Preview Video with Coach Byington

 
STEPHENVILLE, Texas – McMurry University will take the wraps off its 2012 baseball team on Saturday afternoon, when it travels to Tarleton State University for the season opening three-game series. First pitch for Saturday's single game is slated for 3 p.m. at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex, with Sunday's doubleheader getting underway at 1 p.m.
 
McMurry's 2012 baseball team – under Head Coach John Byington in his fourth season at the War Hawks' helm and 14^th with the McM program – welcomes back a strong nucleus from last year's unit, which advanced to the championship round American Southwest Conference tournament by knocking off ASC East No. 1 seed UT-Tyler in the opening round.
 
Byington's War Hawks finished 17-27 overall and were 11-10 in the ASC. Byington feels that his team played its best baseball at the end of the year and is hoping that translates to a carryover to 2012, with returning starters at six of the eight field positions. Additionally, McM returns eight pitchers, three of whom were starters, and the team's top closer.
 
Senior first baseman Matt Thompson and junior hurler Spencer Smith were both named to the ASC's “Watch List” in pre-season voting by the league's coaches. The War Hawks' team was picked to finish fourth in the West Division in that same polling.
 
Thompson started all 43 games and hit a healthy .317 in 161 at-bats. He was second on the team with 11 doubles, while heading the list in both triples (8) and homeruns (6) for McMurry. He had a team-leading 36 runs batted in to go along with a .975 fielding percentage.
 
Smith amassed a 5-2 record on the mound in a team-leading 58 2/3 innings pitched. His earned run average of 3.07 was second on the club among the starters. Smith had a 38-19 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.
 
Smith will get the ball for Saturday's opener against the Texans on Saturday.

McMurry, which will be moving from NCAA Division III( to Division II next season, will get a sneak peek at what's ahead by taking on D-II member Tarleton.  The Texans are coming off of a 35-15 year in 2011.