The 2017 Big Ten Baseball Tournament will take place at Bart Kaufman Field, IU Athletics and the Big Ten Conference announced Thursday afternoon.
“We are excited and honored to host the 2017 Big Ten Tournament, which is always one of best tournaments in the country,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said in a release. “This will be a special opportunity for our devoted fan base to see some of the nation’s top collegiate players in Bloomington for what promises to be a fun week in May.”
The 8-team playoff is scheduled for May 24-28. The Hoosiers are chasing their fifth conference championship after finishing fourth in conference standings in 2016.
The tournament took place in TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2014 and a game between Nebraska and Ohio State set the record for most-attended game in collegiate tournament play. The park announced its extension to be host to the tournament in 2016 and 2018 last April.
Bart Kaufman Field earned 2017 as the first Big Ten venue outside of Nebraska to be host to the tournament since Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2008. After this year's edition, the tournament is set to return to Nebraska until 2022.
This year’s tournament will also be the first time IU has been the host of the event.
“We are very pleased to host the 2017 Big Ten Tournament at Bart Kaufman Field,” IU Athletics Director Fred Glass said in a release. “It is a fabulous baseball venue, and with our program’s consistent level of success, we have developed a terrific baseball atmosphere here at IU.”
The last time Bart Kaufman was a host to a premier tournament was in 2014, when it welcomed the NCAA Regional Tournament for the second consecutive season.
IU’s season is set to begin Feb. 17 when IU travels to Surprise, Arizona, to take on Gonzaga.
Taylor Lehman
