Courtesy of Bryant Media Relations
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Highlighted by weekend series at perennial Big South members Liberty and Coastal Carolina, the Bryant University baseball team and head coach Steve Owens have announced a challenging 56-game slate for the 2015 season.
Fresh off back-to-back 40-win seasons and consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, the Bulldogs have put together yet another tough schedule for the upcoming spring. The schedule features six 30-win teams and 23 home games at Conaty Park.
“Our early season schedule is once again very challenging by design,” Owens said. “Sixteen consecutive road games will certainly provide some RPI opportunity for our program and test our preparation and resiliency in many ways. The goal of course is to win, but of equal importance will be establishing positional and pitching staff roles going into conference play. We have some big shoes to fill based on our recent losses to graduation and professional baseball. ”
Bryant opens the season with a trip to San Antonio, Texas, on Feb. 20-22 to take on UT San Antonio in a three-game series. The following weekend, the Black and Gold face one of their biggest challenges of the season as they head to Lynchburg, Va., for a four-game series against Liberty. The Flames won 41 games last season and were a No. 3 seed in the Charlottesville Regional.
The Bulldogs will then head even further south for their annual spring trip. They open the trip with a three-game series at Towson (Mar. 6-9) before facing Delaware St. (Mar. 10) and ACC-member Duke (Mar. 11) during the midweek. Bryant will be facing all three opponents for the first time in program history. The trip concludes with a three-game series against perennial NCAA contender Coastal Carolina (Mar. 13-15). The Chanticleers have qualified for the 12 of the past 14 NCAA tournaments and have posted 11 40-win seasons and four 50-win seasons since 2001.
Following a midweek affair against Boston College on March 18, Bryant opens its 23-game home schedule with a four-game series against NYIT (Mar. 20-22). The four-game set kicks off a string of eight-straight home games for the Black and Gold and includes contests against America East foes UMass Lowell (Mar. 24) and Hartford (Mar. 28-29). The Bulldogs will then face Brown (Mar. 31) and Northeastern (Apr. 1) during the week before heading to Philadelphia, Pa., to face St. Joseph’s and Villanova in their final non-conference weekend of the season. The remainder of Bryant’s non-conference schedule includes a home-and-home with Rhode Island (Apr. 8 and Apr. 21) and a matchup with Connecticut on April 15.
The three-time defending regular season and two-time defending tournament champion Bulldogs open NEC play with a four-game series at Central Connecticut. The Black and Gold will also travel to Sacred Heart (May 1-3) and Wagner (May 14-16) for league series, and will host Mount St. Mary’s (Apr. 17-19), LIU Brooklyn (Apr. 24-26) and Fairleigh Dickinson (May 8-10). Bryant is an impressive 70-18 in NEC play over the last three years.
The Northeast Conference tournament will be held from May 21-May 23 at a site to be determined. The top four teams during the regular season qualify for the double elimination tournament.
