GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- University of North Dakota head baseball coach Jeff Dodson officially unveiled his team's 2015 schedule Monday, one of the toughest in his tenure. The 49-game slate includes 10 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season and the second year of the perennially-tough Western Athletic Conference schedule.

"This is the strongest schedule that we've played since I've been here," Dodson said. "We start with two very tough teams in Arkansas and Washington, so an opportunity for our guys to see where they stack up against some of the top teams in the power conferences.

"We've got pretty much the entire month of April at home," he said. "We're excited to get South Dakota State and North Dakota State on the schedule again, those games are great for our fans and they're usually great games as well."

As in past years, UND will play a bulk of its non-conference schedule on the road, heading to some of the finer facilities in the country to open the season. UND will open with a three-game set at the University of Arkansas. The Razorbacks, who went 39-22 with an NCAA Regional appearance, feature the second-largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference, a facility that holds 11,000 fans.

Two weeks later, North Dakota makes its first of two trips to the Pacific Northwest, the first to play four games against the University of Washington. The Huskies unveiled a $19-million renovation to Husky Ballpark last season, a year that saw them go 41-17-1 and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. UND will return to Seattle to face Seattle U for a three-game WAC series April 17-19.

Following three games at the University of Nebraska, Omaha-- the reigning Summit League regular season champion-- North Dakota then heads to UC Riverside for three games. UND will face Dickinson State in a doubleheader in Tucson, Ariz., the week leading up to the WAC-opening series at Grand Canyon Mar. 20-22.

The home schedule begins Apr. 2 with a three-game slate against Bakersfield, part of five WAC series set for Kraft Memorial Field and 19 games at home total. Four games with South Dakota State (two home, two away) and a home-and-home with North Dakota State (Apr. 21 in Fargo, Apr. 28 in Grand Forks) also highlight the non-conference tilts.

The WAC Tournament is once again set for Mesa, Ariz. and the home spring facility for the Chicago Cubs. The six-team double-elimination tournament begins May 20 with the champion earning the league's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Tournament.