Baseball Releases Full 2020 Schedule

Featuring 15 home contests and a four-game series at College World Series runner-up Michigan, Canisius head baseball coach Matt Mazurek announced the team's complete 2020 schedule on Thursday. Unveiling a 55-game slate, the Golden Griffins will open the season with 24 straight games away from home, but spend 10 of their final 16 games in Western New York.

"Our non-conference schedule has a good balance to it, we really feel like we have built an extremely competitive schedule that provides the opportunity and challenges to help our team grow in the early part of the season. The four-game weekends are big for us to allow us to get more games in and to also give more opportunities for our guys to get more game action early to prepare us for conference play," Mazurek said.

The Blue and Gold's non-conference schedule includes midweek trips to NCAA Regional host West Virginia and Big Ten opponent Penn State, along with a pair of neutral-site series in North Carolina and Florida. The Griffs will also renew their Little Three rivalry with St. Bonaventure under the lights at the Demske in May while completing home-and-home series with MAC foes Kent State and Akron.

"Having schools like Michigan and West Virginia on the schedule is a bit by design because you want to face competition like that at some point in your season, giving your team a measuring stick as to where they are and what it takes to compete with some of the best in the nation," Mazurek added. "The later part of our schedule gives us a solid stretch of conference weekends at home and that is always welcomed late in the year especially with all the traveling we have to do early on."

For the third time in four seasons, Canisius will begin their campaign in the state of North Carolina, facing off with UMass Lowell in Holly Springs for four games Feb. 14-16. The Griffs will trek to Morgantown, W.Va., for the third-straight year on Feb. 18 as part of a Tuesday matinee with the Mountaineers. The second weekend sees the Blue and Gold return to the Carolinas for a four-game series at Winthrop Feb. 21-23. Following their southern excursion, the Griffs return to the state of West Virginia for four games with Marshall from Feb. 28 to March 1 before heading to the state of Virginia for three games at Radford March 6-8.

The fifth weekend of the season will be the Griffs' trip to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take on the national runner-up Wolverines, playing four games over three days March 13-15. The final non-conference weekend series will see the Griffs travel to Orlando, Fla., for four games with Maine at the USSSA Space Coast Complex.

The Griffs are set to open MAAC play and their home schedule on March 28-29, hosting Rider for three games at the Demske Sports Complex. Canisius will then traverse to Akron for a Tuesday contest on March 31 as the opening half of a home-and-home series with the Zips. The Griffs go on the road once again for a three-game series at Siena April 4-5, staying on the road when they head to Kent State for a midweek contest on April 7.

Canisius comes home April 10-11 for three games against Iona, led by former Griffs catcher and assistant coach Paul Panik. Traveling to Penn State for a one-game matchup on April 15, the Griffs continue on to Jersey City, N.J., for a three-game slate at Saint Peter's from April 18-19. The Griffs will then host Akron (April 21) and Kent State (April 22) on back-to-back days to complete the pair of home-and-home series, before heading back out April 25-26 for three conference games at Marist.

The Blue and Gold finish out the regular season with eight of their last 11 games in Western New York, starting with a non-conference game at Niagara on April 28. Fairfield will then arrive in Buffalo, N.Y., for three games with the Griffs May 2-3, while St. Bonaventure and Canisius are set for a May 6 meeting at the Demske. The Blue and Gold finish up their road schedule by heading to Monmouth for three games from May 9-10, and complete the regular season at home with Niagara May 14-15.

Canisius will look to capture its fourth conference title May 20-23 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in Staten Island, N.Y. The 2020 MAAC Championship will feature a six-team, double-elimination tournament on Memorial Day weekend, with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.

The Griffs return 23 letterwinners from the 2019 MAAC regular-season championship squad, led by 2019 All-MAAC Second Team selection Stephen Bennett and 2019 MAAC All-Rookie Team honoree Andrew Fron. Mazurek, the 2019 MAAC Coach of the Year, also adds three junior-college transfers and 10 freshmen to the Canisius team.

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Players Mentioned

#30 Stephen Bennett: INF; 6' 0"; Junior

#32 Andrew Fron: P; 6' 3"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#30 Stephen Bennett
: 6' 0"; Junior
: INF

#32 Andrew Fron
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: P

Players Mentioned

#30 Stephen Bennett

#32 Andrew Fron

Players Mentioned

#30 Stephen Bennett

#32 Andrew Fron