Nov. 24, 2010
Columbia, S.C. –
ESPNU’s inaugural Thursday Night SEC Baseball Game of the Week will begin Thursday, Apr. 7, at 7:30 p.m. with South Carolina at Tennessee and will run seven-straight weeks through May 19. A Thursday night national game of the week is a first for the college sport, and features all eight conference teams that earned NCAA postseason bids in 2010.
“ESPNU is thrilled to feature a seven-week SEC Thursday night baseball series,” said Rosalyn Durant, Vice President, ESPNU. “Showcasing the vast talent of SEC baseball is great for the sport, fans, league and ESPNU. We appreciate the partnership with the SEC in creating this consistent Thursday night national package.”
SEC baseball is coming off a successful season that saw South Carolina win the 2010 National Championship Series, Florida advanced to the College World Series and eight SEC teams overall earned a NCAA postseason bid. It marked the sixth time since 2000 and the third straight year an SEC team played for the national title.
ESPNU Thursday Night SEC Baseball Game of the Week schedule highlights include:
· 2010 national champion South Carolina, SEC Tournament champion LSU and SEC regular-season champion Florida
· Top 25 teams that advanced to the 2010 NCAA Championship – Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt
“The Thursday night package of SEC games on ESPNU is a great opportunity for us to showcase the outstanding baseball that is played in our conference,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “The ESPNU package will be able to draw attention to the outstanding game-day atmosphere we have at our baseball stadiums as well as the rich tradition and history of SEC baseball.”
ESPNU SEC Thursday Night Baseball Schedule (Schedule subject to change)
Apr 7 – 7:30 p.m.South Carolina at Tennessee
Apr 14 – 7:30 p.m.Tennessee at Alabama
Apr 21 – 7:30 p.m.Ole Miss at Auburn
Apr 28 – 7:30 p.m.Kentucky at LSU
May 5 – 7:30 p.m.Florida at Arkansas
May 12 – 7:30 p.m.Mississippi State at Ole Miss
May 19 – 7:30 p.m.Vanderbilt at Georgia
SEC baseball series are played with single games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For series involved in this package, the first game will be played on Thursday with games on Friday and Saturday. This will involve just one series per week for the final seven weeks of the conference baseball season. During the final weekend of the season, all games are Thursday through Saturday.
Additional SEC baseball games will be aired on the ESPN family of networks as well as other networks and will be announced at a later date. No other games will be moved to Thursday other than the games listed below. ESPNU is now available in 73 million homes.
