BRADENTON — The Pittsburgh Pirates begin their 44th spring training in Bradenton with a Black and Gold intrasquad game 1:05 p.m. Friday, March 2, at McKechnie Field, the first of 16 games to be played at the venerable ballpark this spring.

The Pirates open their Grapefruit League schedule March 3 in Dunedin to play the Toronto Blue Jays, and meet the Blue Jays again March 4 in their Grapefruit League home-opener.

All games start at 1:05 p.m. with the exception of the March 26 game against Baltimore, which begins at 7:05 p.m.

The Pirates will play seven home games against playoff teams, including three with the Tampa Bay Rays (March 17, March 22 and March 20) and two against the Philadelphia Phillies (March 12 and March 16).

The New York Yankees come to Bradenton on March 6, and the Detroit Tigers will be there March 23.

The Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros and the Orioles, the latter of whom play their home games at nearby Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, will also make trips to McKechnie.

The Pirates set an attendance record at McKechnie last spring, drawing 88,003 fans and averaging a record 5,500 in 16 home games.

One team not on the schedule is State College of Florida, which has played the Pirates 12 times in an annual charity game and defeated them in 2010.

“It doesn’t fit on the schedule as of now,” said Trevor Gooby, the Pirates director of Florida operations. “We are still working on trying to do something.”

Portions of the proceeds from the Black and Gold Game, which is included in the Pirates’ spring season-ticket package, will go toward the Manatee Education Foundation.

The Pirates have released their 2012 Spring Training Schedule. Here it is. The only really strange thing about it, at least from just eyeballing it, is that the Pirates will play their final two exhibition games against the Phillies in Philadelphia, then actually start their regular-season schedule against the Phillies at home on April 5.

March 2 Black & Gold Charity Game (split-squad)
March 3 @ Blue Jays (Dunedin)
March 4 Blue Jays
March 5 @Orioles (Sarasota)
March 6 Yankees
March 7 Blue Jays
March 8 @ Phillies (Clearwater)
March 9 @ Red Sox (Fort Myers)
March 10 Twins
March 11 @ Rays (Port Charlotte)
March 12 Phillies
March 13 Off
March 14 @ Orioles (Sarasota)
March 15 @ Twins (Fort Myers)
March 16 Phillies
March 17 Rays
March 18 @ Twins (Fort Myers)
March 19 Off
March 20 @ Yankees (Tampa)
March 21 Red Sox
March 22 Rays
March 23 Tigers
March 24 Astros
March 25 @ Astros (Kissimmee)
March 26 Orioles
March 27 @ Phillies (Clearwater)
March 28 @ Rays (Port Charlotte)
March 29 Twins
March 30 Rays
March 31 Orioles (split-squad)
March 31 @ Twins (split-squad – Fort Myers)
April 1 @ Blue Jays (Dunedin)
April 2 @ Phillies (in Philadelphia)
April 3 @ Phillies (in Philadelphia)

For more on the Pirates, check out Bucs Dugout.

Oct. 13
	   1903 -- The Boston Pilgrims won the first World Series, five games to three, with a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
	   1914 -- The Boston Braves completed the first sweep in World Series history with a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.
	   1921 -- Art Nehf tossed a 1-0, four-hitter against the New York Yankees for the World Series title in eight games. The Giants scored their run in the first inning on an error by shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh.
	   1960 -- Bill Mazeroski opened the bottom of the ninth with a home run off Ralph Terry of the Yankees to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 victory and the World Series in seven games.
	   1971 -- The first World Series night game was played in Pittsburgh with the Pirates beating Baltimore 4-3. Roberto Clemente had three hits for Pittsburgh.
	   1978 -- New York third baseman Graig Nettles put on a fielding clinic and prevented seven runs as the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in the third game of the World Series. Nettles made four spectacular stops and gave the Yankees the first victory of the series.
	   1984 -- Alan Trammell's two home runs backed Jack Morris' second complete game to give the Detroit Tigers a 4-2 victory and a 3-1 lead over the San Diego Padres in the World Series.
	   1993 -- Tommy Greene of Philadelphia outpitched Greg Maddux and the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 to win the National League pennant in six games.
	   1996 -- Powered by a three-homer third inning and eight strong innings from Andy Pettitte(notes), New York won its 34th American League pennant with a 6-4 victory over Baltimore. The Yankees took the ALCS 4-1 and went to the World Series for the first time since 1981.
	   1998 -- The New York Yankees advanced to the World Series for a record 35th time after beating the Cleveland Indians 9-5 to win the AL championship series in six games.
	   2002 -- Adam Kennedy(notes) hit his third homer of the game in the seventh inning and the Angels erupted for a 13-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins to win the AL championship series in five games and advance to the World Series for the first time in their 42-year history.
	   2007 -- Manny Ramirez(notes) hit his 23rd postseason homer in Boston's 13-6 11-inning loss to Cleveland. The two-run drive broke the playoff record he had shared with former New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams.
	   Today's birthdays: Taylor Buchholz(notes) 30; Trevor Hoffman(notes) 44.

