TAMPA - The University of South Florida baseball team (0-3) will open the much anticipated USF baseball stadium when they host Elon (3-1) in a three game series beginning Friday, February 25th.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the new USF Baseball Stadium. The Bulls and Phoenix will clash again at 7 p.m. on Saturday and then end the series with a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.

All three games can be heard live on 1010 CBS Sports on your AM dial as well through BullsVision audio.

The weekend will serve as a "soft" opening for the brand new, state-of-the-art baseball stadium. With construction on the verge of completion, the USF administration has decided to make all events free to the public for the entire weekend series.

The Bulls will look to get on track after being swept at No. 1 Florida to open the season. The sweep did not come without some highlights as the Bulls out hit the Gators on Saturday while getting a solid performance from senior LHP Andrew Barbosa (0-1). Barbosa suffered a hard luck loss despite going 6.0 innings, scattering six hits, allowing just two runs, one earned and striking out five. Of Barbosa's 70 pitches, 49 were strikes.

USF has won eight straight home openers and is 32-11-1 all-time in home-opening contest. Last year, the Bulls went 16-11 at home and are 76-47 (.618) at home under fifth year coach Lelo Prado.

Barbosa has gone 5.0 innings or more in 15 of his 16 career starts and 6.0 or more in 13 of 16 starts.

Offensively, the Bulls come into the weekend led by juniors Todd Brazeal and Sam Mende hitting .333 in the early going. Brazeal opened the season with a three hit outing in game while Mende registered a three-for-four outing in the series finale.

The Bulls will likely stick to their opening weekend rotation against Elon. Senior RHP Randy Fontanez (0-1) is slated to take the mound in the series opener on Friday, Barbosa on Saturday and freshman LHP Nick Gonzalez in the series finale. Making his first collegiate start Gonzalez, Gonzalez showed some promise against the top-ranked Gators.

The weekend series marks the first meeting between USF and Elon. The Bulls are 7-5 all-time against members of the Southern conference. USF is is 4-4 against Western Carolina, 1-0 vs. Ga. Southern and 2-1 vs. Samford all-time. It will mark the first game against a member of the SoCon since 2006 when the Bulls defeated Western Carolina, 4-3 in 13 innings.

Elon comes to Tampa with a record of 3-1 having won three straight contests. After dropping the season opener to NC State, Elon won the remaining two contest. During the mid-week, Elon picked up a 13-10 win over High Point.

Following this weekend, the Bulls prepare for their first mid-week game of 2011 as they participate in the second annual Florida Four hosted by the Tampa Bay Sports Commission at Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday, March 1. The Bulls will take on Miami with first pitch slated for 4:05. The game will be aired live on Bright House Sports and Comcast Sports South.

The series will be the first of three straight weekend home series for the Bulls and will begin a stretch of 11 of USF next 12 games being at the new USF Baseball Stadium. The lone exception being the Bulls 2011 Florida Four match-up against Miami at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on March 1. The Bulls will only leave the friendly-confines of their new stadium once during non-conference weekends, a split four game series with Bethune-Cookman on March 17-20. The first two game of the series will be in Daytona and the final two games will be in Tampa. In fact USF will not leave the state of Florida during the non-conference portion of their schedule.