Home 2017 Schedules Boston College releases 2017 Schedule

Boston College releases 2017 Schedule

by Brian Foley
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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The 15th-ranked Boston College baseball team released the 2017 schedule on Monday. The 56-game slate features 23 home games, 10 matchups against 2016 NCAA Tournament participants and a rematch with Super Regional opponent Miami.

The Eagles open the season on Feb. 17 with a three-game series at Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats made their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning their 18th Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) title. It is the first time BC will open a season in Florida under seventh-year head coach Mike Gambino.

BC then travels to Norman, Okla., for the Sooners Baseball Classic (Feb. 24-26), where the Eagles will face Northern Illinois, Villanova and Oklahoma, who is under the tutelage of former BC coach Pete Hughes. The Eagles return to the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla., for the fourth straight year to take on five different teams over spring break before opening the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule against Florida State – a 2016 Super Regional team – in Tallahassee (March 3-5).

For the first time in the last 25 years, the Eagles will not take on the Red Sox in Fort Myers as scheduling conflicts prohibit the annual meeting.

Before opening the home slate, BC travels to Louisville (March 17-19), the 2016 ACC Atlantic Division champions, along with regional rivals Holy Cross (March 14) and Northeastern (March 21). The Eagles welcome 2016 ACC Tournament champions Clemson to Eddie Pellagrini Diamond on March 24 for a three-game conference series.

The Eagles will head to Blacksburg, Va., to face cross-divisional rival Virginia Tech (March 31-April 2) and host North Carolina after missing the Tar Heels last season (April 7-9). They also head to Duke (April 14-16) and Wake Forest (May 5-7) in ACC play.

The Eagles welcome NC State to The Heights for a three-game series beginning on April 21. BC has won five of the last eight contests against the Wolfpack, including last year’s series in Raleigh. On Saturday, April 22, Boston College will host the Sixth Annual ALS Awareness Game in honor of former BC captain Pete Frates. Last year, the Eagles retired Frates’ No. 3 at the annual game and in November, he was named the 2017 recipient of the NCAA Inspiration Award.

College World Series participant Miami comes to Chestnut Hill on April 28. The conference series will be a rematch of last year’s Super Regional, in which the No. 2 seed Hurricanes defeated the Eagles, 9-4, in the third game to advance to Omaha and ending the Eagles’ historic season. On Saturday, April 29, BC will host its Fifth Annual Wounded Warrior Project Game, which includes a softball game with local veterans on Shea Field on Thursday, April 27.

BC will host Northeastern in the first round of the 28th Annual Beanpot Tournament on Wednesday, April 5. The Eagles lead the four teams with 12 titles, including the last two, and have an all-time record of 35-16-1 in the regional tournament. The championship and consolation games will be played on April 19.

BC also hosts regional opponents Massachusetts (March 29), Harvard (April 11), UMass Lowell (April 25), Quinnipiac (May 13-14) and Maine (May 16). The Eagles will travel to Connecticut (March 28), Dartmouth (April 18), 2016 Northeastern Conference champion and NCAA Tournament participants Bryant (April 26) and UMass Lowell (May 2).

The Eagles close out the regular season at home with Notre Dame beginning on May 18. Former BC head coach Mik Aoki returns to The Heights with the Fighting Irish. The senior class will be honored before the start of the final game on Saturday, May 20.

The ACC Baseball Championship increased from 10 to 12 teams and will feature a pool-play format, leading into a four-team, single-elimination bracket to determine the league champion. The event will be held May 23-28 at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Ky.

The Eagles look to return to the postseason after making it in 2016 for the first time since 2010 and advancing to their 11th NCAA Tournament appearance, the first since 2009. It was the third appearance in the ACC Championship since BC joined the league in 2006. BC swept the Oxford Regional as the three seed to advance to the program’s first-ever Super Regional, advancing on for the first time in 49 years. Of the record 10 ACC teams that made the tournament, BC was one of four teams to advance to the Super Regional round and was the first New England team to move on since 2009.

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