BYU Baseball announces its 2017 schedule

After one of the better baseball campaigns in a few years, the Brigham Bats are taking it to the next level with the 2017 schedule.

The 2017 campaign will feature seven opponents who qualified for the 2016 NCAA tournament. Five of those opponents come in the Cougars non-conference slate — including 2016 College World Series qualifier UC Santa Barbara.

As usual, BYU will be on the road to open the season. February in Provo isn’t really baseball weather. The Cougars will have three interesting and challenging weekends away from home before making their debut in Provo.

BYU will begin this season in Atlanta, Georgia in the Georgia Tech Tournament that includes Kennesaw State and Georgia State, as well as the host and regional-qualifier Georgia Tech. The tournament will play a Friday, Saturday, and Monday schedule.

The following Thursday the Cougars will be on the other side of the country to play in the San Jose State Tournament. This tournament will feature the host Spartans team as well as Northern Colorado.

The last weekend series will be played in Bakersfield, California against Cal State Bakersfield.

March 9, 2017 will see the Cougars debut at Larry H. Miller Field against UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos will be a major test. Kudos to the BYU staff for getting a home series against a high profile team.

BYU will play its first mid-week game of the season against New Mexico State before welcoming Connecticut. The Huskies reached the field of 64 last season.

Conference play will see 2016 West Coast Conference tournament champions St. Mary’s, WCC regular season champions Gonzaga, Portland, San Francisco, and Pepperdine make the trip to Provo. While the Cougars will travel to Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Santa Clara, and San Diego.

During WCC play, BYU will have home and home mid-week games against Utah and Utah Valley — both in-state teams qualified for the NCAA tournament last season.

Should BYU finish in the top four in the WCC they will participate in the West Coast Conference tournament. The WCC tournament will once against be played in Stockton, California at Banner Island Ballpark.

This is a great schedule. Most of BYU’s key matchups occur at Miller Field. With a bundle a great bats returning and a couple promising arms coming back from injury, BYU should be able to closely compete with the talented teams on their 2017 schedule.

Here is full list of dates and opponents on BYU Baseball 2017 schedule.