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BAYLOR
at
No. 5 TEXAS
6:30 p.m. CST
March 26, 2003
Red & Charline McCombs Field
Austin, Texas
Baylor continues its toughest stretch of the 2003 schedule Wednesday, traveling to Austin, Texas, for a 6:30 p.m. CST game at No. 5 Texas. This is the third of eight consecutive games for the Lady Bears against nationally ranked teams. Baylor (24-13, 0-2) dropped two games to No. 16 Oklahoma State last weekend at home. Texas (25-5, 2-0) swept a two-game weekend series from Iowa State in Austin. The Longhorns have won 21 of their last 22 Big 12 Conference games dating back to the beginning of the 2002 season. The Baylor-Texas game will be broadcast live on KRZI 1660/1580 AM. Live stats and live audio for the game will be available online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the Official College Sports Network.
QUICK NOTES
* Baylor and Texas meet for the 11th time Wednesday. UT leads the all-time series 9-1, including a 5-0 mark at Austin.
* Wednesday's game against No. 5 Texas is the third in a stretch of eight consecutive games against nationally ranked opponents for Baylor.
* Kelly Osburn and Kim Wilmoth combine to lead the Big 12 Conference in seven of 12 offensive statistical categories.
* Osburn leads the Big 12 Conference and ranks second nationally with 33 walks. She also leads the conference in batting average, runs, on base percentage and slugging percentage.
* Wilmoth leads the Big 12 in hits and stolen bases. Five of the top six stolen base leaders in the conference are Lady Bears.
* Osburn, who earlier this season had a school-record 14-game hitting streak, has reached base safely in a school-record 30 consecutive games and in 36 of 37 games this season.
* Baylor is 45-1 over the past two seasons when scoring at least four runs.
* Baylor is 33-3 over the past two seasons when collecting at least eight hits.
* Baylor is 57-6 over the past two seasons when out-hitting its opponent.
HEAD COACH GLENN MOORE
Glenn Moore is in his third season as head coach at Baylor, coming to Waco after a stellar three-year tenure at Louisiana State. In his first season at Baylor, Moore led the Lady Bears to a 38-22 overall record and a sixth-place, 7-9 mark in the Big 12 Conference. Last season, he guided the Lady Bears to even greater successes with more than 50 team and individual, single-game and single-season school records. Baylor finished 46-18 overall and 10-8 in the Big 12 Conference, establishing school marks for victories in a season, conference victories in a season and highest conference finish (fourth). Moore also led Baylor to a national ranking for the second straight season and two wins over top 10 teams, as many top-10 victories as the Lady Bears had amassed in the previous 16 seasons of the program's existence. Earlier this season, Moore claimed his 100th victory as Baylor's head coach with the Lady Bears 3-0 triumph against Texas Tech. He is now 108-53 (.671) in three seasons at Baylor. Moore has a career record of 247-95 (.722); he posted a 22-17 mark in his first year as a collegiate head coach at William Carey in Mississippi. Moore is 225-76 (.748) at the Division I level.
TOUGH STRETCH AHEAD FOR BAYLOR
Baylor is in the midst of its toughest stretch of the season, playing eight consecutive games against nationally ranked opponents. After two games against No. 16 Oklahoma State last weekend and Wednesday's game at No. 7 Texas, Baylor plays two games at No. 4 Oklahoma, one game at home against No. 22 Texas A&M and two games at home against No. 5 Nebraska. Of Baylor's final 25 regular-season games, 14 are against teams ranked or receiving votes in one of the two national polls.
ROAD WOES
Baylor has struggled away from the friendly confines of Getterman Stadium this season. The Lady Bears are 14-2 at home and 10-11 away from Waco, including a 1-4 mark on opponents' home fields. Baylor hits .344 at home as compared to .288 in neutral games and .167 in away games. The Lady Bears' pitching staff boasts a 1.27 ERA at home and an even better 0.84 mark in neutral games. However, the team ERA balloons to 5.07 on opponents' home fields. While the Lady Bears hit for a higher average at home, 15 of Baylor's 22 home runs have come away from Getterman Stadium.
THE TEXAS SERIES
Baylor and Texas meet for the 11th time Wednesday with the Longhorns holding a 9-1 advantage in the all-time series. UT won the first seven meetings in the series, which dates back to the 1998 season. Baylor snapped that losing streak in 2001, topping the Longhorns 2-0 April 18 in Waco. Baylor has never won at Austin in five tries. Last season, UT was a 2-0 winner at Austin.
