UTRGV baseball announces 2025 schedule, opens season Feb. 14

UTRGV baseball is set to start its 2025 season Feb. 14-16 with the Al Ogletree Classic, a three-game series against Southern Illinois at UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg, the UTRGV athletics department announced Tuesday.

The Vaqueros are scheduled to play 51 games this season, 25 of which are at home. The Vaqueros play nine of their first 10 games at home, including a three-game series Feb. 21-23 against North Dakota State and Feb. 28-March 2 against Lamar for the Southland Conference opener.

The complete UTRGV baseball schedule can be viewed at GoUTRGV.com.

UTRGV faces five opponents that participated in the 2024 NCAA Tournament for a total of eight games, including Nicholls (March 14-16) at home and Dallas Baptist (Feb. 18), Southern Mississippi (March 11), Louisiana (April 8), and Texas (April 15) on the road.

Fans can purchase season tickets online at UTRGVTickets.com or by contacting Nick Swanson at (956) 665-4205 or [email protected].

“I am really excited about the midweeks,” UTRGV head coach Derek Matlock said. “It is difficult to put together a schedule where you get to play Texas Tech, TCU, Texas, Texas State, Dallas Baptist, Houston, Louisiana, Southern Mississippi, Rice, and Baylor. It’s going to be one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country and I am excited for it.”

UTRGV embarks on its first multi-game road trip March 4-11, visiting Houston on March 4 followed by New Orleans March 7-9 and Southern Mississippi on March 11.

UTRGV’s longest homestand, which spans eight games, runs March 14-23 when the Vaqueros play host to Nicholls March 14-16, Texas Southern March 18-19, and Houston Christian March 21-23.

The Vaqueros follow up their longest homestand with their longest road stretch, spanning 10 games, visiting TCU on March 25 and 26, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, March 28-30, Rice on April 2, Northwestern State April 4-6, and Louisiana on April 8.

“It will be fun to go to different cities and get into Louisiana and have that good food and play some hardnosed teams,” Matlock said. “Change is always fun, and the Southland is a good baseball conference, which is exciting for us.”

University of Texes Rio Grande Valley head baseball coach Derek Matlock watches the action across the field during practice st the UTRGV Baseball Stadium on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])

The Vaqueros return home to face Stephen F. Austin April 11-13 before visiting Texas on April 15 and Southeastern April 17-19.

UTRGV hosts Incarnate Word for a non-conference contest on April 22 before welcoming McNeese to the Valley April 25-27.

The Vaqueros then embark on their final regular season road trip, visiting Texas Tech April 29-30, Incarnate Word for a conference series May 2-4, and Baylor May 6.

UTRGV closes out the regular season at home on May 13 against Texas State.

“Competing in the Southland Conference, we’ll face some truly great teams,” Matlock said. “It’s an incredibly exciting schedule, no doubt about it. We’re going to be challenged by this tough schedule, so we’ll need to step up and get after it.”

The top eight teams in the Southland Conference qualify for the SLC Tournament. The top two seeds host 4-team brackets for a double-elimination tournament similar to the NCAA Regionals May 15-18. The bracket play champions will meet in a best of three series, similar to the NCAA Super Regionals, hosted by the highest remaining seed May 22-24 to determine the tournament champion and automatic qualifier to the NCAA Regionals.

“Looking at the teams in the Southland and considering their RPIs and how they played last year, I believe we are going to be solid,” Matlock said. “It is not really who you play but how you play. If we don’t play well in the Southland, then we are not going to win. However, if we are playing well, we can win. We control what we can control and that’s what baseball is about.”

All Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday home games start at 6:30 p.m. All Sunday home games start at 12 p.m. Gates open one hour prior to first pitch.

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