Canisius head baseball Matt Mazurek announced his team’s 2018 schedule Monday. The Golden Griffins’ slate features a total of seven contests against 2017 NCAA Tournaments teams, as well as 17 home games at the Demske Sports Complex.
“Our 2018 Non-Conference schedule is a challenging one. It will test our team right from the get go and at no point does it get any easier. We have scheduled a variety of teams from different conferences that will pose a big challenge for our veteran group.” Mazurek stated.
“The goal is to put the team in a competitive environment week in and week out against Top-Caliber opponents so we can create our own identity along the way in preparation for conference play. We will go into our schedule looking to be competitive every game and not settle with just being competitive – Our goal is to win every time we step on the field.”
For the third time in four seasons, Canisius will open the season against a Big Ten team, as the Blue and Gold face the Ohio State Buckeyes for two games in the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla., Feb. 16-17. The Griffs also play Milwaukee in two non-conference games Feb. 16-17.
From Feb. 23 through Mar. 3, Canisius is set to play a total of six non-league games against Western Carolina, Campbell and Bowling Green. The team will round out the trip to North Carolina with a single game against 2017 NCAA Tournament qualifier NC State on Mar. 4.
Canisius will play three-game weekend series at Liberty (Mar. 9-11) and another 2017 NCAA Tournament qualifier in West Virginia (Mar. 16-18) before opening conference action March 24-25 when the Griffs play host to defending MAAC regular-season champion Fairfield.
Canisius’ non-conference schedule also includes a home doubleheader versus Cornell and two home-and-home series with Kent State and St. Bonaventure, respectively.
The Griffs will play long-time rival Niagara over three separate days (Apr. 17, Apr. 25 and May 1) with one home game for each squad and one contest being played at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls N.Y. Those three games with the Purple Eagles will be counted as non-league games and will not count towards MAAC standings.
After opening MAAC play against Fairfield, the Blue and Gold travel to Monmouth for their first three road conference games Mar. 30-31. Quinnipiac (Apr. 21-22) and the 2017 MAAC champion Marist (May 17-18) will visit the Demske Sports Complex during conference play, while the team will travel to play at Iona (Apr. 14-15), Rider (Apr. 28-29) and Manhattan (May 12-13) on the road.
The 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship will be held May 23-26 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark, in Staten Island, N.Y., home of the Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The conference champion will receive the MAAC’s automatic berth to the 2018 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship tournament.
Canisius will return 27 letterwinners, eight regular position players and six starting pitchers to the 2018 roster. The Griffs went 35-22 overall and 16-8 in MAAC play in 2017. The 2018 season will be the program’s first under the direction of Mazurek, who was named the program’s head coach Sept. 6.
