The Arkansas State Red Wolves baseball team is set to begin the 2016 season with a three-game set at UAB. A-State trails the all-time series 4-3 against the Blazers, but won the final game of a three-game series in 2014 at Regions Field to carry a one game winning streak in Friday's matchup. A-State's rotation will feature(Fri.),(Sat.) and(Sun.). UAB has only named freshman Tanner Graham as the Friday starter. All three contests can be heard on 95.3 FM The Ticket/970 AM KNEA in the Jonesboro area, along with being available through AStateRedWolves.com. Brad Bobo will have the call for all three games. The Red Wolves have an all-time record of 3-4 against the Blazers and last played in Birmingham in 2014 with UAB taking two-of-three at Regions Field.

A-STATE/UAB HISTORY

• The Red Wolves are 3-4 against UAB with all seven meetings coming during the 2011 season or later. A-State lost the first meeting to the Blazers 5-3 in the 2011 Auburn Tournament in the team's second game of the season.

• The two teams met up once again in the 2013 season when UAB made a trip to Jonesboro for a three-game set. A-State won the first game of the series 2-1 in 11 innings on an Alex Potts' walk-off hit. The Red Wolves won game two 8-1 before falling in the series finale 4-2. Arkansas State traveled to Birmingham, Ala., to face the Blazers at Regions Field in 2014 and dropped the first two games of the series 5-0 and 3-1 before bouncing back with a 5-3 victory to conclude the series.

• All of the current meetings between the Red Wolves and Blazers have come with Tommy Raffo as the team's head coach and he is 3-4 against UAB. UAB's head coach Brian Shoop has been the head coach for UAB in all seven of those meetings. Former Mississippi State head coach Ron Polk, who Coach Raffo served under as an assistant for 15 years.

201 AND COUNTING FOR RAFFO

• A-State head coach Tommy Raffo won his 200th and 201st games in last season's SBC

Tournament, with the 200th coming in a 6-1 victory over Georgia Southern and the 201st in the following game, a 6-2 win over Georgia State.

• The 200th win tied Raffo with Richard Johnson for third-most wins all time in A-State baseball history, while the 201st pushed him into third place for most wins by himself.

• Coach Raffo only trails Bill Bethea and J.A. Ike Tomlinson on the A-State baseball career wins list.

RING NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SBC

• A-State senior infielder/pitcher Tanner Ring was named to the 2016 Preseason All-Sun Belt

Conference team as the squads third baseman.

• The Batesville, Ark., native posted a .275 batting average with a .368 on-base percentage in 2015 after playing in 50 total games, drawing the majority of his starts at third base (25). He registered a slugging percentage of .401 and was third on the team with four home runs. He also hit 11 doubles and tied for third on the team with seven steals.

• Senior first baseman Matt Burgess and senior outfielder Austin Baker were named to the

College Sports Madness Preseason All-SBC team with Burgess earning first-team honors and Baker picking up second-team honors. Burgess, a native of Greenbrier, Ark., hit .257 with a .322 on-base percentage in 2015 and also hit 20 doubles, which was the second most on the team and tied for second most in the conference. Baker, a native of Montesano, Wash., was one of only two players to start all 57 games. He hit .290 with a team-best seven home runs. He scored the most runs on the team (42) and was third in doubles (14) and RBIs (36).

• The Sun Belt Conference coaches selected the Red Wolves to finish eighth in the league with 50 points, seven points behind UT Arlington and 15 points ahead of Little Rock.

A-STATE IN SEASON OPENERS

• The Red Wolves are 34-33 in season openers after dropping last year's season-opening contest to Illinois State at Tomlinson Stadium by a score of 3-0. The loss snapped a 24-game home opening winning streak for Arkansas State. A-State did bounce back to sweep a doubleheader 13-4 and 11-5 on Saturday to take the series before Sunday's finale was cancelled due to

extremely cold temperatures.

• Head coach Tommy Raffo is 4-3 in season openers with the wins coming against Texas State

(2009), Southern Illinois-Carbondale (2010), Bradley (2013), and Miami (Ohio) (2014). The three losses came from Auburn (2011), Lamar (2012), and Illinois State (2015).

• This is the first time since 2012 the Red Wolves will open on the road. A-State played in a

tournament at Lamar during that campaign and played the host twice while another game was rained out.

FRESH FACES

• A-State welcomes 13 newcomers to the program in 2016, including three junior college

transfers and 9 true freshmen. The team also welcomes Garrett Rucker to the mix, a transfer from the University of Arkansas, to the team after he sat out last season.

• The team is also welcoming back Bryan Ayers, who sat out all of last season with an injury. He is slated to start game three of the opening series versus UAB. His last appearances was in 2014, when he went 2-1 with a 3.14 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.

