ADA – The East Central University baseball team will head to Texas to participate in the 2019 Alpine Fresh 4-Him Classic hosted by Colorado Christian, Feb. 7-9 in Fort Worth and Cleburne, Texas.  Games will be played at the Railroaders Stadium in Cleburne, Texas and All Saints High School (Corbitt Field) in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Tigers (0-3) will be in Bracket 2 for the first three games of the tournament.  ECU will face Texas-Permian Basin (12:30 p.m.) and Colorado Christian (7:30 p.m.) on Thursday, Feb. 7 at Railroaders Stadium.  The Tigers are then set to face Oklahoma Panhandle State, Friday, Feb. 8 (1:30 p.m.) at All Saints High School.

Depending on where ECU ends in the bracket play will determine when they will play, Saturday, Feb. 9.  The team in fourth place will battle the fourth-place team from bracket 1 at 10 a.m. and the third place teams at 1:30 p.m. at All Saints High School.  The second-place teams will play at 10 a.m. and first place at 2 p.m. at Railroaders Stadium.

Bracket 1 includes Oklahoma Baptist, Oklahoma Christian, Newman University and Texas A&M Kingsville.

All games are schedule to be nine innings or have a three-hour time limit, with a 10-run rule after seven innings.  If inclement weather prohibits a game from finishing, it would become official after five innings.  If a game were to be tied after nine innings, or when the time limit is reached, it will finish as a tie.  Tiebreakers will be utilized to finalize bracket seeding.

The Tigers have seen action against only one of the three teams in their opening bracket, going 2-0 (at home) against Oklahoma Panhandle, but will be facing Texas-Permian Basin and Colorado Christian for the first time.
In bracket 1, the Tigers are 4-22 against Texas A&M-Kingsville, 4-20 vs. the Bison, 2-3 against Oklahoma Christian and 2-3 when playing Newman.

The Falcons are 1-2 after facing Rosters State last weekend and finished 9-41 in 2018.  The Cougars will open their season at the tournament after finishing 25-29 in 2018.  The Aggies are 3-2 so far in 2018 and went 25-32 a season ago.

ECU opened the 2019 season with three losses at No. 10 Delta State. Senior Ryan White led the Tigers are the plate, with a .444 average, one run, four hits, two doubles and one RBI.