BLACKSBURG – Leading the defense of his program's 2022 ACC Coastal Division championship, Virginia Tech baseball head coach John Szefc proudly unveiled the Hokies' 2023 regular season schedule on Wednesday, mapping out their course through the rigors of the ACC and marquee non-conference matchups.
After setting the single-season attendance record at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park last spring, Tech fans will be treated to more than 30 home games this season in Blacksburg, highlighted by five ACC home series. The Hokies – who posted a 33-7 record in their home ballpark last season – will host conference sets against Boston College (March 10-12), Virginia (March 31-April 2), Georgia Tech (April 14-16), North Carolina (April 28-30) and Clemson (May 12-14).
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Among its five ACC road series, Tech will open league play at Miami (March 17-19) in addition to traveling to Pitt (March 24-26), Duke (April 7-9), Florida State (April 21-23) and Wake Forest (May 18-20).
"The ACC part of our schedule is ultra-competitive," said Szefc. "The fact that we have to go to Miami and Florida State in the same year, that is tough for anybody in our league. It will test our depth and our talent; it will test a lot of things."
Filling in the non-conference weekends of Tech's 2023 schedule, the Hokies will open the season with a three-game road series at College of Charleston (Feb. 17-19) prior to returning home to face Bryant (Feb. 24-26) and Charlotte (March 3-5). On its bye weekend from ACC play, Tech will host Bowling Green for three games during the weekend of May 6 (doubleheader) and May 7.
"Our non-conference schedule is typically challenging," said Szefc. "It is good for us to open on the road at College of Charleston. It will be a good trip for us before coming home to play Bryant and Charlotte; all told, three programs that will provide really strong tests for us."
Each of Tech's three early-season, non-conference opponents eclipsed the 30-win threshold during the 2022 season with Charleston and Charlotte winning 37 and 36 games, respectively. Charleston (RPI No. 69) won the 2022 CAA regular season title, Bryant (RPI No. 102) swept No. 12 East Carolina to begin the year while Charlotte (RPI No. 75) prevailed during a Conference USA road series against a ranked Old Dominion side.
During midweek play, the Hokies will entertain home games against ETSU (Feb. 21), Radford (Feb. 28), UMass Lowell (March 7-8), VMI (March 22), Liberty (April 11), James Madison (April 25) and Marshall (May 3).
Tech will also return away games at ETSU (March 14), VMI (March 28), Radford (April 18), Marshall (May 2), Liberty (May 10) and James Madison (May 16).
"We try to play as many games as possible in front of our fan base at English Field," said Szefc. "That will never change. We look forward to seeing big crowds out there, like some we saw last spring. We want to continue the success we had while playing in front of our fans."
In all, the Hokies will stack up against seven programs that qualified for the 2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship and compete in 33 games against opponents that finished inside the top 150 of last season's RPI rankings.
Virginia Tech will also vie to defend its No. 1 seed at the ACC Baseball Championship, as earned last season courtesy of its league-best, 19-9 record. The top 12 conference finishers in the 2023 year-end standings will advance to the showcase-style tournament, scheduled to take place from May 23 to May 28 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina.
"It is going to be a challenging schedule," said Szefc. "Hopefully, we can stay as healthy as we did last year. We look forward to getting going in February."
All dates and opponents listed on Virginia Tech's 2023 schedule are subject to change. Ticket information, along with game times and broadcast/streaming information, will be released at a later date.
