Baseball Announces Inaugural Schedule

Baseball | 1/31/2017 12:00:00 AM

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(2017 schedule)

The return of baseball to Pike Creek in 2017 will be welcomed by many at Goldey-Beacom and provide challenging games, as shown with the unveiling of the team's schedule.

The Lightning will play 17 non-league contests to open things, beginning with the College's inaugural game February 18 at Barton. After that three-game series, GBC will play a four-game set at Newberry before heading to Queens (NY) for a March 4 doubleheader.

Goldey-Beacom then will play its first home game in school history Sunday, March 5 against Queens (NY) at noon. One of 11 home dates on the schedule, the Lightning will call Ed Doyle Field in Hockessin, DE its base. The field is run by the Piedmont Baseball League and presently is going through renovations that should be done in time for the opener.

The 32-game slate in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opens March 17 at home against University of the Sciences and is one of eight league doubleheaders in Hockessin on the schedule. The home finale within the CACC is April 28 against reigning-league-champion Felician and the regular season closes May 2 at home vs. Millersville.

With the addition of Goldey-Beacom into baseball, the CACC now sports 12 teams and will divide into two six-team divisions. A similar format is used for men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball.

GBC will be in the South Division along with Wilmington (DE), U. of the Sciences, Philadelphia U., Chestnut Hill and Felician. It will play each team in two doubleheaders – one at home and one on the road – for a total of 20 games. The first game each day is nine innings and the second is a seven-inning contest.

The North Division includes Caldwell, Bloomfield, Concordia (NY), Dominican (NY), Nyack and Post. The Lightning will play each of these schools in one doubleheader for a total of 12 contests. All non-division games are nine innings.

The top four teams in each division advance to the CACC Tournament. The quarterfinals feature a single-elimination game May 6 with each contest at the higher seed. The four remaining schools play in the double-elimination portion May 11-13 in Waterbury, CT.

Tom Riley is the team's first coach after spending 2013-15 as an assistant coach for Delaware State University. He handled many things within the program including recruiting, monitoring academic development, heading the team's Dugout Club for fundraising, leading the program's baseball camps and being in charge of field maintenance.

Riley's influence helped the Hornets in 2014 lead Division I with a .336 batting average, a .435 on-base percentage and close second with 8.2 runs per contest. The 2013 unit paced the NCAA with 3.02 stolen bases per game.

Baseball is the College's first debutant since women's tennis was introduced in 2005-06 and will be the school's 11th sport.

While baseball will be new under the name Goldey-Beacom College, it will be a re-instatement for the institution. Baseball was played at what was then called Goldey College as early as 1922 and continued into the 1950s. This included an undefeated season in 1935 and the Atlantic Coast championship (no affiliation with the current Atlantic Coast Conference) in 1947.

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