SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team opens their season on Friday at 11 a.m. in Arlington, Texas where they will take on Oklahoma State.

The Cardinals play an ambitious schedule this year that includes a number of high profile opponents in addition to it being their first year in NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference.  Following this weekend's action against OSU, UT-Arlington and Stephen F. Austin, the team returns to San Antonio the following weekend to play in the Notre Dame Tournament at Nelson Wolff Stadium where they will take on Gonzaga, Santa Clara and Notre Dame.

The remainder of the non-conference schedule includes games against Baylor, LIU-Brooklyn, UT-San Antonio, Hofstra, Valparaiso, Central Michigan, Prairie View A&M and UT-Pan American.

The Cardinals are under the tutelage of Danny Heep who enters his 17^th season at UIW with a 530-336 record.  The team returns seven starters from a year ago, including the four regular weekend starters on the mound.  Senior Alexis Garza (McAllen/McAllen HS) is the top returning pitcher after going 6-2 with a 2.91 earned run average en route to earning second team all-Lone Star Conference honors in 2013.  Junior outfielder Thomas Rinn (Cameron/Yoe HS) is the top returning hitter and boasts a career .317 batting average and a .435 on-base percentage.

Junior Dylan Boss (Boerne/Champion HS) and sophomore Geno Encina (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) will each be in the rotation as well.  Boss was a second team all-LSC selection as a freshman when he posted a 2.28 ERA and he has 135 strikeouts in 126.2 career innings.  Encina led the staff in innings (75.2) and wins (7) as a true freshman last year and posted a solid 3.21 ERA.

Joining Garza, Boss and Encina on the pitching staff are four junior college transfers who should contribute right away.  Jacob Potts is a righty from Cochise College, Kris Looper is a righty from Alvin Community College, Matt Decker is a lefty from New Mexico Junior College and Brandon Cogbill is a righty from Howard College.

The UIW lineup was solidified by the additions of junior first baseman Ethan McGill from Yuba College and junior Jesse Hoover from University of Houston.  Both are expected to hit in the middle of the order along with senior Slade Brown (Keller/Keller HS) who missed most of last season with an injury, but has a career .336 batting average.

The Cardinals have posted 13 consecutive seasons with at least a .500 record.  The first home game of the season is February 28 at 6:30 p.m. against LIU-Brooklyn.
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