The Pirates have released their 2012 season schedule. The season begins April 5 at PNC Park against the Philadelphia Phillies. After three against Philadelphia, they’ll head out for a West Coast trip against the Dodgers, Giants and Diamondbacks before returning home to face the Cardinals and Rockies beginning April 20. 

They’ll begin interleague play with a road series against the Detroit Tigers in mid-May. They’ll host the Royals, Twins and Tigers in June, and also play interleague series against the Indians and Orioles. 

After only nine games at home in April, they’ll play 18 home games in May. It’s June that might pose problems for them, as they’ll have a ton of interleague games (which they’ve historically been awful in) and road series against the Brewers, Reds, Phillies and Cardinals.

They’ll be at home Wednesday, July 4 against the Houston Astros.

Their season will end with a home series against the Atlanta Braves from October 1-3. 

For more on the Pirates, check out Bucs Dugout.

Omar Infante and Logan Morrison both homered during a nine-run third inning and the Florida Marlins pounded out 22 hits in a 13-4 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

Infante drove in five runs, adding a solo shot in the first while Morrison had four hits and three RBIs. The Marlins had a club record 10 hits in the third. Morrison and Bryan Petersen each had two hits in the third as Florida broke the record of nine, which had been done four times, most recently on Sept. 17, 2001 at Montreal.

Infante got an assist on his three-run homer in the third when it bounced off the glove of left fielder Alex Presley, who was on the warning track, and into the left-field bleachers.

Petersen, Emilio Bonifacio, Gaby Sanchez, Donnie Murphy, John Buck and winning pitcher Ricky Nolasco (10-10) all finished with two hits for the Marlins.

Ross Ohlendorf (0-2) had his string of winless starts reach 15 as he was rocked for six runs on 10 hits in two plus innings. He needed 54 pitches to record six outs.

Pedro Ciriaco had two hits and two RBIs for the Pirates and Presley and Ryan Doumit also had two hits each.

Nolasco’s streak of 22 scoreless innings against the Pirates ended in the second inning when Doumit doubled and scored on Ciriaco’s single to draw Pittsburgh within 2-1. Florida then countered with its big third to put the game away.

Florida’s third inning did not come without a downside, though, as both right fielder Mike Stanton and first baseman Jose Lopez suffered strained right hamstrings while running out hits and were forced to leave the game. Stanton, who has been bothered by hamstring stiffness since spring training, was making his first start since Sept. 3.

Morrison, the left fielder, was shaken up when he slid into the side wall to catch Garrett Jones’ fly ball in the eighth inning but stayed in the game.

Ohlendorf has not won since July 2, 2010 against Philadelphia and is tied with Cincinnati’s Dontrelle Willis for the longest active winless streak. Ohlendorf has been limited to six starts this season because of shoulder problems.

Florida took a 2-0 lead against Ohlendorf as Infante hit a solo home run down the left-field line in the first and doubled home Nolasco, who had singled, in the second.

The Marlins’ big third inning was started by Stanton, who singled. Murphy pinch ran, went to third on Morrison’s double and scored on a throwing error by right fielder Ryan Ludwick.

Lopez, Buck, Petersen and Nolasco followed with consecutive singles, with Lopez’s and Nolasco’s driving in runs. Bonifacio then hit a sacrifice fly, Infante hit his defense-aided three-run blast and Morrison added his his two-run homer.

Florida made it 13-1 in the fifth as Murphy tripled and scored on Morrison’s single before Buck hit a run-scoring single.

Pittsburgh’s’ Pedro Alvarez tripled and scored on a single by Presley in the fifth, Andrew McCutchen doubled and came home on Derrek Lee’s single in the sixth and Ciriaco hit an RBI triple in the eighth.

Notes: Florida CF Mike Cameron missed his second straight game with tightness in his right hamstring and said he did not anticipate returning to the lineup any time soon. Pittsburgh RHP Jeff Karstens will return to the rotation Tuesday against St. Louis after missing two starts because of shoulder fatigue. Pirates LHP Jeff Locke will make his major-league debut Saturday night when he faces RHP Anibal Sanchez (7-7, 3.83) in the middle game of the three-game series. Locke, 23, was a combined 8-10 with a 3.70 ERA in 28 games with Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis. Though Sanchez has struck out a career-high 173 batters in 171 1-3 innings this season, he has only one win in his last 15 starts. Five Pittsburgh prospects have joined the club for the weekend but won’t be placed on the active roster: Indianapolis LHP Justin Wilson, 1B Matt Hague and OF Gorkys Hernandez and Altoona RHPs Kyle McPherson and Bryan Morris.