TAMPA, DEC. 12, 2016 – The University of South Florida baseball team and third-year head coach Mark Kingston announced the Bulls’ 2017 schedule on Monday afternoon.
The schedule features a 56-game lineup, including 38 home games at USF Baseball Stadium, and six teams with 2016 NCAA Tournament appearances (East Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Stetson, Tulane, and UConn).
“We are pleased to announce our 2017 schedule,” said Kingston. “There will be many great challenges for us both in and out of conference. As always, the American Athletic Conference will be one of the premier leagues in college baseball and challenge us every weekend. Our non-conference schedule will have many NCAA regional teams, including Florida and Florida State. Our team has been working very hard and we can’t wait to get started.”
The season begins on Friday, Feb. 17, when USF hosts Iowa in a three-game weekend series.
Midweek play starts on Feb. 21 with a trip to Florida State, a team that reached the NCAA Super Regionals in 2016.
USF is then home for the next 17 games. The homestand begins with a four-game, three-day series (Feb. 24-26) against Miami (Ohio), followed by a three-game weekend set versus Toledo (March 3-5). Jacksonville visits the Bulls on March 7 and USF renews a former Big East rivalry with Villanova on March 8. The homestand concludes with a three-game weekend series with Valparaiso (March 10-12), a four-game set against Harvard (March 17-19) and a midweek tilt with North Florida (March 21).
The first half of the season wraps up with USF playing at FGCU (March 22), a home series with Florida A&M (March 24-26), and a midweek contest versus Stetson (March 28). The Bulls are 45-3 all-time against FAMU and have won 14 straight meetings.
USF starts American Athletic Conference play at Tulane (March 31-April 2) before returning home to host UCF (April 7-9) in the War On I-4 rivalry. The Bulls will also be on the road at Memphis (April 21-23), UConn (May 12-14) and UCF (May 18-20). Other home conference series include Cincinnati (April 13-15), Houston (April 28-30), and East Carolina (May 5-7), a ranked team that USF won two of three road games from during 2016.
A few midweek games are also mixed in to the conference slate. USF will visit Stetson (April 11), UNF (April 19), Florida (May 9), and Jacksonville (May 16). The 2016 Florida Gators team reached the College World Series. Additionally, the Bulls will host Stetson (April 26) and FGCU (May 3).
2017 South Florida Schedule (PDF)
