After COVID-19 halted Boston College baseball’s 2020 season, the team will look to capitalize on a talented lineup and a 50-game schedule. This year’s roster features 11 freshmen, and head coach Mike Gambino returns for his 12th season. Juniors Sal Frelick, Mason Pelio, and Cody Morissette—all named preseason All-Americans—are ranked No. 25, 31, and 43 respectively on MLB’s list of the top 2021 MLB Draft prospects.
This season, the Eagles’ 50 games are evenly split between home and away. The schedule features familiar ACC opponents as well as regional contests with teams such as Holy Cross, Northeastern, and UMass.
2020 Schedule:
February 19-21 at Charleston Southern (North Charleston, S.C.)
→ BC kicks off its 2021 campaign on the road with a three-game series against Charleston Southern University, an opponent the Eagles have not faced since 2006 when BC swept a two-game series. At the abrupt end of last season, Charleston Southern was 7-12 and riding a five-game losing streak.
February 26-28 at Duke (Durham, N.C.) *ACC Opener
→ BC’s ACC slate will open with a bang against Duke, ranked No. 16 in Baseball America’s 2021 preseason rankings. The Eagles and Blue Devils last met in 2019 when the two teams split a two-game series in Brighton. BC’s conference opener will give the Eagles a chance to prove themselves early on against a top ACC team. BC will remain in North Carolina following the Duke series for three games against Wake Forest.
March 5-7 at Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
March 10 vs. Holy Cross (Brighton, Mass.) *Home Opener
→ The Eagles’ first home game of 2021 will come against the team BC faced in its final game of the 2020 season: Holy Cross. The Crusaders are a familiar regional opponent for BC, with the two teams’ most recent contest ending in a 10-7 win for the Eagles.
March 12-14 at Louisville (Louisville, Ky.)
→ Louisville will get a chance to avenge its disappointing loss to BC in the 2019 ACC Tournament quarterfinals with a three-game series this year. Louisville opens the season ranked No. 7 in Baseball America’s preseason rankings. The Cardinals will be returning much of their talented roster from last year, having lost only three players—an unusually low number— to the 2020 MLB Draft after it was reduced from 40 rounds to five.
March 17 vs. Holy Cross (Brighton, Mass.)
March 19-21 vs. North Carolina (Brighton, Mass.) *ACC Home Opener
March 23 vs. Northeastern (Brighton, Mass.)
March 26-28 vs. Clemson (Brighton, Mass.)
→ BC played a total of 15 games last season, three of which were losses on the road to Clemson. This year, the Eagles will hope for better luck at home as they will face the Tigers in a three-game series. Clemson—a historically strong baseball program—had its last College World Series appearance in 2010, so the Tigers are overdue for an appearance in Omaha.
March 30 at Connecticut (Storrs, Conn.)
April 1-3 at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.)
April 6 at Northeastern (Brookline, Mass.)
April 9-11 vs. North Carolina State (Brighton, Mass.)
→ BC will return home after a five-game road trip to face ACC opponent NC State for the first time since 2019 when the then-No. 1 Wolfpack finished a three-game series with a 2-1 edge. This year, NC State is once again a top team in the NCAA, coming in at No. 17 in the preseason rankings. Wolfpack catcher Luca Tresh and shortstop Jose Torres were featured at 54th and 80th in the 2021 draft prospect rankings.
April 13 vs. Northeastern (Brighton, Mass.)
April 16-18 at Florida State (Tallahassee, Fla.)
→ After a short home stand, BC will head down south to Tallahassee to face Florida State, a team ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll. The Seminoles’ roster this year features young pitching talent coupled with a veteran lineup. BC last faced FSU in 2019 when the Eagles won two out of a three-game series. A lot has changed for the Seminoles since then, however, as Mike Martin Jr. took over as head coach at the beginning of the abbreviated 2020 season.
April 21 at Rhode Island (South Kingston, R.I.)
April 23-25 vs. Notre Dame (Brighton, Mass.)
→ After playing one game at Rhode Island, BC will return to Massachusetts for its next nine games. BC’s first game back in the Bay State brings the Holy War to the diamond as the Eagles take on Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are known for having some of the best jerseys in baseball and for producing MLB stars like Jeff Samardzija, Brad Lidge, and Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski. Yastrzemski, however, never stepped up to the plate in South Bend, as he attended Notre Dame on a basketball scholarship. The Eagles last faced the Irish in 2019 when BC won two out of a three-game series.
April 27 vs. Connecticut (Brighton, Mass.)
April 30-May 2 vs. Miami (Brighton, Mass.)
→ BC will take on Miami following a two-day break after a single game against UConn. The Eagles’ road in the ACC gets no easier against the preseason No. 11 Hurricanes. Miami has a historically strong baseball program with the eighth-highest MLB wins above replacement rating among all NCAA teams, although program alumni such as Ryan Braun, Cesar Carrillo, Yasmani Grandal, and recently Alex Cora have made more headlines for their respective cheating scandals than for their MLB contributions. This year, catcher Adrian Del Castillo, the No. 4 ranked MLB draft prospect, headlines Miami’s roster. The last time the Eagles took on Miami was in 2018 when BC dropped two games to the Hurricanes before the cancellation of the third.
May 4 at Massachusetts (Amherst, Mass.)
May 5 vs. Bryant (Brighton, Mass.)
May 7-9 at Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
May 18 vs. Merrimack (Brighton, Mass.)
May 20-22 vs. Virginia (Brighton, Mass.) *End of Regular Season
→ BC’s 2021 regular season run will end with its highest-rated opponent: No. 5 Virginia. The Eagles’ last series against the Cavaliers was in 2018 when the teams split two games before a 10-inning, walk-off sacrifice fly gave the series to UVA. The Cavaliers’ 2021 squad features a lineup of draft-ready players who didn’t make the reduced 2020 Draft. The team graduated two players last year, but nearly the entire rest of the roster is returning this season.
May 25-30 ACC Championship
Featured Image By Jess Rivilis / Heights Senior Staff
