Dec. 10, 2007

The University of Texas-Pan American baseball program released its 2008 schedule on Monday (Dec. 10), which includes the National Independent Tournament where the Broncs will host seven Independent teams at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium.

"We are excited about playing our traditional high profile challenging schedule in 2008," said head baseball coach Willie Gawlik. "New NCAA legislation has moved the start date for all NCAA I institutions schedule to a three week later starting time and the season has been extended into later part of May. In the past, we have opened our season on February 1st and completed our season the first week of May."

In the Broncs upcoming schedule, 11 teams they will face qualified for the 2007 playoffs which include Texas, TCU, Jackson State, Prairie View A&M, Texas State, Lamar, Illinois, UT San Antonio, New Mexico State, and New Orleans University.

The season will officially begin for the Broncs at the Edinburg Baseball Stadium where they will host the Al Ogletree Classic Tournament on Feb. 23-24 against rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State over a three-day period.

The Broncs will hit the road for a 13-game road trip where they will meet Big 12-opponent Texas, Jackson State, Sam Houston State, South Dakota State, Prairie View A&M, Southern Illinois, Buffalo, Norte Dame and University of Texas at San Antonio.

UTPA returns back to Edinburg for a pair of matches against Houston Baptist on March 20-21 before heading back on the road for the next two weeks, where they will meet Lamar University, New Mexico State, and Texas-Arlington.

During the Month of April, the Broncs return back to the Rio Grande Valley for a three-game set against Sun Belt Conference-foe New Orleans on April 4-6 followed by a six-game road trip, where the Broncs will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Southern, and Texas State.

"Our schedule enhances opportunities for the Bronc baseball program to be showcased against some traditional NCAA baseball playoff teams. This type of schedule gives our present and gave our past players the opportunity to play against some of the best competition. As a result, several players from the program have had opportunities to play at the next level," Gawlik said.

UTPA will host Prairie View A&M for a two-game series and rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 19-22. Three days later the Broncs square-off against Arkansas - Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, AR, in a three-game series.

The next stop for the Broncs will be in Nacogdoches, TX where they will take on Stephen F. Austin in a doubleheader on April 29 and then travel to Greeley, CO for a three-game series against Northern Colorado on May 2-4.

The Broncs next three games will be played in Fort Worth, TX against TCU in a three-game series.

UTPA closes out the season with the National Independent Tournament held in Edinburg, which will feature Northern Colorado, New York Tech, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Chicago State, and Le Moyne.

"We are excited about hosting the National Independent Baseball Tournament in Edinburg during the week of May 21-25. The tournament seeds will be announced on the Monday prior to the opening of the tournament. The seeds will be determined by record and NCAA RPI. We are expecting a highly competitive tournament since all the independents play a challenging schedule during the regular season," added Gawlik.

NCAA Regional selections take place on May 26 and the winner has an opportunity for a possible NCAA tournament bid.

UTPA Sports Information