The Victoria Generals released its 2013 Texas Collegiate League schedule on Friday. 2013 will mark the tenth season in TCL history, as well as the Generals fifth season as a league member. The league will maintain its 60-game schedule with six teams next summer.
The league lineup remains virtually unchanged from last season, when the Woodlands Strykers enjoyed a successful inaugural campaign and the Texas Marshals returned to action. The Alexandria Aces, who battled into the playoffs in 2012, will go dark next summer as the City of Alexandria addresses stadium improvements at historic Bringhurst Field. The Aces are expected to return to action in 2014.
The TCL also anticipates the arrival of at least one expansion team for the 2014 season.
The Generals will host a total of 30 regular-season home games during the summer against the other TCL members. The Acadiana Cane Cutters, Brazos Valley Bombers, East Texas Pump Jacks, Texas Marshals, and Woodlands Strykers will all make trips to Victoria to take on the Generals next summer.
The Generals season will kick-off with a four-game road trip starting in The Woodlands on Thursday, May 30, the earliest starting date in league history, as they take on the Woodlands Strykers.
The Generals will then return home on Tuesday, June 4 for their home opener against the rechristened Texas Marshals.
The first rematch of the 2012 TCL Championship Series will play out on June 6 when the Generals visit East Texas. The Pump Jacks came back from an opening game loss in last year’s series to capture the franchise’s first TCL title.
Two weeks later, on June 20, the Brazos Valley Bombers will visit Victoria in a rematch of perhaps the most dramatic game in TCL postseason history. The Generals outlasted Brazos Valley, 8-7, in 11 innings in the elimination game of the first round of the 2012 TCL playoffs. The ninth inning alone saw seven runs scored by the two teams, and all of them came with two outs.
A 60-game schedule format, divided into two halves, will be employed by the TCL for the third straight year. The Generals wrap up the first-half on Wednesday, July 3 on the road in East Texas. On Independence Day, the Generals will host the Acadiana Cane Cutters in the first game of the second-half as all win-loss records will be reset to 0-0 for the second-half of the season.
Just as it was last season in the TCL, the first-place and second-place teams of the first-half will clinch playoff berths and receive the #1 and #2 seeds, respectively, in the TCL postseason. The Generals clinched the #2 seed in 2012 by finishing in second place during the first-half of the season.
The first-place and second-place teams in the second-half will receive the other two playoff spots in the four-team postseason. If there is a repeat winner, or second-place finisher, in the first- and second-half, the team with the next best overall season record will receive the postseason bid.
The schedule will take on a more balanced look in 2013 as every team will play three successive two-game series every week. Monday will serve as a league-wide off-day throughout the summer. After the shortened opening week, every team will play at least one road series and one home series every week of the season.
The league’s top players will meet on Tuesday, July 9, for the Texas Collegiate League All-Star Game. The TCL event will precede its major league counterpart by one week, with the site to be announced soon. The All-Star Game was played in Victoria last summer, with the Bombers playing host in 2011.
The TCL regular-season concludes on Friday, August 9 as the Generals finish at home against the Strykers. The 2012 TCL Postseason is scheduled for August 10-13.
The postseason will again feature two rounds, with the divisional round being be a one-game, winner-take-all matchup. Winners of the divisional round will meet in the three-game TCL Championship Series. The Victoria Generals last won the TCL Championship in 2010.
The Generals will play all 30 of their regular-season home games at 7:05pm at historic Riverside Stadium in Victoria. The full schedule can be viewed at www.VictoriaGenerals.com.
Season tickets for the Victoria Generals 2013 season are on sale now. Fans can buy tickets and merchandise at the team store located at 1307-H East Airline Road, online at www.VictoriaGenerals.com, or by calling 361-485-9522.
**The TCL began play in 2004 and quickly became one of the top summer collegiate leagues in the nation. In 2012, three TCL franchises were ranked by Perfect Game in the top-40 out of more than 250 summer collegiate teams across the country. More than 300 TCL players have been drafted by major league teams and no fewer than a dozen have played in the big leagues. Notable league alumni include outfielder Hunter Pence and first baseman Brandon Belt, both of the World Series champion San Francisco Giants, and Boston Red Sox all-star pitcher Clay Buchholz.
