BEAUMONT, Texas – A slate of 30 games at Vincent-Beck Stadium along with 10 contests against 2014 NCAA Regional teams highlight the 2015 baseball schedule announced by head coach Jim Gillian and the Lamar baseball staff on Tuesday.
On the schedule for LU this season are Rice, Houston, and LSU, who all participated in Regionals along with conference foes Southeastern Louisiana and Sam Houston. LU plays 35 games at or within 100 miles of Vincent-Beck Stadium.
The Cardinals open the season with a seven-game homestand that starts with The Cardinal Classic which begins on Feb. 13.
The Cardinal Classic features New Mexico State and Illinois, which kick off the event against each other at 2 o’clock on Feb. 13. LU will face NMSU at 6 o’clock on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14, and take on Illinois at 2 o’clock on Feb. 14 and 11:00 on Feb. 15.
Lamar will continue its seven-game season-opening homestand with a four-game set against Manhattan that starts on Feb. 20 at 6:00. The two will play two games on Feb. 21 and finish the series on Feb. 22.
After a three-game run with Texas-Pan American (Feb. 27-March 1), the Cardinals will host Prairie View A&M on March 3 before a three-game conference matchup with Northwestern State (March 6-8) at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
On March 10, LU opens a 10-game road swing with Rice and features a three-game conference matchup with Central Arkansas (March 13-15), two-game non-conference set with Nicholls (March 17-18) and a league series at New Orleans (March 20-22). The road trip wraps up at Houston on March 24.
Rice finished with a 42-20 record last season and advanced to the Regionals as a number one seed, finished 1-2 and was eliminated. Houston advanced to the Super Regionals in 2014 after claiming the second seed in the Baton Rouge Regional, but was eliminated by Texas in that round. The Cougars finished the year with a 48-18 record.
Abilene Christian opens an eight-game homestand for the Cardinals on March 27, and is followed by Rice on March 31, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 2-4) and Grambling State on April 7.
LU travels to McNeese State for a three-game league set that starts on April 10, and then plays at LSU on April 15 at 6:30. A visit from Houston Baptist to Vincent-Beck Stadium continues league play on April 17-19.
LSU hosted a Regional round as a number one see and finished 2014 with a 46-16-1 record.
The final two non-conference games, Baylor (April 21) and Texas Southern (April 29), are split by a league set with Incarnate Word in Beaumont from April 24-26, and the Cardinals wrap up the regular season at Southeastern Louisiana (May 1-3), versus Stephen F. Austin (May 8-10) and at Sam Houston State (May 14-16).
The Southland Conference Tournament is slated for May 20-23 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.
