BEAUMONT – "The Last Hoorah," the final season for longtime head coach Jim Gilligan gets started on Friday when the Lamar University baseball team opens its 2016 campaign with a three-game set against Southeast Missouri and a one-game tilt with Arizona on Monday.
 
"I don't want to make this being my last year a big deal, to me it is just another year. I'm just hoping that we have the kind of year I think our talent suggests we should," said Gilligan. "I think the kids are ready and anxious to play someone other than themselves. We certainly better because we have some good ball teams coming in.
 
The Cardinals have a stout schedule to start the season.  The first nine games are in the first 10 days of the year, and of those nine, four will be against North Dakota State (Feb. 26-28), three against SEMO, one against Arizona and the final against nationally-ranked LSU.
 
"With the schedule the way it is early, we're going to play a lot of guys," said Gilligan. "I have several guys that could be starters, but I've said many times that depth isn't depth if it is sitting on the bench. Those guys have to play."
 
The Redhawks were the Ohio Valley champions last year and were projected to repeat this season. In 2015, SEMO was 36-23 overall and 22-8 in league play.  The program had three placed on the Preseason ALL-OVC teams, including their Friday night pitcher Joey Lucchesi.
 
"They'll have a left-hander going Friday night that is one of the best pitchers in their conference," said Gilligan. "We feel like Friday night is going to be a fun one with their guy and Hibbs going head-to-head."
 
Along with Lucchesi, first baseman Ryan Rippee and shortstop Brandon Boggetto were added to the preseason teams. Boggetto is the team's top returning hitter. He finished with .318 average and 13 home runs along with 61 runs batted in.
 
Lucchesi was 7-2 a year ago with a 3.17 earned run average. He started 12 games and was a part of three shutouts.
 
Lamar will send out Hibbs, Jasyon McKinley and Fernando Martinez to the mound to face the Redhawks in the three-game set. Hibbs is coming off of a phenomenal summer in the Alaskan League finishing as the league's ERA champion on 0.46 mark.
 
He was also listed as the fifth-ranked prospect on D1Baseball.com's list of SLC's MLB Draft hopefuls. Van der Meer was ranked 14^th and Enrique Oquendo was 12^th. Hibbs was also the Opening Day starter a year ago.
 
McKinley made strides in the late part of his 2015 campaign, which finished at 3-3 and a 2.56 earned run average in 10 appearances and seven starts.  Martinez is a newcomer from Wharton County JC who appeared in 16 games with a 6-4 record.  He had two saves in 58.1 innings of work.
 
LU returns its top two hitters from last season in Stijn van der Meer and Jake Nash, both of which are preseason All-Southland Conference picks. Van der Meer was the league's second-team shortstop in 2015 and was the regular season leader in hits (78) and third in team batting average (.351).
 
Nash finished last season with the team's second-highest batting average at .324 in 49 games played. He was also versatile in the field too playing first and third base as well as left and right field at least once during the year.
 
Arizona takes field at The Beck on Monday after they play visitor to No. 24 Rice for opening weekend. The Wildcats were 31-24 last season and 12-18 in the Pac-12. This season, they will play under first-year head coach at UA Jay Johnson.
 
The Wildcats return Golden Spikes Award bidder Bobby Dalbec, who hit at a .319 clip and led the Pac-12 in home runs with 15 a year ago. It will be the first time in school history that UA will open the season with two-straight road trips.
 
For LU, it is the sixth time in seven years that it opened the season at home, and in those six time the Cards are 6-0. The one time they weren't, it lost to Akron at Mississippi State. Opening Day has been a successful one for LU, which is 33-19 (.635) all-time. Big Red has won its last four openers.
 
Every Friday this season, LU has a Family Four Pack, which includes four tickets, hot dogs, drinks and popcorns for $40. Friday's contest has a t-shirt giveaway, while supplies last, and kids get to run free on Sunday after the game is over.
 
LSU comes to town on Wednesday to continue to the 2016 campaign.  That game is slated for 6:00 and will be followed by a four-game tilt with North Dakota State over the weekend.
 
For tickets or information, call the Lamar Ticket office at 409-880-1715.