The 2021 Baseball Schedule is out, and wow does it start off quickly. Normally there is nearly a month of non-conference baseball played - usually in better weather conditions in tournaments in the deep south - but this year the Hokies open at home for a fast four games with Kent State, and then the traditional game with Radford on February 23rd. That will be a grand total of four non-conference opening games to get warmed up before hitting the airport for a long trip to Coral Gables to start off the ACC schedule at Miami. The weather promises to be nicer, but the opponent doesn’t.

Coach John Szefc has had his work cut out for him trying to keep a squad together with baseball draft pressures, and losing nearly an entire season. Quite a few stars have departed due to exhausted eligibility and the MLB draft. We’ll talk about those issues in the upcoming roster review. Suffice it to say, the Hokies face a seriously tough 52 game schedule that will end in the May 25th ACC tournament for which only the top 10 teams in the conference qualify. Of course the last few series of the season are actually played after the semester is over. It’s one of the oddities of collegiate baseball and outdoor track that the fan base has to understand.

Here is the entire schedule for 2021; if it holds. COVID is still ruling and there is no guarantee that any game will actually be played on that particular weekend. We should all anticipate postponements, split double-headers, and other adjustments as the season builds.

There are some interesting breaks for teams that we haven’t seen over the last few years of coverage. The Kent State start is going to be a challenge to analyze since there history, there is a complete unknown. VCU comes visiting for a two game set in early March and Tech is taking on Georgetown and then the Toledo Rockets for the first full weekend series in May. East Tennessee State made the schedule again. We are scheduled to play Radford, and VMI. UNC Greensboro, which is a tough program to play, is coming to Blacksburg as well.

The nice upshot of the schedule is that 32 games are at home. English Field at Union Atlantic Park is going to get a serious workout this season. (Personal aside... I wish they’d fix the infield so that there is real dirt around the baseline instead of that silly spray tanned turf, baseball needs to have some dirt to make things real).

Last season, the Hokies were 11-5 on a 3 game win streak before their season was aborted. That’s a really good start, and the team was rolling. Let’s see if Coach Szefc can get them rolling again this season.

Next up we go through the Roster.

GO HOKIES!!!