Campus News

BASEBALL: 2010 schedule gives ETBU shot to build momentum early

MARSHALL, Texas (1/19/10) – A quick glance at the 2010 schedule for ETBU’s baseball team presents a tough challenge on both ends of the slate for the Tigers.

At the start, a 10-game homestand to begin the season gives the Tigers a real shot at getting off to a hot start and an opportunity to build momentum.

The finish? ETBU plays 10 of its final 14 games in April on the road, with nine of those games coming in American Southwest Conference East series that should go a long way in deciding whether the Tigers are able to return to the conference playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Tigers coach Sam Blackmon, whose squad begins spring practice next week, is hopeful that ETBU can take advantage of the early home games to build chemistry and get some wins under their belt. The coaching veteran knows his team will face a huge challenge later in the season as well with the tough finish to the schedule.

"Playing at home gives you the opportunity to play guys in some familiar surroundings, with your fans, at your park,” said Blackmon. "We hope to be able to get something going early and carry that into the latter part of the year, when we’re going to be away from home for an extended period. How we grow and mature as a baseball team early in the season will help us down the road, definitely.”

At its core, the Tigers have some returning veteran leadership that has produced on the field the last couple of seasons. Senior outfielder Kyle Pope and senior first baseman Matt Hale are three-year veterans in the lineup, along with junior infielder Ryan Yezak. In all the Tigers return as many as eight players who were either full- or part-time starters in the lineup last season.

ETBU will need to draw on every ounce of that experience heading into the schedule, Blackmon said.

"We’re fortunate to have some guys who now have some experience and can lead us into a tough schedule,” Blackmon said. "Our league schedule is tough enough, obviously, but we also have some tough non-conference opponents who make this schedule even tougher from start to finish.”

The Tigers open the season’s 10-game homestand with a game against Ecclesia College on Feb. 13 at Woods Field. After a doubleheader against Dallas Christian on Feb. 16, ETBU will then host ASC West foe Schreiner in a non-conference, three-game series on Feb. 19-20. ASC rival Howard Payne then visits on the weekend of Feb. 26-27 for a non-conference series before the Tigers close the homestand with a game against Austin College on March 2.

ETBU will play home ASC East series against defending ASC champion Texas-Tyler on March 12-13 and against Louisiana College on March 26-27. The rest of the Tigers’ conference schedule, however – against LeTourneau, Mississippi College, Texas-Dallas and Ozarks – will come away from Woods Field.

The series against Mississippi College (April 1-2), against Texas-Dallas (April 16-17) and against Ozarks (April 23-24) pit the Tigers against three of the four teams who qualified for the ASC playoffs last season from the East Division – with all nine games on the road this season against those three teams.

The other non-conference home dates on the schedule are against Jarvis Christian (March 9), Houston-Victoria (April 9-10), and LSU-Alexandria (April 20). The Tigers will play non-conference road games at Texas Lutheran (March 5-6), Austin College (March 16), and Dallas (April 6).