Arizona beat UC Santa Barbara 3-0 Wednesday night to eliminate the Gauchos from the CWS at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. (Photo by Michelle Bishop)
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Fresh off the program’s first-ever trip to the College World Series, head coach Andrew Checketts and UCSB Baseball on Friday announced a formidable 2017 schedule featuring 33 home games, five foes who participated in last year’s NCAA Tournament, and 17 combined National Championships.
“We’ve made it a priority every season in this program to put together a challenging schedule, and that’s the case once again this year,” said Checketts. “Our non-conference opponents are in strong leagues and have historically been competitive, so we’re going to take that challenge and use it to prepare for us another competitive Big West season with the goal of returning to the Regionals.”
This year, UCSB will host non-conference series at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium against Loyola Marymount, AAC regular season champion Tulane, Stony Brook University, New Mexico State, and San Diego State.
The Gauchos will travel for non-conference series to SEC-member Kentucky and BYU.
Midweek opponents this season include WCC champion St. Mary’s, 12-time national champ USC, Cal State Bakersfield, Pepperdine, Gonzaga, and Nevada.
In Big West Conference play, UCSB will play host to Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and Cal Poly while traveling to CSUN, UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton, and Hawaii.
The blue-and-gold open the regular season with a three-game series against LMU starting on Friday, Feb. 17. They remain at home the following weekend against Tulane from Feb. 24-26.
The Gauchos open March with their longest road trip of the year, playing three at Kentucky from Mar. 3-5 then participating in a four-game set at BYU’s scenic Miller Park starting on Mar. 9.
After that, UCSB will return to Santa Barbara for a season-long 11-game homestand with series against Stony Brook, New Mexico State, and a Big-West opening set against Long Beach State starting on Mar. 31.
San Diego State will come to town from Apr. 21-23 during UCSB’s conference bye weekend. Last year, the Gauchos won the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic Invitational at SDSU.
The Gauchos wrap up the regular season with three at Hawaii from May 25-27, with postseason play commencing the following weekend.
The 2017 campaign unofficially kicks off Jan. 27-29 with the annual alumni weekend, capped off with an exhibition alumni game at Caesar Uyesaka on that Sunday.
Season tickets for the new season will be available starting on Nov. 7. For more information on seating, please call the UCSB Athletics Ticket Office at 805-893-UCSB.
