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For Immediate
Release: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 STRONG BASEBALL SCHEDULE AWAITS BRONCS IN 2003 EDINBURG, TX-A 27-game home schedule, the first home in-season tournament in two years, games against numerous regional powers, and a fireworks extravaganza set for the first home game of the season are among the highlights of The University of Texas-Pan American's 2003 baseball schedule. Texas-Pan American will begin the season with seven consecutive home games, hosting Southwest Texas State at 7:00 p.m. February 1, with fireworks to follow the game. The Broncs host in-state rival Schreiner in a doubleheader the following afternoon, then host Lamar of the Southland Conference for four games the following weekend. After a trip to the Round Rock Express Collegiate Classic for games against California, Nebraska and Southwest Texas State, UT Pan American will return home to play in-state rival Incarnate Word in a doubleheader and Arkansas-Monticello in a weekend series. Other visitors to the Edinburg Baseball Stadium will include fellow independent Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which comes in for a weekend series on March 1st and 2nd, Southland Conference foes Sam Houston State and Texas-San Antonio, and in-state opponents Texas A&M-Kingsville and Dallas Baptist. The Broncs will host the first UTPA/Al Ogletree Classic March 14th, 15th and 16th. The Broncs will play Illinois of the Big Ten, Iona of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and Southwest Athletic Conference foe Prairie View A&M. The teams will play each other once each in the classic, which will honor longtime Bronc Head Coach Al Ogletree, who retired after the 1997 season after having won more games than any other NCAA Division I coach in his 39 seasons. The Broncs will travel to meet the best teams in the Big 12, including defending national champion Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. UTPA will also visit Southland foes Southwest Texas State, UTSA and Southeastern Louisiana, Oral Roberts of the Mid-Continent Conference, and Sun Belt Conference opponent New Mexico State. The Broncs will also visit the Reynosa Broncs of the Mexican League for an exhibition game March 4th. "We have a good, demanding schedule," said UTPA Head Coach Willie Gawlik. "We will play some ranked teams, and some teams that should be in the NCAA playoffs. Southwest Texas, Lamar, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Texas and Illinois are perennial powers, Oral Roberts is always ranked, UT San Antonio, New Mexico State and Dallas Baptist are also very good. When you play a schedule like this, it will show what you have to do to play at a high level." The UTPA/Al Ogletree Classic should be a good showcase. "It's a great tribute to Coach Ogletree, to have a tournament named after him," said Gawlik. "We want to start it this year, and continue to have it on a yearly basis. It will allow us to pay tribute to the time and effort he put in, the success he had here, and his contributions to the game of baseball both on and off the field. Putting his name on a tournament is a way of thanking him for what he did for all of his former players both as players and as people." The games should be very competitive. "Illinois has a good program," said Gawlik. "Iona has a good team, and Prairie View has a new coach who is going to try to get them going. It should be a good tournament." The Broncs should benefit from beginning the season at home. "It should help us to improve and get ready, because in April and May, we'll play some ranked teams on the road," said Gawlik. "The Round Rock Tournament in February is a great tournament, and those teams could all be playoff teams." UTPA will visit the Reynosa Broncos in March, returning the trip that Reynosa made last season. "We're looking forward to playing Reynosa in an exhibition game, to further relations between The University of Texas-Pan American baseball team, the City of Edinburg, and the City of Reynosa," said Gawlik. BA-09-03 121102 |