ESPN’s College Baseball Slate Covers the Bases

• More than 900 Games Throughout the Season on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, ESPN3 and SEC Network +
• 1 Florida Aired in More than 40 Contests; All Top 10 Teams Featured Multiple Times; Overall, 23 of 25 Ranked Teams
• Industry-Leading Regular Season Leads into Complete Division I NCAA Baseball Championship Coverage – Every Game from Regionals, Super Regionals and College World Series
• Former All-Americans, College World Series Veterans Among Analysts

ESPN’s industry-leading Division I College Baseball coverage will include more than 900 games throughout the 2016 season across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, ESPN3 and SEC Network +. The regular season will feature all top 10 ranked teams in multiple games, including No. 1 Florida more than 40 times, and 23 of the 25 ranked teams overall. The record-setting schedule includes the American, ACC, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon League, Missouri Valley, SEC, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt and SWAC Championship games and leads into the Division I NCAA Baseball Championship where ESPN will, once again, carry every game of all three rounds – Regionals, Super Regionals, and College World Series.

ESPNU/ESPN2
ESPNU, combined with ESPN2, will feature a schedule peppered with highly ranked teams, including the top six teams – Florida, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, LSU and Miami – combining for 22 appearances on the networks.  The schedule features nine of the top 10 teams and, overall, 20 of the 25 ranked teams in the USA Today poll. Additional ESPNU/ESPN2 Highlights:

• First Pitch: ESPNU’s schedule begins with a two-game showdown: No. 2 Louisville at No. 6 Miami (March 19-20).
• ACC Mondays: ESPNU will feature a battle among ACC schools most Mondays throughout the season, beginning when Virginia Tech travels to No. 2 Louisville (April 4).
• SEC Thursdays: The SEC will be featured on Thursdays, beginning when No. 23 South Carolina travels to No. 3 Vanderbilt (March 31)
• Ranked vs. Ranked: In total, 15 matchups of ranked teams vs ranked team will be on the networks including:
  • 4 Texas A&M at No. 1 Florida (April 2-3)
  • 3 Vanderbilt at No. 5 LSU (April 8)
  • 3 Vanderbilt at No. 4 Texas A&M (May 5)
  • 9 UCLA at No. 16 Cal State Fullerton (April 26)
  • 15 Oregon at No. 8 Oregon State (May 13-14)
• Wildcard: ESPNU and the SEC Network will have designated May 19 as a “wildcard day”, where the two networks will select the most compelling SEC game to be aired that night. SEC Network will have additional “wildcard days” on April 29, May 6 and May 13 as well.
• Championship Games: American, ACC, Big South, SEC and SWAC Championship games will all air on ESPN, ESPNU or ESPNEWS
• Home of the Post Season: ESPN will cover up to 153 postseason games beginning with the Regionals. Complete details will be announced at a later date.

The complete ESPN2/ESPNU television schedule is provided below

SEC Network/SEC Network +

• Television coverage ramps up in March beginning on the SEC Network when it airs Georgia Tech at Auburn on Tuesday, March 8. (5:30 p.m. ET). A four-hour Bases Loaded special – a live compilation of seven games featuring all 14 SEC teams – will ring in the start of conference play Friday, March 18, on the network.  In total, SEC Network will air more than 70 games throughout the season concluding with the entire first, second, third, fourth and semifinal rounds of the SEC Baseball Tournament (May 24-28). The SEC Championship game will air on ESPN2 (May 29).
• SEC Network +, the digital home of the SEC Network, will stream more than 350 baseball games featuring all 14 schools and more than 30 appearances by No. 1 Florida.