THE TEXAS LONGHORNS
Texas (25-5, 2-0) is in its seventh season under the direction of Connie Clark, who has been the UT head coach for the duration of the program's existence. Clark is 253-131-1 as a collegiate head coach, all coming at Texas.
UT Notes: The Longhorns are ranked fifth in this week's ESPN/USA Softball Top 25. UT was ranked seventh in the latest USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll (March 19). ... Texas has won 22 of its last 23 Big 12 Conference games, dating back to the beginning of the 2002 season. The only team to defeat the Longhorns in a regular-season conference game during that stretch was Nebraska in a 4-3 nine-inning decision April 6, 2002. ... Texas' five losses this season have come against 19th-ranked Michigan (twice), ninth-ranked California, fifth-ranked Washington and Hawai'i, which also defeated Baylor. The first loss to Michigan snapped a 16-game, season-opening winning streak for the Longhorns. ... Texas hits .271 as a team with eight home runs and 28 stolen bases in 45 attempts. The Longhorns have committed just 20 errors in 30 games for a team fielding percentage of .976. UT has a staff ERA of 0.69 with 17 complete games, 16 shutouts and 311 strikeouts; opposing batters are hitting .140 against Longhorn pitchers. ... Freshman OF Tina Boutelle (.338, 1, 7) leads the Longhorns in batting average and stolen bases (9-12), while sophomore 3B/1B Wynter Turner (.307, 4, 20) is UT's most potent bat. ... Sophomore Catherine Osterman (13-3, 0.56) anchors the Texas pitching staff. She has 216 strikeouts in 100.1 innings with 11 complete games and seven shutouts; opponents are hitting .086 against the 2002 third-team all-American. Sophomore RHP Amy Bradford (7-1, 0.59) offers UT a solid No. 2; she and freshman RHP Lizi Sowers (4-1, 1.04) have both seen 47.1 innings of action in the circle.
LAST MEETING ... TEXAS 2, BAYLOR 0 - APRIL 10, 2002
A pair of third-inning unearned runs proved to be the difference as No. 22 Baylor dropped a 2-0 decision at No. 18 Texas. Baylor managed just one hit, an infield single by Kelly Levesque to lead off the game. The Lady Bears drew four walks, had one batter reach on a fielder's choice and another get hit by a pitch. That was the extent of the Baylor offense on the night. Texas got on the board in the third with help from Baylor. Erin Mahoney led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sarah Wieszczak. On the bunt, though, Baylor third baseman misplayed the ball and both Mahoney and Wieszczak were safe. Another sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with one out. Baylor reliever Katie Decker got UT's leading hitter, Wynter Turner, to foul out, but Tamara Poppe followed with a two-run single down the leftfield line. That was all the offense the Longhorns needed as UT starter Catherine Osterman handcuffed the Baylor bats for the second time this season. Osterman walked four and with 13 strikeouts on the night. Joni Miller started for Baylor, but lasted only one and one-third innings. She did not allow a run, but was touched for four hits and walked one. Decker was saddled with the tough-luck loss; Poppe's single was the only hit Decker allowed in one and two-thirds innings of work. Cristin Vitek pitched the final three innings, allowing one infield hit with five strikeouts.
LAST TIME OUT ... BAYLOR 6, OKLAHOMA CITY 2
For the second straight day, Baylor batters found no way to solve Oklahoma State's Lauren Bay as the 16th-ranked Cowgirls clipped the Lady Bears 4-0 Sunday at Getterman Stadium. Bay (13-3), who tossed a one-hit shutout against the Lady Bears the day before, allowed just two hits with 15 strikeouts for her second straight complete-game shutout of the Lady Bears. Carrie Leerberg had a bunt single and Sarah Caudle infield single up the middle were Baylor's only hits. Bay hit Kelly Osburn in the bottom of the first, and Kourtny Westerfeld reached on a strike-three wild pitch for Baylor's only other base runners on the day. Ryan Realmuto provided Bay all the offensive support she needed in the top of the first inning. Calli Behmer singled in front of a diving Osburn in left with one out and the moved to second on a Megan Carey walk. Realmuto followed with her third home run of the season to right-center. OSU tacked on another run in the fifth, thanks to a pinch-hit solo home run by Alliya Anderson. That home run was the only hit allowed by Baylor pitching after Realmuto's first-inning homer. Cristin Vitek started and took the loss for Baylor; she allowed four runs on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work. Katie Decker allowed one walk and struck out one in 2.0 no-hit innings of relief.
