BEAUMONT – It’s a “salty” schedule, and the first six days of it would prove that. On Thursday, the Lamar University baseball team announced its 2016 schedule and the final schedule it will play with head coach Jim Gilligan at the helm.
It all gets started at Vincent-Beck Stadium with Southeast Missouri State on Feb. 19 for a three-game series that ends on the 21st before the Cardinals host Arizona on Feb. 22. Two days later, LSU comes to town on Wednesday to play Lamar at Vincent-Beck Stadium
“Starting with Southeast Missouri State for a weekend and play Arizona on Monday and LSU on Wednesday, that’s a real tough start,” said Gilligan, who announced his plans to retire following the season on Monday.
LSU is first of five 2015 NCAA Regional teams that the Cardinals play in 2016, three of which are at home. LSU, which advanced all the way to the Men’s College World Series, Houston (March 15), Rice (March 8, May 4), Texas (March 29), and Houston Baptist (April 22-24).
The first 14 and 21 of the first 25 contests of the schedule will be played at Vincent-Beck Stadium. In that span, LU will take on North Dakota State four times (Feb. 26-28), Prairie View A&M (March 1), Texas Rio Grande Valley (March 4-6), Rice, Houston, Central Arkansas (March 18-20) and New Orleans (March 24-26). The only games on the road will be the conference opener Northwestern State (March 11-13) and a single, non-conference contest at McNeese State on March 22).
“Other that North Dakota State, we face the same teams we face on any given year. It’s a good non-conference schedule,” he said. “We have some excellent games both at Vincent-Beck and on the road. We’d better be good because it is a pretty salty schedule.”
Other non-conference games Lamar has on the docket is Baylor (April 13) away and Texas Southern (April 20) at home. Much like last season, LU faces both Abilene Christian (April 1-3) and Nicholls (5-6), which are both league schools, in non-conference action. ACU will be on the road and Nicholls at home.
The Cardinals have home Southland Conference series against McNeese State (April 15-17), Southeastern Louisiana (May 6-8) and Sam Houston State (May 13-15). The SLC Tournament will be held in Sugar Land, Texas for the second-straight year and third in the last four years.
The Cards have 55 games on the slate, 33 are at Vincent-Beck Stadium and 22 are on the road.
