STEPHENVILLE – Baseball season is almost among us as head coach Aaron Meade announced the inaugural Division I Spring 2021 schedule Friday.
The Texans will have a full slate as they prepare for a full 56-game schedule with 22 of the games at home. The Texans will move to a four-game series with conference opponents for the 2021 season adding a doubleheader on the middle day of the WAC series. There will also be a limited number of mid-week nonconference opponents to reduce the risk of COVID-19. Tarleton will open their season with a three-game series against Abilene Christian with the first two games on Feb. 19-20 at home and the last game on Feb. 21 at ACU.
“I think more than anything I am just excited for our guys to get a chance to get on the field,” Meade said of the upcoming season. “The way last year ended and all the stuff they had to go through in the fall trying to stay on the field and stay healthy, I am just excited for them to get the chance to play more than anything.”
The opening series with ACU is the first of many nonconference games the Texans will play this season. Notable nonconference series also include Northwestern State, DBU, and a three-game weekend series with Missouri State and Central Arkansas hosted by Central Arkansas.
The Texans also nabbed nonconference midweek games with TCU, which will be a home-and-home with the Horned Frogs playing in Stephenville on April 6, at Texas A&M, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Lamar, and UT-Arlington at Globe Life Field in Arlington, the new home of the Texas Rangers.
“I think our nonconference schedule is going to be challenging,” Meade said. “Feel-good games aren’t really something I am big on. I want to challenge them, if we want to compete at the highest level of college baseball, I want them to go in and compete against some of the top programs in the country. This is something that is going to be big for us this year and I think we are going to go in and compete at the best of our ability and I think it’s going to be big for our program going forward.”
Tarleton will make their WAC debut on Mar. 12-14 in a four-game series against Sacramento State in Stephenville. Doubleheaders are not new for Tarleton baseball and will offer more games to be played on the season with the limitation of mid-week games.
“The four-game series on the weekends isn’t necessarily something we want to do all the time, but it was the best decision we could make at the time to be able to put us in the position to play the most games possible,” Meade said on schedule layout. “The biggest thing when we met with the coaches and the WAC was making sure that we could put together a schedule that is going to allow us to play.”
The Texans will host four WAC series at home this year starting with Sacramento State in their WAC debut followed by Dixie State Apr. 1-3, New Mexico State Apr. 23-25, and Grand Canyon May 14-16.
WAC opponents the Texans will face on the road this season are California Baptist Mar. 26-28, Seattle University Apr. 9-11, Utah Valley Apr. 16-18, Northern Colorado Apr. 30-May 2, and UTRGV May 7-9.
The 2021 season will wrap up in Stephenville, TX with the four-game Grand Canyon series. The Texans can’t compete in postseason play this season as they begin their transition to Division I.
“Outlook wise we are just excited,” Meade said. “We have a veteran group, a group that’s hungry and I am excited to see how they handle this challenge. I think the biggest thing is going to be the atmosphere, some of the places we are going to play at are some of the best environments in college baseball. I am excited to see if they can stay focused in those situations.”
For the complete Tarleton Baseball schedule with times and dates, visit TarletonSports.com here: 2021 BASEBALL SCHEDULE
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