SEC Network’s full schedule can be found here and SEC Network’s + schedule is continuously updated at SECNetwork.com

ESPN3
ESPN3, which began its network-leading 450+ game schedule in February, will stream contests from 13 different conferences this season — ACC, Atlantic Sun, Big 12, Big East, Big South, Big West, Horizon League, Ivy League, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt, and Western Athletic.  Highlights include:

• ACC Baseball: More than 150 ACC games, including the early rounds of the ACC tournament.
  • Every home game of No. 6 Miami will be covered (37 games), including vs. No. 2 Louisville (March 18), vs. No. 20 North Carolina (April 1-3) and vs. No. 7 Virginia (April 22-24) in addition to Hurricane road series at Notre Dame (April 8-10), Duke (April 15-17) and Florida State (May 19-21).
  • 2 Louisville will be showcased 24 times, including home series vs Notre Dame (March 11-13), No. 7 Virginia (March 25-27), and No. 19 North Carolina State (May 13-15) and away series at No.14 Florida State (April 8-10) and No. 20 North Carolina (May 6-8).
  • 7 Virginia will be featured, as previously mentioned, vs. No. 2 Louisville and No. 6 Miami, but also at Duke (March 11) and at Liberty (May 3).

• 14 Florida State will be streamed 28 times, including home series vs aforementioned No. 2 Louisville and No. 6 Miami and also vs. No. 19 North Carolina State (March 25-27) vs. No. 1 Florida (April 12).
• 19 North Carolina State and No. 20 North Carolina combine to be featured more than 40 times.

• Additional Conference Highlights:
  • Atlantic Sun: 50-game slate from Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Stetson, USC Upstate
  • Big 12: More than 30 games including No. 10 Oklahoma State at Kansas State (March 26) and No. 11 TCU at Kansas (April 8-10)
  • Big East: More than 10 games from St. John’s
  • Big South: More than 25 games, most originating from Liberty
  • Horizon League: More than 50 games
  • Ivy League: Penn and Harvard home games
  • Metro Atlantic: A number of Monmouth home games
  • Mid American: 15 Toledo home games
  • Missouri Valley: More than 40 games, including more than 25 Wichita State games
  • Southland: Complete conference tournament
  • Sun Belt: More than 20 games from Louisiana Lafayette and Georgia Southern
• Conference Championships: Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon League, Missouri Valley, Southern, Southland and Sun Belt tournaments will be carried.

Please note: Not all ESPN3 games are exclusive The complete ESPN3 schedule is continuously updated here.

Longhorn Network
Longhorn Network is once again the home of Texas baseball as it will televise more than 30 games this season including a four-game series vs No. 12 California (March 3-6). The Texas-based network will air 11 Longhorn games vs. Big 12 opponents, including a three-game series with No. 10 Oklahoma State (April 29-May 1) and a regular season series finale vs. Baylor (May 19-21). The complete Longhorn Network schedule and additional highlights can be found here.

Television Commentators
ESPN and SEC Network will once again have a highlight accomplished list of commentators:

• Kyle Peterson: Played in two different College World Series as a member of Stanford; National Freshmen of the Year and two-time Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year with the Cardinal. He was a first round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Chris Burke: Three-time All-American and SEC Player of the Year at Tennessee; Named to the all CWS all-tournament team in 2001. Was a first round pick of the Houston Astros and played parts of five MLB seasons with the Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres
• Ben McDonald: All-American and Golden Spikes Award winner at LSU; Helped the Tigers reach the CWS twice and was also a member of the basketball team. First round selection of the Baltimore Orioles and went on to play eight MLB seasons.
• Gabe Gross: All-American for the Auburn Tigers, where he also played quarterback. First round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays
• Mike Rooney: Versatile position player at Notre Dame; Helped lead the Fighting Irish to the Super Regionals
• Wes Clements: All-American and CWS Champion at Arizona; Drafted by the Houston Astros
• Nick Belmonte: Played at Florida where he holds the school record for stolen bases; spent time in the minor leagues
• Rusty Ensor: Was a captain and power hitter at Tennessee
• Jay Walker: Former football player and current Hall of Famer at Howard; has transition into multi-sport analyst

Tom Hart, Roxy Bernstein, Mike Couzens,  Steve Lenox, Clay Matvick, Mike Morgan, Dave Neal, Mark Neely, Alex Perlman,  Matt Stewart, and Taylor Zarzour  will handle the play-by-play throughout the season

Additional commentators could be added throughout the season

ESPN2/ESPNU Television Schedule

All rankings are per USA Today

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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; Derek.Volner@ESPN.com and @DerekVolner