CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team and head coach Jake Hendrick are excited to announce the 2024 non-conference schedule on Thursday afternoon. The slate features 27 non-conference matchups, including 11 at the Richard "Stick" Williams Dream Fields. The Royals second Division 1 season will feature games against four 2023 NCAA tournament teams, including two from the SEC and one from the ACC.
 
"I am very excited about how the schedule looks for my first spring in Charlotte," said head coach Jake Hendrick. "The non-conference schedule has a nice mix of home and road games that will challenge our group and get us great experience early in the season. Those games should have us well prepared for a tough ASUN schedule."
 
The Royals begin the season in Birmingham, Alabama as they take on Samford fresh off of an NCAA regional appearance in the Auburn Regional. Last season, the Bulldogs won the SOCON tournament after two straight victories over Wofford. The Bulldogs faced off against Southern Miss in game one of the Auburn regional before losses to Penn and Southern Miss ended their season. The Royals and Bulldogs will face off for three games between February 16th and 18th. The following Wednesday, the Royals take on another team coming off an NCAA tournament appearance in South Carolina. The Gamecocks appeared in the Gainesville Super Regional last season where they were swept by Florida. This will also be the second-ever matchup between the Royals and Gamecocks after South Carolina defeated Queens 12-0 last season.
 
Queens will return home that weekend and open up their home schedule with a series against Niagara out of the MAAC. The Royals will remain in the Queen City and welcome Winthrop out of the Big South for a Tuesday tilt. Last season, the Purple Eagles of Niagara finished 24-22 and 14-10 in conference play. The Royals also played a home-and-home against Winthrop last season where the road team won each game.
 
On Wednesday, February 28th, the Royals will head northeast to Raleigh where they will take on NC State. Similar to Samford and South Carolina, the Wolfpack appeared in the NCAA tournament last season where they fell to Campbell and South Carolina in the Columbia Regional. The Wolfpack finished 26-7 at home last season including a 22-7 victory over Davidson.
 
To begin March, the Royals will host Lehigh out of the Patriot League for three games between March 1st and 3rd. The Mountain Hawks finished 2023 with a 24-26 record and an 11-15 record on the road. Following this home series, the Royals will travel west for five games against UNC Asheville, Tennessee Tech, and Appalachian State. Against UNC Asheville last season, the Royals defeated the Bulldogs 8-5 on the road. The Royals also took one of three games against Tennessee Tech in Charlotte last season and will hope to grab the series in Cookeville this season.
 
On Tuesday, March 12^th, the Royals play Appalachian State in Gastonia before traveling to Boone that following Tuesday. In a three-game series to open the 2023 season, the Mountaineers swept the Royals in Hickory at L.P. Frans Stadium before Queens ousted the Mountaineers 10-4 at Truist Field in Uptown Charlotte.
 
The Royals then host Radford on March 26th in what will be the first-ever matchup between the Royals and Highlanders. Radford is coming off of a rough season where they finished 10-45 overall and 2-25 in conference play. The Highlanders also finished 2-23 on the road with the only victories over VMI and Longwood.
 
The next three Royals non-conference games are all on the road against Davidson, High Point, and USC Upstate. In Davidson last season, the Wildcats defeated the Royals 16-6. The matchup with High Point will be the first-ever between the Royals and Panthers and Queens will be looking for their first-ever victory over USC Upstate in the battle in Spartanburg. 
 
The final two non-conference home matchups will occur against High Point and Davidson on April 23rd and 30th. The Royals defeated Davidson 6-5 last season in Charlotte behind a strong pitching performance from Joey Ruller who will return for the Royals.
 
To finish off the non-conference schedule, the Royals will have tough road battles against Tennessee and Gardner-Webb. The matchup with the Volunteers will be a big test for the Royals as Tennessee appeared in the College World Series last season and fell to the eventual national champions from LSU. Before the CWS, Tennessee defeated Clemson in the Clemson Regional and Southern Miss in the Hattiesburg Super Regional and were also 33-5 at home on the season. The Runnin' Bulldogs are also coming off a strong season where they finished 32-25 overall and 21-10 at home.
 
In their second season in the ASUN, the Royals will play five home and five road series' as they look to appear in their first-ever ASUN tournament in May. At home, the Royals will host North Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Kennesaw State, North Alabama, and Stetson. They will travel to play Austin Peay, Lipscomb, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville, and Bellarmine. In conference play last season, the Royals finished 9-21.
 
This season will also be a season of firsts as head coach Jake Hendrick is in his first season at Queens and brings in an all-new coaching staff. Hendrick spent last season as an assistant coach at Austin Peay and previously spent seven seasons at Division II Northeastern State where he led the RiverHawks to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance after a 38-18 season in 2022.
 
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