GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University baseball team has released its 2025 baseball schedule announced TU head coach Brandon Steele. (2025 Schedule)
The Pioneers will play a 50-game slate this spring which includes a 30-game South Atlantic Conference schedule. Tusculum will also play 28 home games at Pioneer Park.
This year's schedule includes 13 games against teams who advanced to last year's NCAA Division II Tournament.
Tusculum returns 20 lettermen from last year's 26-26 squad who finished third in the league standings and advanced to the SAC Tournament opening round.
Tusculum will open the season with a three-game series at Francis Marion University the weekend of Jan. 31-Feb. 1. The Patriots went 18-30 last year and finished ninth in Conference Carolinas. Tusculum and FMU have met four times previously with the series tied 2-2. The programs will meet for the first time since squaring off in the 2012 NCAA postseason.
The Pioneers will host Illinois Springfield for a weekend series Feb. 7-9. The Prairie Stars finished 10th in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and posted a 26-23 record. UIS leads the all-time series 4-3, winning two of the three meetings last year in Greeneville.
Tusculum will not play arch-rival Carson-Newman in a SAC series this season, but they will play the Eagles in a pair of mid-week contests. TU will host C-N on Feb. 11 and will face off again Mar. 18 in Jefferson City. The Eagles tied for seventh place last season in the conference and went 24-26. The teams split its four meetings last year as Carson-Newman has a 121-84-1 edge in the series which began in 1904.
Tusculum will open conference play Feb. 14-15 with a three-game series at Newberry. The Wolves went 26-28 last year and finished tied for third place in the league table. The teams did not meet last year as Tusculum leads the series 54-23.
Tusculum will step away from SAC play when it hosts Seton Hill University for a three-game weekend series Feb. 22-23. This will be the first meeting between the Pioneers and the Griffins. SHU is coming off a 41-17 campaign including a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division title while making a strong NCAA postseason run. Seton Hill advanced to the Atlantic Super Regional and ended the season ranked 20th in the country.
Tusculum travels to in-state foe King on Feb. 25 for the first of two meetings with the Tornado. The teams will meet again on Mar. 11 at Pioneer Park. King went 14-32 including two losses to Tusculum. In a series that began in 1909, the Pioneers hold a 49-26 advantage in the all-time meetings.
Defending SAC Tournament champion Wingate will host Tusculum Feb. 28-Mar. 1 for a conference series. The Bulldogs tied for third place in the conference and made a strong run in the postseason to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers won last year's weekend series 2-1 in Greeneville as Tusculum upped its record to 46-39-1 against Wingate.
TU and UVA Wise will play a pair of mid-week contests this spring beginning with a Mar. 4 trip to Wise and a return trip to Greeneville on Apr. 15. The Highland Cavaliers finished 11th in the SAC and posted a 12-37 record. Tusculum won last year's three-game set, 2-1 in Greeneville as the Pioneers lead the all-time series 38-13.
The Limestone Saints visit Pioneer Park Mar. 7-8 for a three-game weekend series. TU swept a doubleheader at Limestone on the final day of the 2024 regular season to claim the weekend series 2-1. It was wild weekend as all three games were decided in extra innings. TU owns a 22-9 edge in the series which started in 1997.
Tusculum continues its season-long eight-game home-stand with a rematch with King on Mar. 11 followed by a Mar. 12 encounter against St. Michael's College of Colchester, Vermont. This will be the inaugural encounter between the Pioneers and the Purple Knights. St. Michael's went 11-30 last season and finished sixth in the Northeast 10 Conference Northeast Division.
TU wraps up the home-stand a SAC series against Anderson on Mar. 14-15 at Pioneer Park. The Trojans went 24-24 and finished 10th in the conference standings. Tusculum went 2-1 last year against Anderson as the Pioneers improve to 33-22 in the series.
After a rematch with Carson-Newman on Mar. 18, Tusculum ventures across Sam's Gap to take on cross-mountain foe Mars Hill (Mar. 21-22). TU swept last year's series with the Lions as they finished 12th in the SAC and ended the year with an 18-32 worksheet. Tusculum leads 65-33 in a series which began in 1911.
Defending Gulf South Conference champion Lee University comes to Greeneville on Mar. 25 for the first of two mid-week encounters with the Flames. Tusculum will play a return trip to the Cleveland, Tennessee campus on Apr. 8. Lee advanced to the South Region final where they lost to eventual national champion Tampa and ended the year 39-18. Tusculum and Lee have met 20 times since 1975 as the series is deadlocked at 10-10 as the programs split last year's two encounters.
Tusculum hosts Emory & Henry for a three-game series in what will be the first SAC meetings between the Pioneers and Wasps since E&H joined the conference in 2022. TU and Emory & Henry played twice last year with the teams each winning on the road. Since first meeting in 1904, the Wasps lead the all-time series 39-29.
Tusculum's next five games will be against teams who advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year. TU will travel to Young Harris on Apr. 1 with a rematch later in the month on Apr. 23 in Greeneville. The Mountain Lions went 41-15 last year including a pair of wins over the Black & Orange. Young Harris went 41-15 and finished runner-up in Conference Carolinas while earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Tusculum leads the series 12-6.
On Apr. 4-5, the Pioneers will be at Catawba for a three-game SAC series. The Catawba Indians finished 2024 as the third-ranked team in the country as Catawba won the SAC regular-season crown before capturing the Southeast Region title and advance to the DII College World Series. They were eliminated just short of a championship game appearance losing to Tampa to end the season at 46-17. Tusculum won last year's SAC series with Catawba 2-1, before being eliminated in the SAC Tournament. Since first meeting in 1998, Catawba leads the series 58-39.
After a rematch with Lee, Tusculum is back home Apr. 11-12 when they host SAC Tournament finalist Lincoln Memorial. LMU went 33-17 and finished third in the league regular-season. Tusculum won SAC series with the Railsplitters 2-1, before dropping the SAC Tournament opener with LMU. The two East Tennessee rivals first met in 1915 and LMU leads the series 97-77.
Tusculum hosts UVA Wise on Apr. 15 before hitting the road for the final time as they travel to Lenoir-Rhyne for three SAC outings (Apr. 18-19). TU took two of three games last year against the Bears who finished 30-22 and tied for seventh place in the conference. Since their inaugural meeting in 1985, Tusculum has a 55-37 advantage in the series with LR.
The Pioneers will host Young Harris in a rematch on Apr. 23, before Coker comes to town to close out the regular-season (Apr. 25-26). Coker finished runner-up in the league going 31-20 including a three-game sweep of Tusculum to trim the Pioneers' lead in the series to 17-14.
The South Atlantic Conference Tournament will be held May 2-4 at campus sites of the top-two teams in the league. The SAC Tournament Championship series will be played May 9-10.
