SE Baseball Opens Season at TAMIU

Baseball | 1/29/2016 4:55:00 PM

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern will dust off the bats and gloves on Jan. 30 when it opens a three-game series at Texas A&M-International in Laredo, Texas, with a double-header beginning at 4 p.m., followed by a single game on Jan. 31 at noon.
 
The Jan. 30 start date matches the earliest start to the season in school history, equaling the Savage Storm's Jan. 30 trip to Laredo a season ago.
 
That trip did not go SE's way as the Dustdevils stole two out of three in the series, taking the final two games after the Storm opened the season with a 4-2 win.
 
Heading into 2016 Southeastern has been pegged to finish sixth in the Great American Conference after posting a 19-25 record overall a season ago and a 13-123 mark in league play before making a run to the conference tournament semifinals.
 
Last season's TAMIU team would go on to post a 16-31 record with a 7-19 mark in Heartland Conference play and will head into the 2016 season picked ninth.
 
SE returns its top four hitters from a season ago as well as its top two pitchers.
 
Dylan Helms leads the offensive group with a .381 average and 59 hits, while Brandon Grimsley hit .373 with a team-high 10 home runs.
 
Corban Taylor and Kaleb Thomas hit .324 and .322, respectively.
 
Brady Colbert posted a 6-3 record with five saves in 21 appearances a season ago, while Dylan Linke was the team's top starter with a 4-3 mark in 12 starts.
 
Grimsley, Thomas, Helms and Taylor each earned All-GAC honors last season.
 
The Dustdevils bring back a pair of everyday starters in the field in Jeffrey Morgan and Cody Perez with the first posting a .310 average and 14 RBI in 2015, while the second added a .299 mark and a pair of homers with 30 RBI.
 
TAMIU's pitching staff loses all three of its weekend starters from last season and returns a total of three starts split between three pitchers.  Nick Parales made the most appearances with 21 and carried a 3.81 ERA in 26.0 innings pitched.