SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Highlighted by season-opening trips to Arizona and Auburn, Bryant University baseball head coach Steve Owens announced the 2018 schedule on Monday.
The 56-game schedule features five teams that made the 2017 NCAA Tournament and begins with 22-straight road games. Bryant will face teams from three of the premier conferences in the country (PAC-12, SEC, ACC), while also completing an always-competitive 28-game Northeast Conference schedule.
“The 2018 schedule is the most difficult in school history,” Owens said. “We will be challenged for five-consecutive weekends by some of the nation’s top programs on the road before returning to the Northeast. We will be attempting to win our seventh-straight NEC Regular-Season title which will be difficult with the strength of the top teams in our league this year. In addition, we will be playing a very good midweek slate against top teams from other conferences in the Northeast.”
Bryant opens the 2018 season with arguably the toughest 17-game stretch in program history. The stretch features 13 games against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago and 10 games against opponents from Power 5 conferences.
It all begins on February 16th when the Black and Gold travel to Tucson, Arizona, for a three-game series with Arizona. The Wildcats advanced to the 2017 NCAA Tournament and won a National Championship in 2012.
The Bulldogs follow that with a three-game series against SEC-member Auburn from Feb. 23-25. It will mark the second-straight season Bryant will play a series against an SEC member (Arkansas) and the third-straight year it will face a team from one of college baseball’s best conferences. The Tigers appeared in the 2017 NCAA Tournament and have won four national championships.
Bryant will then head to Cary, North Carolina, for a three-game weekend at the USA Baseball Complex. The Black and Gold will face Army on March 2, Boston College on March 3 and first-time opponent Niagara on March 4.
The Black and Gold will then head to the Mid-Atlantic for its spring break trip, facing Maryland (Mar. 9-11), Virginia Tech (Mar. 14) and Delaware (Mar. 16-18). Bryant and Maryland, a 2017 NCAA Tournament team, will be meeting for the third-straight year and the fourth time in five seasons. The Terrapins won all three games last season and hold an 8-1 lead in the all-time series.
Bryant’s visit to Blacksburg, Virginia, will be its first since the 2011 season. The Bulldogs split a four-game series with the Hokies and are 4-3 in seven all-time meetings.
The Bulldogs wrap up the spring trip with a four-game series at Delaware, another NCAA Tournament team from a year ago. Bryant and Delaware will be meeting for the third time, with the Bulldogs holding a 4-1 lead in the series. The last time they met, the Black and Gold exploded for 16 runs on 19 hits in a 16-5 win in 2016.
Bryant begins its northern non-conference schedule on March 21 with a trip to America East foe Hartford. The Bulldogs will also play mid-week non-league games against Brown (Mar. 27-28), Rhode Island (Apr. 4), Connecticut (Apr. 10), Quinnipiac (Apr. 18), Boston College (Apr. 25), Northeastern (May 2) and UMass Lowell (May 15). In addition, the Black and Gold will play three games at Stony Brook May 4-6. They will face Stony Brook on Friday, Massachusetts on Saturday and the Seawolves again on Sunday. It will be the first meeting in program history between Bryant and UMass.
The Black and Gold, who have won six-straight NEC Regular-Season titles, open league play on March 23 with a three-game series on Staten Island against Wagner. It will be the first of two meetings between the teams, as Bryant welcomes Wagner to Smithfield May 11-13.
Bryant’s other double opponent in league play this season will be Mount St. Mary’s. The Black and Gold will host the Mountaineers Mar. 30-Apr. 1 at Conaty Park and then close the season with a three-game series in Emmitsburg, Maryland, from May 17-19.
In addition to road series at Wagner and Mount, Bryant will also travel to LIU Brooklyn (Apr. 6-8) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Apr. 13-15). The Bulldogs will host NEC series against Sacred Heart (Apr. 20-22) and Central Connecticut (Apr. 27-29), the defending league champions.
