The Topper baseball team released its 2014 schedule Monday, with 28 home games headlining WKU’s final season in the Sun Belt Conference.

WKU will play 18 games against eight teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, a significant portion of the 55-game schedule.

Coach Matt Myers said he wanted his team to play a tough non-conference schedules to help the Toppers have a chance to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“You always want to put yourself in a position to secure an at-large bid with a tough non-conference schedule and I don’t think there’s any question that we have done that with this schedule,” Myers said in a statement. “The Sun Belt Conference is coming off an historic year in which four programs advanced to a NCAA Regional and when you combine that with a couple of College World Series participants and three other teams that played into June, you’ve got a high-quality schedule on your hands. We’re excited and our players will be ready for the challenges that lay ahead.”

The season will kick off at home on Feb. 14 with a three-game series against Southern Illinois at home, while the Sun Belt Conference Tournament will start on May 21 in Mobile, Ala.

The Toppers will play Kentucky once and Louisville twice this season. WKU will take the field against the Wildcats on March 18 and will face the Cardinals on March 25 and April 22.

Other notable games include a three-game home series against Illinois beginning on March 7 and a two-game series at Georgia starting on March 11.

Last season WKU finished 28-29, with a 16-14 record in the Sun Belt.