Iowa releases 2017 baseball schedule

Iowa released its 2017 baseball schedule Monday afternoon, featuring 24 home games and an intriguing weekend tournament inside the Minnesota Vikings’ new home, U.S. Bank Stadium.

A series at South Florida (Feb. 17-19) kicks off the Hawkeyes’ season. Sandwiched in between the opening weekend and Iowa’s March 7 home opener against Northern Illinois are two additional weekend road trips.

The Hawkeyes will travel to Hoover, Ala., to face Morehead State (Feb. 24-26) and then head to Minneapolis for the DQ Classic (March 3-5), where Iowa will face Hawaii, Oral Roberts and Minnesota in a nonconference showdown. All games will be played at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings’ $1 billion, state-of-the-art facility.

Additional nonconference weekend series include participation in the Snowbird Baseball Classic (March 10-12) in Port Charlotte, Fla., along with a trip to Kansas State (March 17-19) and a home set against UNLV (March 31-April 2).

Iowa’s Big 10 Conference slate features home series against Purdue (March 24-26), Rutgers (April 21-23), Penn State (April 28-30) and Ohio State (May 12-14), as well as road trips to Northwestern (April 7-9), Nebraska (April 14-16), Michigan State (May 5-7) and Illinois (May 18-20).

The 2017 Big 10 tournament will run May 24-28 at a to be determined location.

2017 schedule

February — 17: at South Florida, 5:30 p.m.; 18: at South Florida, 5:30 p.m.; 19: at South Florida, noon; 24: vs. Morehead State in Hoover, Ala., 4 p.m.; 25: vs. Morehead State, 2 p.m.; 26: vs. Morehead State, noon.

March — 3: vs. Hawaii in Minneapolis, noon; 4: vs. Oral Roberts in Minneapolis, 1 p.m.; 5: vs. Minnesota in Minneapolis, 3 p.m.; 7: vs. Northern Illinois, 3:05 p.m.; 10: vs. TBA in Port Charlotte, Fla., TBA; 11: vs. TBA in Port Charlotte, Fla., TBA; 12: DH vs. TBA in Port Charlotte, Fla., TBA; 15: vs. Iowa Wesleyan, 3:05 p.m.; 17: at Kansas State, 6:35 p.m.; 18: at Kansas State, 2:05 p.m.; 19: at Kansas State, 1:05 p.m.; 22: vs. Bradley, 4:05 p.m.; 24: vs. Purdue, 4:05 p.m.; 25: vs. Purdue, 2:05 p.m.; 26: vs. Purdue, 1:05 p.m.; 29: vs. Grandview College, 4:05 p.m.; 31: vs. UNLV, 4:05 p.m.    

April — 1: vs. UNLV, 2:05 p.m.; 2: vs. UNLV, 1:05 p.m.; 4: vs. South Dakota State, 4:05 p.m.; 5: vs. South Dakota State, 3:05 p.m.; 7: at Northwestern, 3:30 p.m.; 8: at Northwestern, 2 p.m.; 9: at Northwestern, 1 p.m.; 11: vs. Western Illinois, 6:05 p.m.; 14: at Nebraska, 6:35 p.m.; 15: at Nebraska, 2:05 p.m.; 16: at Nebraska, 1:05 p.m.; 19: at Bradley, 7 p.m.; 21: vs. Rutgers, 6:05 p.m.; 22: vs. Rutgers, 2 p.m.; 23: vs. Rutgers, 1 p.m.; 25: vs. Milwaukee, 6:05 p.m.; 28: vs. Penn State, 6:05 p.m.; 29: vs. Penn State, 2 p.m.; 30: vs. Penn State, 1 p.m.

May — 2: at Western Illinois, 4 p.m.; 5: at Michigan State, 2:05 p.m., 6: at Michigan State, 12:05 p.m.; 7: at Michigan State 12:05 p.m.; 12: vs. Ohio State, 6 p.m.; 13: vs. Ohio State, 2 p.m.; 14: vs. Ohio State, 1 p.m.; 16: vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 6:05 p.m.; 18: at Illinois, 6 p.m.; 19: at Illinois, 6 p.m.; 20: at Illinois, 1 p.m.; 24-28: Big 10 Tournament.   

Dargan Southard covers preps, recruiting and Iowa athletics for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.