SERIES INFORMATION

When: Friday-Saturday, Jan. 29-30, 2016

Game Times: Friday - 6 p.m. | Saturday - 12 & 2 p.m.

Where: Arkadelphia, Arkansas | Clyde Berry Field

Records: Tarleton 0-0, 0-0 LSC | No. 12 Henderson State 0-0, 0-0 LSC

Tarleton Probable Starters: Renfro (0-0; 0.00) | Bagley (0-0; 0.00) | Freeman (0-0; 0.00)

Henderson Probable Starters: Hunt (0-0; 0.00) | Tebbetts (0-0; 0.00) | Eschberger (0-0; 0.00)

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Bob Feller, a Major League Hall of Fame pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, once said, "Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is and, with a new game every day, that's the way baseball is."
 
With a new season on the horizon, Tarleton Baseball is looking forward to its new opportunity.
 
The Texans have been no stranger to success under eighth-year head coach Bryan Conger – who boasts an overall record of 205-156-2, has qualified for the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament in each of the last seven season, and earned two trips to the NCAA Regional Playoffs.
 
Even when things don't seem to turn out in their favor, the Texans always find a way to put those things in the rearview mirror and succeed – which is why they have played for the LSC Tournament Championship in three of the last four seasons with the 2014 tournament title in the trophy case and a regular season championship over that span, as well.
 
When the 2016 season begins, the Texans will attack the nation under the tutelage of two new assistant coaches and with 20 new faces filling out the roster; but, as has been the case in Conger's tenure, tradition doesn't rebuild – it reloads.
 
"We feel like we're in a position where we feel like we should be competitive every year," said Conger. "One of our main goals every year is to win the Lone Star Conference and if you win our conference, then you put yourself in a good position to go to regionals and hopefully the World Series. We feel like we've been on a run lately to put ourselves in that position and as long as we give ourselves a chance then – as a wise man once said – you're giving yourself a chance."
 
Tarleton enters the 2016 campaign with a slew of new players, highlighted by the additions of nine NCAA Division I transfers, as well as 14 returning players from last season including all-LSC selection Alec Humphreys.
 
In his first season with Tarleton last season, Humphreys hit .313 as the everyday third baseman for the Texans. The senior from Midlothian will face a new challenge this season, however, as the Tarleton captain will move to shortstop following the graduation of four-year starter Evan Robinson.
 
"(Alec) has been tremendous since we moved him to shortstop in the fall," said Conger. "Defensively, he's been rock solid. He has been making all the right calls and he is always where he is supposed to be. He's got such a calm, even-keeled demeanor and is kind of the total package."
 
On the mound, the Texans will lean on the returning right arms of Trevor Renfro, Hunter Houston, and four other returning pitchers, as well as the addition of seven new arms including three from NCAA Division I.
 
Renfro, another Texan captain, will look to lead the Texan rotation after pitching in 14 games and throwing 53 innings during his junior campaign. Meanwhile, Houston returns after a record-setting first year at Tarleton as the mid-season transfer set the school's single-season record for ERA by a reliever with a 1.09 mark in 33.0 innings of work out of the bullpen a year ago.
 
"Our pitching staff is going to be interesting," said Conger. "We're hoping they can give us some competitive strikes that they let us see from them in the fall and we expect to see the same thing in the spring. We're a little deeper than last season. The expectation is for them to give us a chance because we, as a coaching staff, expect us to be more offensive than last year and that should take some of the pressure off the pitching staff to have to throw goose eggs and ones on the board every time out."
 
The 2016 Texans – or Team 28, which refers to the number of Texan Baseball teams to take the field since the sport was reinstated in 1988 – will have no easy go of things through the schedule, which is arguably the toughest slate of any during Conger's tenure.
 
Of the Texans' 48 total games this season, they are set to play 19 games against teams currently ranked in the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division II Top-40 Preseason Polls – and 16 of those 19 games come against teams ranked in the top 16 of that particular poll, including a meeting with No. 6 St. Cloud State at the Houston Invitational at Minute Maid Park on February 6. When the season begins, Tarleton's schedule will be 40-percent filled against the nation's top-40 teams.
 
"As each year goes by and we feel like we're taking steps forward as a program, it's something I've always believed in is that to play good teams you have to be good yourself," said Conger. "Good teams want to play good teams. We finally reached a point where some of the better teams in the country are opening to scheduling us and it's a positive thing for this program to have a schedule like this.
 
"For the kids, we're telling them that it's the good ole cliché – to be the best, you have to beat the best – and we want them to take pride in that," he continued. "As the season plays out, I wouldn't be surprised if our schedule ends us being the toughest in Division II baseball and they should take pride in that because that's what competitors want."
 
Tarleton's visit to No. 16 Henderson State will be a historic day for the Reddies. Friday's game will be the first one played under new lights at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia. First pitch is at 6 p.m.