RED HAWKS 2008 SCHEDULE RELEASED

Montclair, NJ (1/18/08) – The Montclair State baseball team will open its 2008 schedule on Saturday, March 1 as the Red Hawks head to Greensboro College in North Carolina for a weekend series.

The Greensboro game, scheduled for 1:00 pm, will be the first of 40 for MSU which finished 24-18 in 2007. Montclair will conclude its weekend set with The Pride on Sunday, March 2 at Noon.

Once again the Red Hawks' schedule is loaded as Montclair State will play 15 of its games against nine teams that were ranked in the 2008 Collegiate Baseball Division III Poll unveiled in December.

Following its weekend trip to Greensboro, Montclair will head to Salisbury, Maryland for March 8-9 contests against the Sea Gulls, who are ranked No. 26. The two will also square off at Yogi Berra Stadium on Thursday, May 8.

MSU will then return to the RussMatt Greater Phoenix Invitational for a second straight season. Montclair will play six games, including a March 15 tilt with Wheaton College (MA). Wheaton was tabbed No. 13 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

Returning home, Montclair takes the field at Yogi Berra Stadium for the first time on Friday, March 21 as the Red Hawks host No. 2 ranked Cortland in a two-game set on Friday and Saturday. The Red Dragons finished fourth at the 2007 NCAA Division III World Series in Grand Chute, WI.

On March 27, Montclair begins New Jersey Athletic Conference play against defending NCAA Division III champion Kean University at 3:30 pm. The Cougars, who finished 43-8 in winning the national title, are ranked third in the poll. Five days later, Montclair will tangle another World Series participant, Eastern Connecticut (No. 6), in Mansfield, CT on April 1.

Among the other ranked teams MSU will face are 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday, April 22, league rival The College of New Jersey (No. 14), Ithaca College (No. 23) and York (PA), ranked 25th.

The New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament will begin on Thursday, May 1 with games at site of the Top 3 seeds in the six-team, double elimination tournament. The tournament then shifts to Bears and & Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark for the remainder of the contests May 3-5.

The stadium in Newark will also be the site of the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament, which will be held from Wednesday, May 14 through Sunday, May 18. The eight regional winners advance to the Division III Baseball Championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, WI May 23-27.