• The team's three JUCO transfers are infielder Jake Bakamus, catcher Frankie Alvarez, and pitcher J.D. Miller. Bakamus was at Lower Columbia College (Wash.) and is a native of Issaquah, Wash. Alvarez was at Garden City Community College (Kan.) for two years and hails from Woodward, Okla. Miller is from Sherwood, Ark., and spent two years at Crowder College (Mo.), but is a sophomore because he received a medical redshirt while sitting out 2015.

• The team's nine true freshmen include native Arkansans Drew Tipton (Bryant) and Garrett Huff (Genoa) with Tipton set to play outfield and Huff on the infield. Pitchers Brandon

Stuckenschneider (Poplar Bluff) and Bradey Welsh (Marshfield) hail from the state of Missouri. Illinois was also represented with two freshmen in pitcher Zach Haake (Breese) and infielder Neil Lambert (Pontiac). Pitcher and first baseman Tony Ortiz is from Washington, while pitcher Peyton Culbertson is from Collierville, Tenn. Pitcher Yasuhito Abe is from Oita, Japan and

represents the team's only player from a foreign country.

RED WOLVES TIE RECORD WITH FOUR MLB DRAFT PICKS

• A-State had four draft picks in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft with David Owen going in the 19th round to the San Francisco Giants, Stuart Levy to the Baltimore Orioles in the 27th round, Chandler Hawkins in the 33rd round to the St. Louis Cardinals, and Zach George in the 35th round to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

• That number ties the amount selected in the 1995 MLB draft when Keith Horn, Chad Soden, Jon David French, and Toby Anglen were all chosen. The Cleveland Indians selected Horn in the 18th round, while the Seattle Mariners picked Soden in the 23rd round. French was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 35th round, while the Atlanta Braves selected Anglen in the 45th round to close out the A-State picks.

LOST PRODUCTION

• The Red Wolves said goodbye to eight seniors plus junior David Owen after the 2015 season. • Zach George had one of the best seasons in A-State baseball history with a .399 batting

average, and .548 on-base percentage, which was the best mark in the country in 2015 and set a new school record. He was named to the ABCA and Louisville Slugger All-American squads as a third-team selection.

• Other position players lost were Stuart Levy, Lucas Feddersen, Collin Massanelli, and Ty

Michelotti. Levy played in all but two games a season ago and will be missed behind the plate. Feddersen was the team's second-leading hitter with a .314 average, while Massanelli hit .275 with a .410 on-base percentage in 39 games.

• Owen will be missed as he started 15 games last season and pitched to a 3.25 ERA and 3-5 record with a team-high 73 strikeouts. Chandler Hawkins tossed 64.2 innings a year ago and tallied a 4.87 ERA and had the second-most wins on the team with five. Colton Kibler appeared in 29 games to lead the team in 2015 and pitched to a 4.06 ERA in 57.2 innings. He was also the team's leader in saves with five. The other senior pitcher was Jon Glidewell, who battled back from numerous injuries to pitch in 2015. He made 11 starts and went 2-1 with the lowest batting average against on the team at .204.

SAVE YOUR RAIN (AND SNOW) DANCES

• The Red Wolves had 26 games altered to weather a season ago with a healthy mix of both rain and snow as the culprits. The Red Wolves optioned to go to the Perfect Game Complex in

Emerson, Ga., to play No. 7 Louisville instead of to Northwestern State where rain was likely on Feb. 20-21. The Red Wolves would go on to take two-of-three from the Cardinals.

• The second big alteration to the schedule was when Arkansas State shifted its home-opening Sun Belt Conference series versus UT Arlington to Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, Miss., due to winter weather preventing the team from playing in Jonesboro.

• All in all, the Red Wolves ended up playing seven doubleheaders, with the only one that was originally scheduled versus Illinois State on opening weekend. A-State played six consecutive doubleheaders on weekends to open the season.

ROAD WARRIORS

• The Red Wolves finished the 2015 regular season with a 14-13 road record after sweeping Texas State May 8-10. A-State was 6-0 in the state of Texas this season with three wins each over Houston Baptist and Texas State.

• The winning road record marks the first time in the Tommy Raffo era that A-State has had a

winning road record. Additionally, it is the first time the program has had a winning mark on the road since the 1998 season when Arkansas State was 14-8 in road contests.

NOT SO SWEET HOME ALABAMA

• Arkansas State didn't fare too well in the state of Alabama a season ago with a 2-5 record in the state with all seven games occuring in Troy.

• The Red Wolves were swept by the Trojans April 11-12 before going 2-2 in the Sun Belt

Conference Tournament in Troy May 20-23. However, the two teams A-State defeated were from Georgia while the losses came to another team from the state in South Alabama.

• A-State is scheduled to play six games in Alabama this season starting with the three versus UAB this weekend before heading to Mobile for a three-game conference set with the Jaguars April 8-10.