Familiar Foes: Bears Face Raiders in First Round

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BIG 12 TOURNAMENT * MAY 26-30

BAYLOR (27-29, 13-10)
vs.
No. 22 TEXAS TECH (38-17, 17-9)

10:00 a.m. CDT * May 26, 2004
Ameriquest Field * Arlington, Texas

After finishing sixth in the Big 12 Conference during the regular season, Baylor enters the eighth-annual Big 12 Tournament as the event's No. 6 seed. The Bears (27-29, 13-12) face No. 3 seed Texas Tech (38-17, 17-9) in the first round Wednesday at 10 a.m. CDT at Ameriquest Field in Arlington. The teams should be all-too-familiar with each other by now as the teams met for a three-game series at Dan Law Field in Lubbock during the season's final weekend. The 22nd-ranked Red Raiders swept the series with wins of 4-3, 19-18 and 12-6. This marks the first time in eight trips to the Big 12 Tournament that Baylor has faced the team against which it concluded the Big 12 regular season in the first round. All Baylor baseball games are carried via radio in Central Texas on KRZI 1660/1580 AM. Live audio and GameTracker also are available for all games at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the Official College Sports Network.

PROJECTED STARTERSWednesday, May 26BU    LHP   Trey Taylor (5-3, 3.11 ERA)TTU   RHP   Steven Thomas (3-6, 4.63 ERA)

QUICK NOTES
* Baylor and Texas Tech meet for the 123rd time Wednesday. Tech holds a 64-58 advantage in the all-time series, the seventh most-played series in Baylor baseball history.
* Baylor finished above .500 for the seventh time in eight Big 12 seasons. Only Baylor and Oklahoma State have never had a sub-.500 Big 12 record.
* Baylor won seven regular-season games in May, matching the 2003 squad for the most in school history. Prior to 2003, no Baylor team had won more than four regular season May games since the 1960 team won five.
* Baylor has played each of the top three pitching staffs in America according to the latest NCAA statistical rankings (No. 1 Rice, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Long Beach State). The Bears have played three other teams ranked in the top 25 in ERA (No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 22 UC Irvine and No. 25 Missouri).
* Baylor has played six opponents this season that have won a national title: Missouri (1954), Oklahoma (1951, 1994), Oklahoma State (1959), Rice (2004) Texas (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002) and UC Irvine (Division II in 1973, 1974).
* SS Paul Witt has handled 107 consecutive chances at second without an error, spanning 24 games. He has made just two errors in his last 137 chances at second (.985) since a two-error outing in the Saturday game at Oklahoma. He also is hitting .362 since then with hits in 27 of 31 games.
* 44 of Baylor's 56 games this season have been against teams ranked in one of the four polls at some point this season. The Bears are 19-25 in those games.
* 3B Michael Griffin has not gone more than nine at bats without a hit.
* DH Josh Ford's cycle Sunday was Baylor's first ever in a Big 12 game. The last Bear to hit for the cycle was Michael Griffin against Centenary last season at Baylor Ballpark.
* Baylor has played 23 one-run games, 41.1 percent of this season's games. With a 7-16 record in those games, the Bears have established school records for most one-run games and most one-run losses.
* After going hitless in his first five starts this season, SS Kyle Reynolds has hit safely in 36 of his last 42 starts, including 28 of the last 31.
* 2B Drew Sutton has reached safely in 49 of 55 games played this season, including the last 13 and 17 of the last 18.
* CF Kevin Sevigny has reached safely in 12 consecutive starts.
* Baylor is 22-7 this season when scoring five or more runs and 26-7 when out-hitting the opposition. The Bears are 20-3 when doing both.
* After hitting just three home runs in their first 17 games, the Bears have knocked 47 homers in their last 39 games and 10 in their last four.
* Since hitting their first home run March 2, the Bears have not gone more than three games without a round-tripper.
* The Bears have five shutouts this season, tied for third in school history and two shy of the program record.
* The Bears have played 16 errorless games in 53 contests this season. Ironically, the 2004 Bears are 6-10 this season when not committing an error.
* Opponents are 9-for-102 (.088) in first at bats against Baylor relievers with seven double plays and 30 strikeouts.
* Since the start of the Big 12 in 1997, the Bears have the league's best conference record at 137-83 (.623). Baylor leads all conference schools in both first-team all-Big 12 selections (21) and first-team Academic all-Big 12 selections (35), and the Bears are the only Big 12 Conference program to have ranked in the top 10 nationally during each of the past six seasons (1998-2003).

THE TEXAS TECH SERIES
Baylor and Texas Tech meet for the 123rd time Wednesday. The Raiders hold a 64-58 advantage in the all-time series, the seventh most-played series in Baylor baseball history. The series dates back to a 14-1 Baylor victory in 1928. The series is decidedly tilted toward the home team. While the Bears are 37-22 against the Raiders in Waco, Baylor is 19-37 at Lubbock. The Bears enter the weekend having lost six consecutive games at Dan Law Field since taking two of three on the Raiders home turf in 1998. This is just the fifth meeting at a neutral site; each team has won two of the previous four such meetings. Tech holds a 16-10 advantage since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, and the Red Raiders have won 12 of the last 16 meetings after last weekend's series sweep. The Bears and the Raiders have met twice at the Big 12 Tournament with each team winning once. Texas Tech was an 11-4 winner at the 1998 event, while Baylor defeated Tech 10-1 to reach the championship game of the 2000 tournament. Baylor is 11-23 against Texas Tech during Steve Smith's tenure as Baylor head coach. Tech, Oklahoma (14-16) and Oklahoma State (12-15) are the only Big 12 schools against whom the Bears have a sub-.500 record under Smith. Wednesday's also matches the two winningest program's in the eight-year history of the Big 12. Baylor has an all-time Big 12 record of 137-83 (.623), one-and-one-half games ahead of Tech at 137-86 (.614). The two are the only schools who have played better than .600 ball in the league's existence.

