With the start of the season just a month away, Head Baseball Coach Justin Scali has announced the 2017 schedule for the Piedmont College Baseball team highlighted by the Piedmont College Early Spring Classic.
The Lions have five teams on the schedule in 2017 that are in the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III preseason poll or receiving votes including a pair of top-10 teams in Birmingham-Southern (5) and Emory (6).
The 2017 season features 16 home contests including the Piedmont College Early Spring Classic which will feature Methodist University, Christopher Newport and Birmingham-Southern February 10-12 at Loudermilk Field. Each team will have a total of three games, seeing each opponent once, with Piedmont facing Christopher Newport February 10th, Methodist February 11th and Birmingham-Southern February 12th.
The season opener comes on the road in Greensboro, North Carolina as Piedmont takes on Guilford College in a pair of contests on February 4 & 5. This marks the second straight season opening the year taking on the Quakers who ended 2016 17-23 overall. These two split their contests a year ago with Guilford winning 11-7 in the opener and Piedmont taking the second contest 7-3.
The home opener is set for February 7 as the Lions host Oglethorpe after taking a pair of contests against the Stormy Petrels in 2016. The two games were shootouts as PC won 9-6 and 9-8 over the Stormy Petrels who were 20-23 a year ago.
Following the Piedmont College Early Spring Classic, the Lions hit the road for more tournament action at Millsaps taking on the host team twice on February 16 & 19 while also facing Rhodes College and the University of Dallas on February 17 & 18, respectively. Rhodes finished with the best record of those three teams in 2016 as Piedmont was perfect against Millsaps and Rhodes in 2016 with the matchup against University of Dallas serving as the first meeting since at least 2005.
The conference opener is on the road in 2017 as Piedmont heads to Maryville College to take on the Scots in a series February 24-26. Maryville produced a 29-15 record last season as Piedmont went 1-2 against the Scots in Loudermilk Field. Piedmont evened the series 1-1 but lost the series finale 14-11 in 11 innings as the two teams combined for five runs in the 11th inning. The Scots were the runners up in the USA South Championship last season.
The longest home-stand of the season begins on February 28 as Adrian College travels to Demorest for the second straight season after participating in the Piedmont College Spring Classic in 2016. Piedmont won against the Bulldogs 7-4 last season in a contest that saw senior JOSH THOMAS set the career saves mark as Thomas ended his career with 21 saves.
PC will play two against Adrian before hosting LaGrange College March 3-5 at Loudermilk Field, then end the home stand taking on Emory University. The Lions will face Emory once at home then in back-to-back contests in Atlanta March 10-12. Emory was 34-12 overall last season, winning the South Regional and making it to Appleton, Wisc. for the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
Piedmont will host Stevens Institute of Technology on March 14 for a single contest, a team that is receiving votes in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll. Following that game, the heart of the USA South schedule hits as Piedmont travels to Huntingdon March 17-19 and Ferrum March 24-26. Huntingdon won the USA South Championship in 2016 advancing to the South Regional while Ferrum finished with the best league record in the regular season in 2016 going 15-3 in conference play.
Oglethorpe will provide a brief break from the conference schedule as the Lions head to Atlanta for a single game against the Stormy Petrels on March 29, then host their second conference series of the season with N.C. Wesleyan in town. Piedmont will take on the Battling Bishops March 31-April 2 then head to Birmingham two days later to face Birmingham-Southern again.
The USA South schedule will conclude with Covenant heading to Loudermilk Field for three games in two days April 7-8 with the doubleheader on the 8th serving as the home finale. Following those contests, the USA South Baseball Tournament will be held April 12-15 as the Spring Sports Festival moves to LaGrange, Georgia.
The final series of the season comes in Lynchburg, Virginia as the Lions take on Lynchburg College April 21-23. The Hornets finished the season 9-28 a year ago.
The season begins on February 4 against Guilford College on the road and the Lions first action in USA South play comes at Maryville on February 24 against Maryville College. For the complete 2017 baseball schedule, click here.
Piedmont Lions Sports Information
