ANNVILLE, Pa.– The Middle Atlantic Conference Office announced spring schedules for 2021. To maximize playing opportunities and minimize risk, the MAC office created a schedule with MAC Commonwealth teams competing in six four-game series between March 13th and April 25th. Eastern University Baseball will open its MAC Commonwealth schedule at Lebanon Valley on March 20th.

All MAC programs are subject to strict safety and testing precautions, and the league has committed to keeping competition within the 17 member institutions that sponsor Baseball. There is the possibility of non-league competition against MAC opponents in one of the two weekends before the weekend of the 20th, but those schedules are still in the works. With nine teams in the MAC Commonwealth, each team has a bye weekend. Eastern's bye is on the first weekend of league competition on March 13 and 14. 

The four-game sets will be in the form of two doubleheaders. The first game of each doubleheader will be a 7-ining affair and the second will be a nine-inning test.

The championship format for 2021 only will be an all-comers tournament beginning on Tuesday, April 27 with a single nine-inning play-in game in the MAC Commonwealth between the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed. The quarterfinal (May 1-2), semifinal (May 8-9) and final (May 15-16) rounds will see a three-game series over two days with the higher seeds hosting two nine-inning games on the first day and the lower seeds hosting the if-necessary game the next day.

Eastern will play against Lebanon Valley, Widener, Stevenson, Albright, Messiah, and York. The new league will present a nearly blank slate for the Eastern program. The Eagles played one game against York in 2019 and a single game against Stevenson in 2018. Shane Albertson is the only current Eastern player to have played against Lebanon Valley. The Eagles lost  a 10-9 heartbreaker at LVC in April of 2017.

While the season is slated to consist of almost entirely weekend dates, there is the potential for doubleheaders to be moved for weather and for things to change as the season progresses.

MAC and campus regulations do not allow spectators at athletic events, but all home baseball games will be livestreamed.