ASU Baseball: Sun Devils announce 2016 schedule

The Arizona State baseball team released its full 51-game slate on Wednesday afternoon. In addition to being the second year at the helm for head coach Tracy Smith, this upcoming season will also be the program's second at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

The 2016 campaign will get underway on February 19 when Xavier comes to Phoenix for a three game set with the Sun Devils. The Musketeers went 15-38 last season, finishing last in the Big East.

Mountain West champion Nevada will stop by Phoenix Muni for a single game on February 23 before the maroon and gold depart for their first road trip of the season.

Long Beach State will host Smith's club for three games that following weekend, a return trip after Arizona State took two of three from the Dirtbags at home in 2015.

The Sun Devils will then return home to open the month of March, playing three more games against another conference doormat in Eastern Michigan. The Eagles finished at the bottom of their division in the MAC last year, going 20-35 in a season that started with a sweep at the hands of Arizona.

The highlight of the nonconference slate comes on March 8th and 9th, when the Sun Devils will return to the site of where they were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament last May for a pair of midweek games against Cal State Fullerton. The Titans went on to win the Fullerton Regional after outlasting the maroon and gold in a 14 inning thriller last year. They were eventually bounced from the tournament two weeks later, losing back-to-back games against SEC opponents in the College World Series.

Arizona State's final tuneup games before Pac-12 play begins will come later that week (March 11-13), when UC Davis visits for three games.

The conference slate will start in the following weekend up in Corvallis against Oregon State. The first Pac-12 foe to visit Phoenix Muni will be Utah (March 24-26), and the rival Wildcats will come up twice for nonconference affairs on the 12th and 26th of April.

Other league opponents to visit Phoenix include Washington, California, Oregon, and USC.

Here is the full schedule for the 2016 baseball season.