Opening Day -- in January in Brownsville, Texas, where it already is baseball weather.

UTB/TSC begins its 2012 season at 6 p.m. Thursday at Scorpion Field against Doane College (Neb.), a team it faced in the 2011 NAIA National Championship Opening Round.

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The game is the second to be played at the collegiate level anywhere in the United States in 2012. The first was played at Point Loma University (Calif.) in San Diego Wednesday. NCAA schools do not begin play until February.

Both UTB/TSC and Doane are very similar in success. Both set and broke school records for victories in 2010 and 2011. Both received votes in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll, with Doane getting 14 and UTB/TSC six. Both qualified for the 2011 NAIA National Championship Opening Round. The Scorpions lost both of their Opening Round games, the first by a 9-2 score to Doane. The Tigers then lost their next two games at the Opening Round after beating the Scorpions.

Doane, a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, went 30-18 in 2010 and 37-19 in 2011 under Coach Jeremy Jorgensen.

Under Coach Bryan Aughney, the Scorpions have improved their record from the previous year three straight times. The best year was 2011, when the Scorpions finished 35-26.

Doane made the 18-hour bus ride from Crete, Neb. to Brownsville Sunday and arrived Monday. Doane students do not begin the spring semester until Monday, Jan. 30, so the Tiger baseball players are not missing class. Jorgensen decided to bring the team early so that they could practice in the South Texas weather this week.

High temperatures in the eastern Nebraska city near Kansas City were in the 40s, with lows in the 20s. The Tigers will not play a home game until March 3.

UTB/TSC will play its first 11 games at home, and 18 of the first 21 at Scorpion Field.

Opening Day highlights include a pre-game singing performance by UTB/TSC student and country singer Nestor AnDress Trevino, and the ceremonial First Pitch by a youth from the Brownsville community with special needs. Trevino will also sing the National Anthem.

The Scorpions and Tigers will play three more games after Thursday. The two teams meet at 6 p.m. Friday for a single game and at 12 noon Saturday for a doubleheader.