MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team has announced a 40-game slate for the upcoming 2024 season. The Cougars have a pair of cross-country trips to open the season before returning home and hosting 14 games at Chizek Field starting with the UMAC opener on March 22.

With U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis unavailable to be used this spring, Minnesota Morris will be traveling to southern California for its first four games of the season. The Cougars will take on Macalester College and California Institute of Technology on Feb. 23 at the Cal Tech campus in Pasadena. UMN Morris will once again face Cal Tech the next day and then wrap up the trip on Feb. 25 against Macalester at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. 

The Cougars head to the Sunshine State and begin action on March 9, playing 10 times in the Orlando area over the next seven days. Minnesota Morris has contests against Gwynedd Mercy University and Fitchburg State University on March 9, followed by single games against the University of Wisconsin-Stout on March 10 and Utica University on March 11. After an off day on March 12, the Cougars have a hectic finish to the trip with a doubleheader against SUNY Oneonta on March 13, a single game with the College of New Jersey on March 14, a doubleheader with Simpson College on March 15, and a single game with Illinois Wesleyan University on March 16.

The 21-game UMAC schedule begins with Crown College paying a visit to Chizek Field on March 22-23. All UMAC series are slated to be three-game sets, with the first game to be played as a single game on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.

The conference season continues with a series at the University of Northwestern on March 29-30. The Cougars then come back to Chizek Field and host a non-conference doubleheader with Concordia College (Minn.) on April 2 before Northland College makes the trip to Morris on April 5-6. 

After a midweek game at Saint John's University on April 10, Minnesota Morris hosts another UMAC series, this time with Martin Luther College on April 12-13. The Cougars then play eight in a row away from home. The road swing begins with a non-conference tilt at Bethel University on April 15, followed by UMAC trips to the University of Wisconsin-Superior (April 19-20) and Bethany Lutheran College (April 26-27). The final game of the road trip is at Concordia (Minn.) on April 30.

The 2024 regular season concludes on May 3-4 with North Central University coming to Morris for a three-game set. The UMAC Tournament will be hosted by the University of Northwestern from May 9-11, with the tournament champion taking the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Regionals the following weekend.

Minnesota Morris posted a 19-19 overall record last season and made its first UMAC Tournament trip since the 2017 season. The Cougars look primed to once again compete at the top of the conference in 2024, with 10 newcomers supplementing the return of 20 players from last year's squad.