Bryan Coggins returns to Park for the 2010 season after playing in 35 games with 28 starts last season.

• 2010 Park Baseball Schedule
• 2010 Printer-Friendly Schedule (PDF)

PARKVILLE, Mo. – The Park University baseball program has released its 2010 spring schedule, including 24 games in the American Midwest Conference, which will welcome the Pirates back in 2010 after nearly a decade away from the league.

Park makes the switch to the AMC after competing in the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference in recent seasons, where the Pirates were runners up in both the regular-season standings and the conference tournament last year, going 15-5 in league play before ending the year with a loss in the MCAC tournament championship against national power Bellevue University.

The Pirate baseball program established a new school record for wins in 2009, going 34-12, and many familiar opponents reappear on the 2010 schedule.

“This schedule looks a lot like what we’ve done in the past, and it’s always competitive,” said head coach Cary Lundy. “We have a lot of good, local rivalries, and we’ve established really good relationships with those schools.”

The 2010 season begins with a very familiar opponent, former MCAC rival Oklahoma Wesleyan, on Feb. 15, in Bartlesville, Okla. The Eagles will be under the direction of a new coach, though, as former Lyon director of athletics and head baseball coach Kirk Kelly enters his first year at OWU in 2010. Kelly began the Lyon baseball program in 1993 and compiled 531 wins, including four victories over the Pirates in 2004.

Three more road trips follow the game at OWU, as the Pirates play at Evangel and Saint Mary before a split-series with Baker, beginning Feb. 27 in Baldwin City, Kan. Feb. 28, the series comes to Parkville, where the Pirates will play their home opener against the Wildcats in a noon doubleheader.

Another home doubleheader against a Heart of America Athletic Conference opponent follows on March 2, when Central Methodist visits Comfort Field, in the Pirates’ last home game before an eight-game trip to the Lone Star State.

Park begins its Texas tour with a four-game series at Texas College, as the Pirates and Steers will tangle March 5-6 in Tyler, Texas. Park will stay in Tyler on March 7, taking on Robert Morris (Ill.) at Texas College, and the Texas trip concludes March 8 in Dallas, at Dallas Christian.

After the trip, Park returns home for eight-straight games, including a four-game series with the University of Sioux Falls, followed by the team’s conference opener, March 20-21, against William Woods at Comfort Field, followed by road games at Ottawa and Harris-Stowe State.

"It will be interesting to watch the conference season this year," Lundy said. "This is an extremely competitive league, and every team has the ability to win games in this league. It's very balanced, which means that we'll have to be ready to play every week."

The Pirates end the month of March with a Townsend Trophy rivalry game, traveling to William Jewell College for a nine-inning battle with the Cardinals March 30 in Liberty. Jewell advanced to the 2009 Avista-NAIA World Series Opening Round, ending its season in Lubbock, Texas.

April begins with a four-game conference series at Williams Baptist, followed by three non-conference games at home against Central Christian and Saint Mary.

Park returns to the road April 16-17 to take on Missouri Baptist University before returning home April 20 to play Ottawa, and April 24-25, the Pirates will play their second NAIA tournament participant, as McKendree University visits Comfort Field for a pair of conference doubleheaders.

The Bearcats won the 2009 American Midwest Conference regular-season and tournament titles, ending their season in the 2009 Avista-NAIA World Series Opening Round at Oklahoma City, Okla.

Park’s regular season concludes in Hannibal, Mo., with a pair of AMC doubleheaders against Hannibal-LaGrange on April 30 and May 1. The AMC’s top five seeds will return to Hannibal a week later, with the 2010 AMC Baseball Tournament scheduled for Clemens Field May 7-9.

The winner will advance, automatically, to the 2010 Avista-NAIA World Series Opening Round, a series of nine, five-team tournaments played on campus sites throughout the United States. The nine opening-round winners will join Lewis-Clark State College May 28 through June 4 in Lewiston, Idaho, where a national champion will be crowned at Harris Field in the 2010 Avista-NAIA World Series.

All home baseball games at Park University can be followed through live statistics at www.parkathletics.com/livestats, while select games can be heard on the radio and online through 90.3 FM, KGSP (http://kgsp.park.edu).