Year in and year out, baseball puts together a rigorous non-conference schedule to begin its season.

The Huskies schedule games against some of the top teams in college baseball while playing in some very challenging weekend tournaments and invites.

“It’s a situation where we get a chance to see guys and some of the best teams in the country,” said coach Ed Mathey. “We get to see the game played [at] a pretty high level, and it’s going to force us to play at a pretty high level to compete.”

This may not have a positive impact on the Huskies’ record every year, but scheduling games against college baseball’s finest benefits them more than it hurts them down the road.

Leading off, it allows the Huskies, especially their younger players, to gain valuable experience early in the season. They are able to develop their game while growing accustomed to new roles or positions while going head to head with some of the top talent they will face all season.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Mathey said. “You’re really forced into a certain level of play early, and if you don’t have the right makeup it could really knock you back for a few weeks. So we try to find the guys with the right makeup and we tell them, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity and adversity is an opportunity, so we’re going to create some adverse environments for you compete in and see if we can get better from it.’”

Mathey likes that going up against such strong competition shows the players firsthand what they need to improve on in order to be a better team.

“The other thing that it does is it shows you what you have to work on,” Mathey said. “And there’s nothing more real than an opposing team for players to show you what you need to work on. So we like to play good competition and we like to go to good venues.”

One of the most important aspects of the team’s challenging non-conference schedule is that it prepares the Huskies for MAC play.

In the Huskies’ non-conference schedule last season, they went 4-15 after playing against stronger teams in college baseball. Once conference play hit, the Huskies turned it on, going 16-11 in MAC-play, winning its first MAC West Division Title.

The Huskies had a similar situation in 2011 when they lost their first 10 games of the season in a row and went on to post a 5-11 non-conference record. They posted a 16-11 record once again in conference play to earn the No. 5 seed in the MAC tournament.

“The MAC is very competitive …. It’s a tough league, you have to have toughness to survive it,” Mathey said. “So having a schedule like this helps us create some toughness, it helps us see things at a high speed. Listen, there are some guys in the MAC that meet the caliber of teams that we play, but there’s not day-in, day-out, nine innings, batter after batter.

“I think this helps our guys get used to the speed and be able to see it a little bit more, and by doing that it in turn slows the game down for them. I think it’s been beneficial.”

The Huskies (1-8-1) are off to a similar start this season, struggling with their non-conference schedule. For now the Huskies will continue to improve and find their identity, and on March 21, the Huskies’ real season begins as they host Buffalo for the start of MAC play.