CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State Baseball team and head coach Chris Klimas have announced the 2020 schedule for the Hillcats, as RSU makes its debut season in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
 
The Hillcats are coming off of their 2019 Heartland Conference Tournament Championship season that included Rogers State Baseball's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since making the move from the NAIA.
 
Rogers State will return to the site where they lifted the conference title to open up the 2020 season as the Hillcats will head to Cleburne, Texas for the Alpine Fresh 4 Him Classic. The event will see the Hillcats play four games over three days at The Depot at Cleburne Station. The event will run from January 31 to February 2.
 
With the Hillcats move to the MIAA, Rogers State will also move into the NCAA's Central Region, bringing a whole new group of opponents in non-conference play. Baseball will welcome in three central region teams for a series at the Diamond Sports Complex in February, beginning with Wayne State (Nebraska) on February 8-9. Rogers State will also host Truman State and McKendree with a single midweek game against East Central at home as well.
 
The Hillcats are set to officially open up MIAA play on the final weekend of the month of February with a trip to Warrensburg, Missouri to face the defending MIAA Champions, and NCAA Word Series appearing, Central Missouri. The move to the MIAA will also see a change to the conference series format, as the Hillcats will now play a three-game series over three days, with all games being nine innings. The series will run from February 28 to March 1.
 
Rogers State will be back on the road the next weekend, traveling to Missouri Western before returning home for 11 of the next 12 games at the Diamond Sports Complex. Following a midweek clash against Northwestern Oklahoma State, the Hillcats will host Northwest Missouri State in the MIAA home openers on March 13-15.
 
RSU will then take on Missouri Southern on March 17 in the first of three midweek games over the course of the season that are a part of MIAA play. The Hillcats will travel to Missouri Southern on March 31 before hosting the final game of the series on April 14.
 
The final two weekends of March will see the Hillcats host Fort Hays State and Emporia State at the Diamond Sports Complex. Roles will be reversed in April as the Hillcats travel to Pittsburg State on April 3-5 and then will be back on the road to Tahlequah for a series at Northeastern State.
 
The end of April will see the Hillcats host Washburn and Newman for the final home games of the season. Rogers State will close out the regular season May 1-3 with a trip to Edmond to face Central Oklahoma.
 
The MIAA Tournament will come the following weekend, running from May 6 to May 10, and will be hosted by Missouri Southern. NCAA Division II Central Region Championships will be hosted at various campus sites from May 14-17.
 
For more information on the Hillcat Baseball program and all of Rogers State Athletics, be sure to check out RSUhillcats.com or follow RSU on social media @RSUhillcats.