UCF Baseball’s 2021 Schedule is Here

It has been more than 10 long months since the UCF Knights last played a baseball game. The wait for their next game will end in just three short weeks.

The Knights’ 2021 season schedule was unveiled Friday. Their 56-game slate begins on Feb. 19 against Florida Atlantic. Here is a quick overview of the road ahead for UCF.

Of their 56 games, 19 will come against teams that made an NCAA Regional in 2019 when the tournament was last held. There are only six mid-week games, highlighted by a trip to Florida State on March 24.

The best team UCF will face during the non-conference season is the Ole Miss Rebels, who will host the Knights for three games from Feb. 26-28. The Rebels, a top-10 squad in the preseason polls, have been an NCAA Tournament staple under head coach Mike Bianco. They have missed the tourney just three times during his 20-season tenure. The Rebels won the SEC in 2018 and were 16-1 last year before the shutdown.

Other notable non-conference matchups include a three-game series at John Euliano Park versus the Liberty Flames, a 40-win team in 2019 (March 5-7). UCF will visit the Troy Trojans for three games as well (March 26-28).

There are 15 non-conference games scheduled against other Florida schools. UCF will see FAU, Jacksonville and North Florida for four games each (two at home, two on the road). Those four games will be spread out across a three-game weekend set and one mid-week game. The Knights will also have their usual home-and-home with the Stetson Hatters: Feb. 23 in Orlando; March 3 in DeLand.

The American Athletic Conference schedule calls for eight series against in-league competition. South Florida is the only conference member that UCF will see twice. And under this year’s new scheduling format, those conference matchups each weekend will be a four-game series with the middle day containing a doubleheader. UCF’s first AAC series (at USF from April 1-3) and their last AAC series (versus Houston from May 20-22) will run from Thursday-Saturday. The six other conference series will be Friday-Sunday affairs.

First-pitch times have not yet been announced. John Euliano Park will be restricted to 25% capacity this season, which is about 950 fans.