2020 SUFFOLK BASEBALL SCHEDULE
BOSTON – Suffolk baseball's 73rd season's schedule has been set. The 2020 calendar features a 40-game slate with eight 2019 NCAA participants and 11 battles at East Boston Memorial Park over nine weeks, head coach Anthony Del Prete unveiled Thursday afternoon.
There is less than a month away from first pitch with a Beantown battle at regional rival UMass Boston on tap Friday, Feb. 28. The Bay State clash marks the first time since 2016 that the Rams will throw the first pitch in New England to begin the season.
Suffolk will then jet set to the Sunshine State for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Throughout the week in Central Florida, the Rams will compete in five doubleheaders with play commencing Saturday, March 7 against Dickinson. The trip features twinbills with Westfield State (March 8), Fitchburg State (March 9) and first-time foes Greenville (March 12) and Ursinus (March 13).
Five games over a five-day span await the blue-and-gold when it arrives back in Boston. To prep for conference competition, Suffolk visits MIT on Saint Patrick's Day before hosting Curry and Brandeis over the next two days. Suffolk remains on the turf in Eastie to start its 20th and final quest for GNAC glory Saturday, March 21 when it entertains reigning league champion Saint Joseph's (Maine).
Midweek matches send Suffolk to Clark and Salve Regina March 24-25. It's back to Boston Saturday, March 28 for two seven-inning outings with Rivier.
A Sunday, March 29 showdown at Anna Maria, which will be played at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Massachusetts, opens a seven-game road swing that features stops at Nichols (March 31), Norwich (April 4) and Lasell (April 5).
Suffolk makes a pit stop at home Tuesday, April 7 with a tilt against Endicott before heading to Wheaton the next night, Wednesday, April 8. The next three contests send the Rams to Gordon (April15) and Albertus Magnus (April 18).
From there, Suffolk hosts Colby Sawyer Sunday, April 19 and heads to Babson for Patriots Day, Monday, April 20.
A Thursday, April 23 tangle at UMass Dartmouth precedes the league's regular-season finale at home against Johnson & Wales Saturday, April 25.
Prior to playing in the conference tournament the Rams will head to Endicott to cap off the regular season slate Sunday, April 26.
Del Prete, who begins his sixth season as Suffolk's skipper, hopes to lead the Rams back to GNAC champion status one last time before the team joins the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) in 2020-21. To help hoist hte trophy for the fifth time in the last six years, and ninth overall in program history, Del Prete has brought back all-league honorees first baseman Blase Cormier, short stop Rich Gilbride and outfielders Tim Brigham and Rich Giandrea with Parker Browne and Steve Rossi back on the bump for the blue-and-gold.