NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Johnny Cardenas, head coach of the Stephen F. Austin baseball team, has unveiled his squad’s 2016 schedule, which features 26 non-conference engagements as well as a 30-game slate of Southland Conference matchups.
Among the opponents on SFA’s schedule are four institutions that were ranked in the final 2015 baseball polls. Those teams, ranked by the NBCWA, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and the USA Today Coaches Poll include TCU (4-all polls), Texas A&M (10-NCBWA, CB, USA Today, 8-BA), Oklahoma State (11-BA, 18-USA Today, 19-NCBWA, CB) and Dallas Baptist (14-BA, 17-USA Today, 18-NCBWA, 27-CB).
“[Assistant coach] Michael [Haynes] has done a very good job in getting our schedule to the level it’s at,” said Cardenas, who begins his ninth season as the ‘Jacks head man. “Game for game, I would put our schedule against anyone’s in the nation.”
Through their first 14 games, the ‘Jacks will compete exclusively in non-conference contests. Their season begins on Friday, Feb. 19, when SFA heads to UT-Arlington to take part in the Mavericks’ three-team tournament. The ‘Jacks will open their 2016 campaign at 2:30 p.m. on Friday against the host Mustangs before tangling with Oklahoma State on Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 20-21). SFA will put the finishing touches on its four-game slate in Arlington with another tilt against the Mavericks on Sunday (Feb. 21).
Following a one-game stop at Texas A&M on Feb. 23, the ‘Jacks make their 2015 Jaycees Field debut by engaging in a three-game set with Sacred Heart on Feb. 26, 27 and 28. A visit from UT-Arlington on March 1 wraps up SFA’s four-game home stand before the ‘Jacks take a trip to Las Cruces, N.M., to face off with on New Mexico State in a four-game series on March 4-6.
That set at New Mexico State marks the beginning of 10 consecutive road tilts for SFA in which the ‘Jacks travel to Dallas Baptist for one game (March 8) before Southland Conference play commences with a three-game series at Central Arkansas (March 11-13). On March 15-16, SFA heads to Manhattan, Kan., to take on its second Big 12 opponent of the year in a two-game set with Kansas State.
SFA plays its first Southland Conference home series of 2016 when New Orleans comes to Nacogdoches for three games in three days on March 18, 19 and 20. Directly after their single home game against Houston Baptist on March 22, the ‘Jacks head to Louisiana to take on Northwestern State in a three-game series on March 24, 25 and 26.
From Louisiana, SFA travels to Kansas for two games with Wichita State (March 29-30) that signal the starting point of the ‘Jacks final 10 non-conference bouts of the regular season. Seven of those 10 non-SLC tilts will take place away from Jaycees Field and include opponents such as Arkansas-Little Rock (April 19), TCU (May 10) and a three-game set at Southeast Missouri (May 13, 14, 15) in addition to the two-game series with the Shockers.
The only remaining Jaycees Field appearances the ‘Jacks will make against non-Southland Conference schools will come on April 5 (Texas Southern), April 26 (Louisiana Monroe) and May 3 (Arkansas-Little Rock).
The beginning of April signals the commencement of the vast majority of the ‘Jacks Southland Conference schedule. SFA will play four home series against SLC opponents in April and May as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (April 1-3), Incarnate Word (April 22-24), McNeese State (May 6-8) and Lamar (May 19-21).
Remaining SLC road series in the ‘Jacks 2016 schedule include stops at Sam Houston State (April 8-10), Houston Baptist (April 15-17) and Abilene Christian (April 29-May 1).
Should the ‘Jacks qualify for postseason play, they will head to Sugar Land, Texas, on May 25-28 to take part in the Southland Conference Tournament. All games in the tournament will take place at Constellation Field – the home ballpark of the Sugar Land Skeeters.
2016 Stephen F. Austin Schedule