BIG 12 STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Despite getting only three hits in two games against Oklahoma State last weekend, Baylor leads teh Big 12 Conference in batting average, according to the latest conference statistical rankings (March 24). The Lady Bears' .297 aveage is just ahead of second-place Oklahoma (.296). Baylor also leads the conference in runs (168), hits (273), triples (10), stolen bases (87) and sacrifice hits (42). The Lady Bears are tied with Oklahoma for the conference on base percentage lead (.366). ... Baylor ranks fourth in the conference in fielding percentage at .968. ... The Lady Bears' pitching staff ranks seventh in ERA (1.81), third in strikeouts (217), fourth in shutouts (9) and fifth in opponents' batting average (.208).
OSBURN, WILMOTH DOMINATE BIG 12 STATS
It is difficult to find an offensive statistical category in the latest Big 12 Conference rankings (March 24) that does not have freshman OF/1B Kelly Osburn or sophomore SS/2B Kim Wilmoth listed in the top three. In fact, the two combine to lead the conference in seven of the 12 offensive statistical categories. ... Osburn is tops in the conference in batting average (.451), runs (30), walks (33), on base percentage (.613) and slugging percentage (.793). She also ranks fifth in hits (37), tied for third in home runs (7), second in stolen bases (14) and tied for second in total bases (65). ... Wilmoth leads the conference in hits (41) and stolen bases (16). She ranks third in batting average (.366) and tied for fourth in triples (2).
OTHERS IN THE BIG 12 STATISTICAL RANKINGS
According to the March 24 Big 12 Conference statistical rankings, senior OF/P Sarah Caudle (.337) and freshman OF/SS Harmony Schwethelm (.333) rank 13th and 14th, respectively, in batting average. Caudle is also tied for eighth in hits (34), tied for sixth in home runs (6), tied for second in RBI (29), tied for fifth in stolen bases (9), tied for eighth in total bases (61) and eighth in slugging percentage (.604). Schwethelm is tied for third in stolen bases (13). ... Junior OF Kelly Levesque is tied for the conference lead in triples (3) and is tied for ninth in runs (22). Sophomore IF April Luce is tied for fourth in triples (2), and senior 2B Stacey Hundley is tied for fifth in stolen bases (9). ... Sophomore LHP Cristin Vitek (1.47, 9th), junior RHP Katie Decker (1.93, 14th) and senior RHP Joni Miller (2.38) all rank in the league's top 20 for ERA. Vitek is tied for fifth in wins (11), third in strikeouts (130), fourth in innings pitched (109.2), tied for third in appearances (22), tied for third in games started (15), tied for seventh in shutouts (3) and ninth in complete games (9). ... Vitek, Decker and Caudle are tied for fifth with one save each. Decker is tied for eighth in opponents' batting average (.194).
MILLER OUT INDEFINITELY
Senior RHP Joni Miller is out of action for an undetermined amount of time, head coach Glenn Moore announced last Monday. Miller, a two-time all-Big 12 Conference selection, has been battling nerve damage in her right (throwing) elbow since last August. The injury forced the Edmond, Okla., native to miss the entire fall practice season, and she has struggled to regain pre-injury form. In 13 appearances and 10 starts this season, Miller is 6-3 with a 2.38 ERA, more than double her ERA from 2002. Miller has four complete games and two shutouts with 38 strikeouts in 50.0 innings.
THREE WILMOTH STREAKS END DURING WEEKEND
Sophomore SS/2B Kim Wilmoth saw three impressive streaks come to an end against Oklahoma State last weekend. Sunday, she failed to reach base safely, snapping a career-long 13-game on-base streak. Wilmoth's career-long 11-game hitting streak also came to an end. Saturday, Wilmoth went 1-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout, which put an end to her school-record nine consecutive hits. The record was previously held by Kourtny Westerfeld, who hit safely in eight straight at bats earlier this season.
WALK THIS WAY
With at least 22 games remaining in the Lady Bears' schedule, freshman OF/1B Kelly Osburn has already broken Baylor's single-season walks record. The Missouri City, Texas, native leads the Big 12 Conference with 33 walks in just 37 games. Osburn claimed the record in her 34th game of the season. Bri Chambliss previously owned the record; she walked 31 times in 52 games during the 1997 season. Osburn is already eighth in Big 12 history, just nine walks shy of Casey Dickson's (Oklahoma, 1997) record of 41.
