Samford baseball is back, and the Bulldogs are eager to get revenge on a season that fans and players both believed ended early last year. Samford entered this season being picked to win the SoCon but will first have to get through a schedule of some of college baseball’s biggest names.
It is not uncommon for Samford sports to schedule a Southeastern Conference game, but Head Coach Tony David consistently looks for those matchups and lots of them. This year Samford will have a series against four different SEC teams.
“I have been kind of borderline psychotic with our scheduling,” said David. “I want to be able to tell people that we’re going to play Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Florida State and that’s how we’ve done it the last few years.”
For David, scheduling begins months before the season starts: “The process is, there’s a couple of different kinds of website and places where you can post that you’re looking for games.”
From there it is a puzzle of coordinating bye weeks, dates and locations.
“Sometimes you’re just out recruiting, and you see a team or a coach, and you start talking about, hey, we like to come down and play at your place,” he said.
Scheduling lots of SEC games is not just a happenstance of availability. David is intentional about the teams he picks to play.
“Just from a philosophical standpoint, there’s a schedule that we could generate, to where we probably win 35 or more games a year, but that I don’t think would prepare us as much as I think we need to be prepared for when we get to league play,” said David.
The coach also acknowledges how playing the likes of Auburn, Alabama and Mississippi State help recruiting.
It is not just the players who get excited about playing the teams they grew up rooting for, but also the fans. Samford students, despite being at Division I, continue their allegiances to the SEC team they were fans of has a kid.
Samford has played four SEC games already only two weeks into the season. Despite going 0-4, the team battled and learned from the experience.
“It is no margin for error when you’re playing these guys,” said David. “We played a near perfect game against Alabama Tuesday, and in the end, it wasn’t quite enough. I think it makes us better by playing them.”
Samford baseball is back in action on Friday against Bowling Green at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Sports Editor
