SAN ANTONIO – UTSA head baseball coach Jason Marshall announced Monday the dates and opponents for the upcoming 2016 slate, which will feature 31 home games and 12 contests against programs that earned an NCAA regional berth last spring.
Entering his fourth season at the helm of the Roadrunners club, Marshall led his squad to a 33-25 overall record last season off arguably one of the team’s toughest schedules in school annals. This season, UTSA will square off with six teams (FIU, Texas, Florida Atlantic, Houston Baptist, Rice and Houston) that earned an NCAA regional berth just a few months ago, three of which compete in Conference USA.
“It breathes hope into every team in the league that you don’t necessarily have to win the championship to play at the NCAA Tournament. The strength of the conference really comes into play because in the past, whether it be in the WAC or in the Southland, you become one-track minded that you have to win a championship, so I think it encourages everyone in the organization that regardless where you are at in whatever point in the year, you have to continue playing hard,” said Coach Marshall.
Overall, UTSA’s 55-game campaign will be split between 31 home and 24 road games, including 30 C-USA match-ups.
UTSA will open the 2016 season at the Bird Bath and will host UConn the weekend of Feb. 19-21 in a three-game set. Three series (McNeese State (Feb. 26-28), UC Irvine (March 4-6) and Gonzaga (March 11-13)) and five midweek contests fill up the nonconference portion of the Roadrunners’ schedule before opening C-USA play at home against Rice the weekend of March 18-20.
The Roadrunners will also host defending C-USA Tournament champs FIU the first weekend of April (1-3). UTSA will end the regular season on the road for the third straight season, this year in Murfreesboro, Tenn., matching up with Middle Tennessee May 19-21.
The Conference USA Baseball Championship will be held at Pete Taylor Park on the campus of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss. The eight-team tournament will be held May 25-29, and marks the third straight season the championship will be played at Southern Miss. UTSA will also play its regular season series in Hattiesburg.
“Southern Miss fans really support their team, and playing in that environment two years ago, set us up for the tournament, so it wasn’t as big a deal. I think you also need to look at it as a precursor of hopefully being the place you want to end up at towards the end of the season,” added Marshall.
Head coach Jason Marshall enters his fourth season as UTSA’s winningest coach with a career record of 103-76 (.575). Marshall has led the program to three consecutive 30-plus win seasons and became the fastest coach in school annals to reach 100 wins.
