UTB-TSC News: Scorpions play host to SAGU, but weather will determine when
Southwestern Assemblies of God University visits Brownsville to face the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College for the first time in baseball Friday and Saturday at Scorpion Field.
The three-game series marks the start of Red River Athletic Conference play, but the first pitch will be determined by Mother Nature. The scheduled start time for the series is 2 p.m. Friday, with a doubleheader scheduled. A single game is planned at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Persistent rain throughout the week has threatened to alter the schedule of games. Some forecast models are predicting periods of rain through Friday afternoon.
Scorpion Field has been covered since Monday afternoon, and the tarp will not be lifted until the rain subsides. As per Red River Athletic Conference rules, conference games must be played within a 48-hour window from the start of the first game to the start of the final game of the three-game series.
There are different scenarios: two games Friday and one Saturday as scheduled; one game Friday and two games Saturday; three seven-inning games Saturday; or a combination of Saturday-Sunday games.
Either way, UTB-TSC will be eager to start RRAC play in the same manner in which they started the 2011 conference season - with a three-game sweep of SAGU. Although the two teams have been in the RRAC since 2007, they had never met prior to 2011 because they were in opposite zones. The 2011 season marked the first time that all conference teams played each other since UTB-TSC joined the league in 2007.
UTB-TSC won the first three meetings between the two teams in Waxahachie last year, winning by scores of 11-0, 10-1 and 11-5. In the first game of the series, the Scorpions set a school record with 12 stolen bases.
UTB-TSC, which received votes in the NAIA coaches top 25 preseason poll is 5-3 in 2012. The Scorpions played four games each against teams which also received votes in the top 25 poll. After winning three of four games at home against Doane College (Neb.), the Scorpions split a four-game series against The University of Houston-Victoria.
SAGU has started the season with an 8-1 record, but the wins have come over a different level of opponents. The Lions won three games over Hillsdale Baptist College (Okla.), four games over Central Christian College (Kan.), and a split a doubleheader against Dallas Christian College.
The series marks the final three games of a string of 11 straight home games to start the 2012 season. The Scorpions will play a doubleheader at NCAA Division II Texas A&M University-Kingsville on Feb. 14.
UTB-TSC will be home for 19 of its first 22 games of the year, with a road game against NCAA Division I The University of Texas-Pan American Feb. 21 sandwiched in between.
The Scorpions play host to Texas Wesleyan University for a three-game series Feb. 17 and 18, Huston-Tillotson University for a four-game series Feb. 24 and 25, and a single game against UTPA Feb. 28, marking the first visit by the Broncs to Brownsville for an official game in any sport.