NEW SEASON, NEW STORY FOR WILMOTH
No Lady Bear has made more of a turnaround from last season than sophomore SS/2B Kim Wilmoth. After hitting just .216 with 25 errors last spring, Wilmoth is hitting .366 this year with only two errors in 114 chances (.982). She has also hit her first career home run and more than quadrupled her RBI total from last season (3 to 14). Wilmoth managed only three extra-base hits last year, all doubles. This season, she has seven extra-base knocks with four doubles, two triple and one home run.
PUT SOMEONE ON BASE, PLEASE
In stark contrast to last season, Baylor is hitting better with runners on base than with the bases empty in 2003. The Lady Bears are hitting .311 with runners on base, 26 points better than with the bases empty (.285). Skeptics would say this is because there are typically many more at bats with the bases empty, but this is not the case. Baylor batters have come to the plate 484 times with the bases empty and 434 times with runners on base. ... In 27 at bats with the bases loaded, Baylor is hitting .333 with four home runs. The Lady Bears lead the nation in grand slams; no other team has hit more than two.
IN SCORING POSITION IS EVEN BETTER
Baylor is hitting .318 as a team with runners in scoring position. Six Lady Bears with at least 20 at bats with runners in scoring position are hitting above .300 in such situations. Freshman SS/OF Harmony Schwethelm (.406, 13-for-32) leads the way, followed by freshman OF/1B Kelly Osburn leads the way at .400 (10-for-25), sophomore IF April Luce (.355, 11-for-31), senior OF/P Sarah Caudle (.333, 14-42), sophomore SS/2B Kim Wilmoth (.346, 9-for-26) and junior OF Kelly Levesque (.318, 7-for-22). ... Meanwhile, opposing batters are hitting just .207 with runners in scoring position.
LADY BEARS APPROACHING HOME RUN MARK
With at least 22 games remaining, Baylor stands just two home runs shy of matching the school record for home runs in a season. The Lady Bears smashed 24 home runs in 2001 in 60 games; this year's team has 22 homers in 35 games. Last season's total of 23 home runs ranks second in school history.
EXTRA-BASE POMES
Sophomore 3B/C Stephanie Pomes may be hitting .228 on the season, but she packs a lot of power into her hits. The Slidell, La., native has 13 hits this season and eight of them have been of the extra-base variety. Pomes has four doubles, one triple, and ranks third on the team with three home runs. She is also third on the team with 15 RBI and a .491 slugging percentage.
SENIOR CLASS MAKES MARK
With 135 career victories, the Class of 2003 ranks second in school history. Seniors Sarah Caudle, Stacey Hundley, Joni Miller and Nan Wilkins are in their fourth seasons with the Lady Bears, while Kourtny Westerfeld, who transferred to Baylor after one season at McLennan CC, is in her third year at Baylor. The Class of 2002 (Holly Fields and Kristen Lancaster) graduated as the winningest class with 141 victories.
HOME, SWEET HOME
Baylor is 14-2 at Getterman Stadium this season, a far contrast from the 10-11 mark the Lady Bears have posted in games away from Waco. Last season, Baylor was 25-6 at home and established a school record for home wins in a season. The Lady Bears also enjoyed a school-record 24-game home winning streak that dated back to 2001 season. Since the beginning of the 2002 season, the Lady Bears are 39-8 (.830) at home. In three years under head coach Glenn Moore, Baylor is 54-14 (.794) at Getterman Stadium. The Lady Bears are 68-27 (.716) in the stadium's five-year existence.
WHO'S GOT GETTERMAN FEVER?
After shattering the school record for attendance last season, Baylor appears to be well on course to do the same again this season. Through nine home dates, Getterman Stadium has drawn 3,909 fans for an average of 434 per date. The Feb. 1 session of the 2003 Getterman Classic drew 683 fans, the third-largest attendance in the stadium's history. Baylor finished 13th nationally in total attendance for 2002 and 20th nationally in per-game attendance.
UP NEXT ...
Baylor travels to Norman, Okla., for a two-game series against No. 4 Oklahoma. The Lady Bears and the Sooners play single games Saturday at noon and Sunday at 1 p.m. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 22-2, including an 8-0 tally against Baylor at Norman.
