Add to calendar Complete 2017 Siena Baseball Schedule

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Siena Baseball Head Coach Tony Rossi has announced his program's complete 2017 schedule. The Saints are slated for 55 regular season contests, 20 of which are scheduled to be played at Siena Field.

Siena will bookend its 2017 regular season with a 19-game road trip to open the year, while also playing its final 10 games away from home. Meanwhile, the Saints are scheduled to play all of their 20 home games during a 26-game stretch encompassing the tail end of March and the entire month of April. The 20 home dates mark the program's most since hosting 21 games in Loudonville during the 2011 campaign.

"With a young ball club, the initial challenging portion of our 2017 schedule will introduce our large freshman class to top flight competition," said Rossi, who is set to begin his 48th season at the helm as both the longest tenured active Division I head baseball coach, and longest tenured active coach at the same institution in any Division I sport. "And with the journey north, playing schools in quality conferences will hopefully prepare the squad for the all-important conference grind."

Once again, Siena will open its season with a long, challenging southern road trip bridging February and most of March to well-prepare the team for its return north. The Saints' 19-game road trip will be the program's longest to begin a season since Siena played its first 34 games away from home to open its 2014 slate.

Siena will play its first eight games of the season in the Sunshine State. For the fifth straight year – and sixth time in the past seven seasons – the Saints will open their season at Central Florida for a three-game series Feb. 17-18. Siena will then travel to face defending Atlantic Sun Tournament Champion Stetson for a two-game set Feb. 21-22, before closing out both the opening month of the season and its Florida swing with a three-game series vs. ACC foe Pittsburgh Feb. 24-25 at historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.

Siena opens the month of March with trips to Kentucky to face Murray State (Mar. 4-5), North Carolina to square off with Davidson (Mar. 11-12) and Ohio to play Ohio University (Mar. 18-19) to conclude its opening southern swing. The Saints finally return north for their first games in the Empire State, with a doubleheader at NYIT on Mar. 25.

Siena's 2017 home opener is scheduled for a doubleheader on Sunday, Mar. 26 vs. NYIT beginning at noon to conclude the four-game weekend home-and-home series. The Saints are also slated to host Army West Point (Mar. 28) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Mar. 29) to conclude the month of March.

Following a conference-opening series to begin the month of April against Manhattan Apr. 1-2 at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill, New York, Siena returns to the Capital Region to open a season long nine-game homestand Apr. 4-18. The Saints are set to host UMass (Apr. 4), MAAC foe Monmouth (Apr. 8-9), Fordham (Apr. 11), conference rival Canisius (Apr. 14-15) and Central Connecticut (Apr. 18) in the program's longest homestand since playing 10 straight in Loudonville in April 2009.

Siena concludes its home slate with a MAAC Championship Series rematch against defending conference champion Fairfield Apr. 22-23, and a single game vs. Dartmouth Apr. 26, before closing out the month of April against league foe Iona Apr. 29-30. The Saints will also travel to Holy Cross (Apr. 19) and Brown (Apr. 25) in April non-conference action.

Siena will spend the entire month of May on the road, as the Saints' final three MAAC series will all be contested away from home with matchups at Saint Peter's (May 6-7), Niagara (May 11-12) and Marist (May 18-19). The Saints will not face either Quinnipiac or Rider during the 2017 regular season as part of the MAAC schedule. Siena will also travel to face defending America East Tournament Champion Binghamton (May 10) as part of its regular season-ending 10-game road trek.

The top six finishers in the 11-team MAAC will once again qualify for the 2017 MAAC Baseball Tournament. The championship will be contested May 24-27 at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls, New York, and will be co-hosted by Canisius and Niagara.

The Saints are set to return seven members of their starting lineup from a team which advanced to the MAAC Championship Series in 2016 for the fourth consecutive season and fifth time in six years. Siena also welcomes the largest freshman class in program history at 16 strong to join a team which posted a 25-32 overall record last spring, and finished second in the MAAC with a 16-8 league mark.