ETSU baseball announces 2023 schedule

Published 9:10 am Thursday, December 8, 2022

JOHNSON CITY – ETSU head baseball coach Joe Pennucci officially released the team’s 2023 schedule on Tuesday, announcing 53 regular season games with 28 home contests at Thomas Stadium. The season starts on Feb. 17-19, 2023 with a home series against Toledo.

Last season, ETSU finished with a 30-21 overall record and went 22-6 at home.

“I am extremely excited about this year’s schedule,” said Pennucci, who enters his fifth season at the helm. “We have some competitive clubs coming to Johnson City this season and have a few road series that will challenge us. It will prepare us for an always-competitive SoCon schedule. Our team will be ready for the challenge.”

For the 13th season in a row, ETSU baseball will play its season opener in Johnson City. The Blue and Gold will welcome a school with similar colors, Toledo, on Feb. 17-19. The series begins that Friday at 3:00 p.m., Saturday’s middle match will begin at 2:00 p.m. and the get-away game is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. The Bucs are 4-0 all-time against Toledo with a win in 1999 and a three-game sweep in 2020.

ETSU will play a midweek home-and-home series against Virginia Tech this season. The road game will come first, as the Bucs head to Blacksburg on Feb. 21. ETSU will later host VT on March 14 at Thomas Stadium at 5:00 p.m. Last year, ETSU and Virginia Tech battled to a no-contest in Blacksburg due to rain — a game where Landon Smiddy (Knoxville, Tenn.) had a no-hitter through three innings and ETSU led 1-0 midway through. The two squads played a home-and-home in 2021 when VT was nationally-ranked. Last season, VT hosted a an NCAA Regional and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals.

ETSU will make three weekend trips in non-conference play, headlined by a late-year flight to Stillwater, Okla. to face Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State. The series will run from May 5-7 and will take place on ETSU’s open week during conference play. The other two non-conference road series come against respectable programs in Georgia Southern (Feb. 24-26) and Tennessee Tech (March 17-19).

ETSU’s most storied rival, Appalachian State, will play a midweek home-and-home with the Bucs this season. The home game at Thomas Stadium comes first on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. The road game in Boone will take place on Tuesday, May 2. Last year, both games with App State were canceled due to weather.

The Bucs will be in full swing when March rolls around with three non-conference home series, not including Toledo. The first of those is set for March 3-5 against Marist. The following weekend on March 10-12, ETSU will host Winthrop. Later in the month, ETSU will open conference play at home against Samford on March 24-26 and will close the month and head into April with a series against Seton Hall on March 31-April 2.

A much-anticipated day trip in each of the last four seasons, ETSU will travel to Clemson on March 7. This will mark the second of two early road trips to ACC opponents with Virginia Tech being the other.

The Bucs will play Radford three times this season, but all three games will come in midweek fashion. ETSU will first travel to Radford on March 28, then will host the Highlanders on April 11 at 5 p.m. The last game in the series is back at Radford on April 25.

ETSU and UNC Asheville will continue their yearly meetings with the Bucs first traveling to Asheville on March 21. Later in the year, ETSU will host the Bulldogs in the final midweek game of the year on May 9. The home game will come right after the road series at Oklahoma State.

For the first time in baseball history, ETSU will play against Presbyterian. The midweek game will take place in Clinton, S.C. on Tuesday, April 19.

As mentioned earlier, ETSU will open SoCon play at home on March 24-26 with a three-game series against Samford. After an open week that will be filled with Seton Hall, ETSU returns to SoCon play with a home series against defending regular-season champion Wofford on April 6-8. The Bucs will have back-to-back road weekends after that at Mercer (April 14-16) and The Citadel (April 21-23). ETSU is back in Thomas Stadium on April 28-30 to host Western Carolina to wrap up the month of April. In May, ETSU will wind down the SoCon schedule with a road trip to VMI (May 12-14) and will officially close with defending SoCon tournament champion UNCG at Thomas Stadium (May 18-20).

The Southern Conference Baseball Championship is scheduled for May 23-27 at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. The 2023 tournament will mark the sixth straight time that Fluor Field has hosted, excluding the 2020 season which was canceled due to COVID-19. The stadium is home to the Greenville Drive — the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox — and is designed as a mini-replica of Boston’s Fenway Park.

Fans can purchase their season tickets in the coming days by calling the ETSU Ticket Office at 423-439-3878 or by visiting ETSUTickets.com.

For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.