South Dakota State will play a home-heavy schedule in the second half of the 2017 Summit League baseball schedule, released by league officials on Thursday.

The Jackrabbits, who will be led by first-year head coach Rob Bishop, open league play with a three-game series March 17-19 at Omaha.

The league regular season slate will again consist of 30 games, with the six Summit League programs playing a double round-robin schedule featuring three-game, home-and-home series.

SDSU will play a second consecutive weekend on the road, traveling to defending league champion Oral Roberts March 24-26.

The home portion of the league slate begins March 31, when the Jackrabbits welcome Fort Wayne to Erv Huether Field for a three-game series that concludes April 2. Road trips to North Dakota State (April 7-9) and Western Illinois (April 14-15) complete the first half of the Summit schedule.

The second half of the league schedule begins with nine consecutive home games as the Jackrabbits will host Oral Roberts (April 21-23), North Dakota State (April 28-30) and Western Illinois (May 5-7). SDSU’s final road trip of the regular season is scheduled for May 12-14 at Fort Wayne and will be followed by the final series of the season as Omaha pays a visit May 18-20.

The top four teams in the league standings will advance to the Summit League Baseball Championship May 24-27 at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. SDSU finished fourth in The Summit League standings during the 2016 season with a 13-17 mark (22-35 overall) and made its seventh appearance in the league’s postseason tournament in eight years. The non-conference portion of the Jackrabbits’ 2017 schedule will be announced at a later date.