TIFFIN, Ohio - Coming off a historic and thrilling 2019 campaign, Tiffin baseball has released its 2020 regular season schedule.

A year ago, the Dragons were the Cinderella story of Division II baseball after rallying from a 2-17 start to make the GMAC Championships as the seven-seed, going 4-0 to win the tournament and earn their first-ever NCAA Championships berth, and coming just one win away from reaching the DII Midwest Super Region final.

"I think the run at the end of last season, especially with the way we started the season, made us realize for the first time how good we can be if we don't limit ourselves," said head coach Joe Wilkins. "These guys have a chance to be as good as anyone but they have to figure that part out as they go. They have to prove it to themselves again this year. Each season is a new season. We need to keep our heads down and keep working."

Tiffin is set to open the 2020 season with a weekend of neutral-site games in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where they will face Goldey-Beacom, Frostburg State, and Clarion on Feb. 21, 22, and 23. After that, the nonconference slate continues with eight games at the Russ-Matt Tournament in Auburndale, Florida over spring break from Feb. 29-Mar. 8.

"I really like this schedule," Wilkins said. "We start in Fayetteville...where Frostburg and Clarion are both 'in-region' games, which is a big deal for postseason play. One of our alumni, Matt Gorman, is from Fayetteville and we are excited to go down and play in his backyard. We then go to the Orlando Area again to play in the Russ-Matt Tournament, which is the largest D2 tournament in the country, where we will get a few more important regional games in."

As soon as the Dragons return home, GMAC play will get underway as Tiffin welcomes Walsh to town in the home opener for a four-game series on Mar. 14 and 15. The other three home conference sets will be on back-to-back-to-back weekends at the beginning of April, hosting Findlay (4th-5th), Trevecca Nazarene (10th-11th), and Kentucky Wesleyan (18th-19th). Rounding out the conference schedule is trips to Alderson Broaddus (Mar. 21-22), defending GMAC regular season champions Malone (Mar. 27-28), Cedarville (Apr. 24-25), and wrapping up with Hillsdale (May 1-2).

"Opening GMAC play against Walsh will be a great test, as they will be hungry to try to get some revenge at our place after we beat them three out of four in Canton to get into the conference tournament last year," said Wilkins. 

While Tiffin only has four-game conference sets scheduled against eight of the other 11 teams in the conference, the Dragons will also play a pair of home-and-home series against Lake Erie (Mar. 18 in Tiffin, Mar. 31 in Painesville) and Ohio Dominican (Mar. 24 in Tiffin, Apr. 21 in Columbus) that will not count towards the GMAC standings. Ohio Valley is the only conference school that TU will not face in the 2020 regular season. 

Sprinkled amongst the conference schedule will be a couple of significant nonconference tests as well. The first of those matchups will be on Apr. 7 when Tiffin hosts Ashland, who knocked the Dragons out of the NCAA Tournament a season ago and advanced all the way to the DII College World Series. Tiffin will also travel to Urbana and DI-member Bowling Green on back-to-back days in mid-April (14th and 15th).

Tiffin's offense was among the best in the country during their late-season run in 2019, as in the month of May the Dragons batted .347 as a team and averaged 8.8 runs per game and 13 hits per game while going 9-3.

The Dragons return three All-Conference performers from a season ago in starting pitcher/outfielder Cody Orr (First Team), infielder Zach Campbell (Second Team), and reliever Aaron George (Honorable Mention), each of whom figure to be important pieces as Tiffin looks to build off the 2019 finish. Orr will especially look to continue his momentum from a strong finish with the Dragons as well as a very impressive summer league performance, winning the batting title in the prestigious Prospect League.

 "On paper, we are deeper in most areas," said Wilkins. "We will have some new faces in some positions. Losing John (Heckman), Brayden (Callihan), and  Jack (Dennis) will be tough to replace, especially with how they performed down the stretch. But I am cautiously optimistic about this season with an emphasis on optimistic. This is a special group."

To view the schedule in its entirety, click HERE.