PREVIEW CAPSULES for state Division I teams.

UALR

COACH Chris Curry (63-95 in third season at UALR and overall)

2017 RECORD 21-34, 11-18 Sun Belt Conference SEASON OPENER at Tennessee Tech, 3 p.m. today PROJECTION Fifth, Sun Belt West ALL-CONFERENCE PICKS None TOP NEWCOMERS OF Marcus Ragan, INF/RHP Nick Perez, OF Ryan Benavidez

SCOUTING REPORT Out of the 34 players on UALR’s roster, there are 23 new players. The Trojans lost all of its top five contributors in batting average and RBI except junior infielder Riley Pittman (.305, 34 RBI), sophomore catcher Kale Emshoff and junior second baseman Christian Reyes are the only returning members of UALR’s last starting lineup from last season. That team benefited from the Sun Belt Conference’s inaugural expansion of its postseason tournament from eight teams to 10, and the No. 9-seeded Trojans were eliminated in the first round by No. 8 Texas State. UALR has not won a tournament game since its Sun Belt championship in 2011, and Coach Chris Curry said this season’s success will come down to how quickly his team’s raw talent turns into consistent production. Curry was high on junior college transfers Marcus Ragan and Nick Perez. Ragan, who will start in center field, turned down an offer from the Boston Red Sox, which drafted him in the 15th round after he hit .395 with 6 home runs and 34 RBI for East Mississippi Community College. Perez, who will start at third base and pitch from out of the bullpen, hit .320 with 5 home runs and 21 RBI at San Jacinto (Texas) College. LHP Chandler Fidel (3-7, 4.83 ERA), LHP Cole Townsend (2-1, 3.70) and RHP McKinley Moore (0-2, 6.10) will be the weekend starters.

QUOTING CHRIS CURRY “You commit to [new players] and you let them play. You make sure they understand you’re going to make mistakes. Play without fear of failure … Before they leave this campus, I think they’ll do some things that haven’t been done here before.”

Arkansas State

COACH Tommy Raffo (258-256-1 in ninth season at Arkansas State and overall) 2017 RECORD 28-27, 13-16 Sun Belt Conference SEASON OPENER Illinois State, 6 p.m. today PROJECTION Fourth, Sun Belt West ALL-CONFERENCE PICKS None TOP NEWCOMERS INF Jacob Jablonski, 1B Kyle McDonald, RHP Jesse Kutzke

SCOUTING REPORT Arkansas State has been eliminated in the Sun Belt Conference semifinals in five consecutive seasons, and although the Red Wolves recorded their first postseason winning record last season, Coach Tommy Raffo said they were hoping to, “do something a little more special than that.” This season’s team starts off with a major setback: senior catcher and last year’s leader in RBI, Justin Felix (.247, 46 RBI), suffered a broken fibula during the offseason and Raffo said he will be out for another six weeks. Sophomore Cullen Ray (1 for 6 in eight games in 2017) will start in his place. Raffo said pitching is ASU’s strength, even without Tyler Zuber (6-1, 2.06 ERA), who became the highest-drafted ASU player in program history when the Kansas City Royals selected him last June in the sixth round. Returning weekend starters, RHP Bradey Welsh (4-2, 6.23) and RHP Peyton Culbertson (5-7, 6.32), will be joined by senior LHP Coulton Lee to complete the three-man rotation. Lee redshirted last season and went 5-8 with a 4.18 ERA in 2016. There’s returning depth in the ASU lineup, but freshman Jacob Jablonski will start at third base. A four-year letterman from Paraclete (Calif.) High School, the switch-hitting Jablonski also was an alternate for the USA Junior Olympic team.

QUOTING TOMMY RAFFO “We’re adjusting behind the plate a little bit [without Justin Felix]. We’ll have to piece things together. We’re not going to be one of these groups that can just hang your hat on one player. We have to work together, on offensive situations, to see what we can do.”

Central Arkansas

COACH Allen Gum (215-180 in seventh season at Central Arkansas, 441-248 in 12th season overall)

2017 RECORD 34-26, 16-13 Southland Conference SEASON OPENER Northern Illinois, 6 p.m. today PROJECTION Fourth, Southland

ALL-CONFERENCE PICKS 1B Hunter Strong, OF Keaton Presley (second team), RHP Tyler Gray (second team)

TOP NEWCOMERS INF Tyler Smith, INF Jay Anderson, LHP Beaux Bonvilliain

SCOUTING REPORT UCA returns many of its top contributors from a team that lost in the Southland Conference championship game last season. The Bears have been in the Southland championship game three out of the past five years, and Coach Allen Gum said one of the things that must improve is its relief pitching. UCA lost RHP Brandon Hagerla (9-3, 2.84 ERA) to expired eligibility, and his 76 innings pitched were more than three regular starters. The Bears’ 4.78 ERA ranked eighth in the Southland. Starting RHP Tyler Gray will start today against Northern Illinois, and he returned to the team after the Minnesota Twins selected him in the 20th round of the MLB Draft in June. Four out of the five top RBI contributors from last season return, including senior outfielder Keaton Presley (.284, 55 RBI) and junior first baseman Hunter Strong (.351, 47), who was named first-team All-Southland in 2017. Gum said that Alvin (Texas) Community College transfer Tyler Smith will start at first base. Smith batted .275 with 15 RBI and 3 home runs at Alvin last season. Blinn (Texas) College transfer Jay Anderson will play infield and batted .363 with 6 home runs and 21 RBI last season. QUOTING ALLEN GUM “We always have high expectations, and it starts with winning the conference championship, getting to the [NCAA] Tournament. … That’s the main goal. As long as they’re maintaining their fullest potential as a team, we feel like we’ve fulfilled our expectation.”

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

COACH Carlos James (123-204-1 in seventh season at UAPB, 151-282-2 in 10th season overall)

2017 RECORD 15-31, 10-14 Southwestern Athletic Conference SEASON OPENER Alcorn State, noon today

PROJECTION Fourth, SWAC West

ALL-CONFERENCE PICKS None

TOP NEWCOMERS INF Nick Kreutzer, INF Ryan Mallison, SS Jarficur Parker,

SCOUTING REPORT UAPB won the SWAC West Division in three consecutive seasons before it was picked to win it last season, and the Golden Lions finished last and missed the conference tournament. Coach Carlos James joked that now that his team is predicted to finish fourth in the West, it can return to the top. UAPB returns top RBI contributor Sergio Esparaza (.304, 28 RBI), who James said will bat leadoff and play in the outfield. James said he’d be testing out two starting lineups during this weekend’s Andre Dawson Classic: a more “National League,” small-ball group in the first game, and a more “American League,” power group in the second. He plans to mesh the emerging talent from both groups into a starting nine by SWAC play. Arkansas Baptist transfer Ryan Mallison will play infield, and he was named to the NJCAA Gold Glove Team in 2017 after batting .389 with 28 RBI and 3 home runs. James said freshman shortstop Jarficur Parker “is gonna be special.” Parker batted .311 with 14 RBI and a home run at Plano (Texas) West High School. LHP Payton Burks, RHP Tyrus Lopez and LHP Thomas Sanchez will be the weekend starters of an “old, experienced” pitching rotation, which was fourth in the SWAC in team ERA (6.24) last season.

QUOTING CARLOS JAMES “Hopefully we can get our [winning] culture back. … I think we’re a better team up and down the lineup. We did lose some guys, but we replaced them very well, and we should be a lot better swinging the bat.”