Tournament on March 9. The Raiders will meet Indiana State and DePaul in Memphis, Tenn.
Middle has several other non-conference match-ups on the 2019 slate. The biggest being the MidState Classic against SEC foe, Tennessee. The game is set for March 12 in Columbia, Tenn. This will be the second time the Raiders and Vols have met in the MidState Classic, the last being in 2014 where UT won, 9-8.
"We look forward to again playing in the MidState Classic in Columbia Tennessee on March 12th," said Breeden. "We will be attempting to break a long winning streak that the University of Tennessee holds over in state opponents. We are thankful to the city of Columbia for inviting us back to this prestigious event. This should be a great night of softball for the MidState area."
The other non-conference matchups include Alabama A&M and Maine. MT heads to Huntsville on March 5 to play the Bulldogs while the game with the Black Bears is a home contest on March 21.
Once again, the Raiders also renew their slate of in-state rivalry games. Middle will play three games against Belmont and Tennessee State and UT Martin. MT will face Belmont at home on March 13 while the games with TSU and UT Martin will be on the road on March 27 and April 3, respectively.
Conference play for the Blue Raiders gets underway on March 16 as MT travels to San Antonio, Texas for a three game series with UTSA. Middle will also hit the road for contests with Charlotte (March 30-31), Florida Atlantic (April 13-14), and North Texas (May 4-5).
If weather cooperates, looks like we will have 30 games under our belt before we open conference play at San Antonio on March 16," said Breeden. "In C-USA, the Eastern Division Teams will again all be very strong and the cross division teams of UTSA, UAB and North Texas will all be good competition for our young squad."
The Raiders home conference schedule starts off with FIU on March 23-24. Middle also hosts UAB (April 6-7), WKU (April 19-20) and Marshall (April 27-28).
"We are looking forward to proudly flying the 2018 C-USA Championship Banner as we try and repeat our C-USA Conference Championship in 2019," Breeden proclaimed.
The 2019 Conference-USA Tournament will take place in Birmingham, Ala. on May 8-11. Hosted by the Blazers, it will feature the top three teams from the two divisions as well as the two next best teams overall.
Click here to see the full 2018 schedule.
