WASHINGTON – Georgetown University Baseball Head Coach Pete Wilk has announced the team’s 2018 schedule for the upcoming spring. The Hoyas will play 22 home games at Shirley Povich Field and will have 15 contests against six programs that qualified for the 2017 NCAA Tournament, including two teams that advanced to the Super Regionals.
The Blue & Gray will open the 2017 campaign the weekend of Feb. 16-18 in Winston-Salem, N.C., its first of three trips to the state of North Carolina, to play Wake Forest, Navy and Gardner-Webb. All three games will be played at Wake Forest. Last season, the Demon Deacons were a win away from reaching the College World Series, falling to the eventual national champions — Florida.
Georgetown will return to North Carolina the following weekend, Feb. 23-25, for a three-game series at Davidson. The Wildcats were a No. 4 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament as the Atlantic10 Champions, but advanced to the Super Regionals with a pair of wins over national No. 2 seed North Carolina. GU opened last season against the Wildcats, taking the opener, 6-5, on a ninth-inning RBI single by Jake Bernstein (Frederick, Md./St. John’s College HS).
The Hoyas make their annual spring break trip to Florida, Mar. 3-11, playing seven games in nine days at the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte. The trip opens with contests against Mount St. Mary’s (Mar. 3) and Dartmouth (Mar. 4) before continuing, after a day off, with matchups against Northeastern (Mar. 6) and Western Michigan (Mar. 7). Last season, GU scored 10 unanswered runs to defeat the Broncos, 12-8, in an exciting 11-inning affair. The Blue & Gray will wrap up its stint in Florida with a game against George Mason (Mar. 9) and two games versus Saint Joseph’s (Mar. 10-11).
Georgetown will host its first home series of the spring, Mar. 16-18, playing a four-game, three-day series against Princeton at Shirley Povich Field, with a doubleheader scheduled for that Saturday. The two teams last met in the 2016 season, splitting a pair of 10-inning games before the Tigers ultimately took three out of four games from the Blue & Gray.
The Hoyas head back out on the road for two more weekend series before opening up conference play. They will play at Ohio State the weekend of Mar. 23-25 before making their final trip to North Carolina for a three-game series at UNC Greensboro, Mar. 29-31. Georgetown last met Ohio State in 2007 and last visited UNCG in 2016.
Conference play begins in April, with GU opening at home against the two-time reigning BIG EAST Champions Xavier (April 6-8). The Hoyas will also host Villanova (May 4-6) and Seton Hall (May 17-19) for BIG EAST series, while traveling for road matchups at St. John’s (April 20-22), Creighton (April 27-29) and Butler (May 11-13). GU will be looking to bounce back from a 4-14 record in BIG EAST play in 2017, taking two out of three in a road series at Villanova while also picking up wins over St. John’s and Butler.
Georgetown will play its final nonconference series against local foe George Mason during its bye week from BIG EAST play, April 13-15. The two teams will open the three-game series at Shirley Povich Field on Friday and Saturday, before closing the weekend with a Sunday matinee at George Mason.
The Blue & Gray will also play 12 midweek games, scattered throughout the season, against local programs. Among those 12 contests are five home-and-home series against George Washington (Feb. 27, April 24), Coppin State (Mar. 14, April 3), Navy (Mar. 21, April 11), Maryland Eastern Shore (April 4, May 9) and UMBC (April 17, May 15). The Hoyas will also play single home midweek games against Delaware State (Mar. 27) and Mount St. Mary’s (May 1).
The 2018 BIG EAST Championships will be hosted by Xavier, May 24-27, at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.
