MOBILE, Ala. – The 25th-ranked University of South Alabama baseball team will open play at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament when it squares off with Texas-Arlington in Wednesday's opening round at 12:30 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, Texas.

USA (38-18, 21-9 SBC), the No. 2 seed at this year's tournament, swept a three-game series from No. 7 seed UTA (29-26, 15-15 SBC) earlier this season at Stanky Field.

The game will be streamed live through SBC Championship Central page at SunBeltSports.org. Every Jaguar game is broadcast live on 99.5 FM The Jag in Mobile, and also available via the iHeartRadio app. Live stats will also be available at SunBeltSports.org, while in-game updates will be provided through the Jaguar Twitter account (@SouthALBaseball).

Following the opening day of the tournament, each game will be broadcast live by ESPN3 and available via WatchESPN.

The winner of Wednesday's contest will face the winner of No. 3 Little Rock and No. 6 Georgia Southern, who will play the first game of the tournament at 9 a.m. Wednesday, at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon in the winner's bracket. The losing teams of the first two games will play in an elimination contest at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

Jaguar right-hander Hunter Soleymani (4-3) will make his 12th start of the season against UTA. In 13 total appearances this year, Soleymani has struck out 41 batters against 27 walks in 71 2/3 innings while posting 3.89 ERA. He has tossed one complete game, combined for one shutout and recorded six quality starts. 

Soleymani tossed a then-career high 8 1/3 innings against UTA earlier this season, but did not factor in the decision, and allowed three runs on eight hits with one strikeout and three walks.

The Mavericks will counter with right-hander Kadon Simmons (9-4), who finished the regular season as the SBC leader in wins (9). In 15 appearances this season, 14 of which were starts, Simmons has posted a 3.06 ERA to go along with 59 strikeouts and 20 walks in 97 innings pitched. Simmons tossed 7 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in his start against USA earlier this season, but did not factor in the decision.

South Alabama closed the regular season as the SBC leader in walks (293), sacrifice flies (29) and stolen bases (100). The Jags rank second in the league in runs scored (350), and third in on-base percentage (.373) and RBI (310). USA ended the regular season as the top-fielding team in the SBC with a .977 fielding percentage. The Jaguar pitching staff finished the regular season second in the conference in ERA (3.45), runs allowed (227) and earned runs allowed (193), and ranked third in opposing batting average (.240) and hits allowed (443).

Cole Billingsley led the Sun Belt in stolen bases (30) for the second straight season, and also closed the regular season as the league leader in sacrifice flies (8). Drew LaBounty led the SBC in walks (51) in the regular season, ranked second in on-base percentage (.450) and sacrifice flies (6), fourth in stolen bases (14) and tied for seventh in runs scored (43).
Right-hander Kevin Hill finished the regular season as the SBC leader in strikeouts (117) and innings pitched (109.2), ranked second in wins (8) and third in ERA (2.38) and opposing batting average (.214).

South Alabama is 83-55 all-time in the Sun Belt Tournament, with its 83 wins standing as the most in the league's tournament history. The Jaguars have not won the SBC Tournament since 2005, when they won four straight games in Miami including a 9-2 win over Middle Tennessee in the championship game.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).