BIG 12 TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Big 12 Tournament returns to Arlington after being played last season at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. Each of the first five Big 12 Tournaments and last year's event were played in Oklahoma City. The 2002 tournament is the only one played away from OKC. All-Sports Stadium was the site of the first conference tournament in 1997; the next year, Bricktown Ballpark opened in OKC, and it served as the host site from 1998-2001. The tournament returns to Oklahoma City in 2004. Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997, Baylor has appeared in all eight conference tournaments - one of just four Big 12 teams to have done that, joining Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. The Bears advanced to the championship game in 1999 and 2000, but lost the final game to Nebraska each time. Baylor has three conference tournament titles under its belt, having won the Southwest Conference Tournament in 1977, 1978 and 1993.

2003 BIG 12 TOURNAMENT RECAP
Baylor fought through the losers' bracket to advance to the Big 12 Tournament title game for the third time in five years, but dropped the championship game in extra innings to defending national champ Texas. Wednesday, the Bears run-ruled Missouri 11-0 in seven innings to open the tournament. The Bears scored five times in the fourth and six more times in the sixth, and Steven White tossed a three-hit shutout. The next day, Nebraska sent Baylor into the losers' bracket with a 9-5 loss. The Bears brought the tying run to the plate twice in the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to complete the comeback. Zane Carlson tossed 2.1 scoreless innings to close out a 9-8 win over Missouri Friday night. Four unearned runs in the top of the seventh for the Tigers nearly erased a 9-4 Baylor lead, but Carlson got the Bears out of the mess to prolong the team's run. Baylor upset Nebraska twice Saturday to reach the title game. In the afternoon game, the Bears outlasted the Huskers 7-5 in 14 innings. Carlson earned the victory in relief, tossing 5.1 innings of one-hit shutout ball; he walked one and tied his career high with seven strikeouts after freshman Ryan LaMotta had thrown seven innings and allowed just three runs to the Big 12 regular season champs. Two more freshmen shut down Nebraska in the nightcap. Mark McCormick and Abe Woody combined to hold the Huskers to just two hits, their lowest total of the season, in a 6-2 Baylor win. McCormick went seven innings, his longest outing of the year, and struck out eight. Woody took over with two on and nobody out in the eighth and pitched the final two innings without allowing a hit, striking out two. Mark Saccomanno's three-run homer capped a four-run third inning and gave the Bears more than enough room to win. After finishing that win at 1:05 a.m. Sunday morning, Baylor matched pace with Texas for nine innings before Curtis Thigpen's two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th gave the Longhorns a 10-8 win. The Bears led 6-1 going to the bottom of the fifth before Texas began its comeback. White, Carlson, McCormick, Saccomanno, Josh Ford and David Murphy were all named to the all-tournament team.

BEARS BEST IN THE BIG 12
Baylor has the best conference record of any team in the Big 12 Conference since the league's start in 1997. At 137-83 (.623), the Bears are ahead of Texas Tech (137-86-1; .614) and Texas (133-89; .599). Included in the first seven-plus seasons for Baylor are one Big 12 championship (2000) and a pair of runner-up finishes (1998, 1999). On top of that, Baylor is the only Big 12 Conference school to have ranked in the top 10 nationally during each of the past seven seasons (1998-2004). Baylor joins Oklahoma State as the only schools to have never finished below .500 in Big 12 play. Including the 2003 totals, Baylor leads all conference schools in Big 12 history in both first-team all-Big 12 selections (21) and in first-team Academic all-Big 12 selections (35).

CARDIAC KIDS
Baylor has played 23 one-run games this season; the Bears are 7-16 in such contests. Both the total number of one-run games and the 16 one-run losses are school records. The previous mark for both came in 2002 when the Bears were 11-11 in one-run games. Baylor has played 160 one-run games during head coach Steve Smith's tenure, going 84-76 in such contests. Baylor's best record in one-run games during Smith's time at Baylor was his first season, 1995, when the Bears went 12-4. In 2000, Baylor was 10-5 in one-run games, winning each of their last seven.

ERRORS COSTLY FOR BEARS
Through 56 games, the Bears have committed 77 errors, and opponents have turned those errors into 72 unearned runs. That works out to an averted run index of 0.935. By comparison, Baylor's ARI last season was 0.733 after committing 105 errors with 77 unearned runs allowed. This season, Baylor's opponents have made 68 errors, but the Bears have scored only 47 unearned runs (0.691 ARI). The Bears' current fielding percentage of .964 would tie for sixth in school history. Baylor posted team fielding percentages of .966 in 1999 and in 2000, tied for third in school history entering the 2004 season. Conversely, the Bears had a 0.590 ARI in 1999 and a 0.568 ARI in 2000.

HEAD COACH Steve Smith
Head coach Steve Smith is in his 10th season as head coach at Baylor; in that time, he has compiled a 370-232-1 record. Smith led the Bears to their first-ever 50 win season in 1999 and a Big 12 Championship in 2000, and has piloted the team to six straight NCAA appearances. His Bears have the best conference record in the Big 12 since the league began and are the only Big 12 team to have appeared in each of the past six NCAA tournaments. Through the 2003 season, Smith ranked 37th nationally among active coaches in winning percentage with a .628 mark, fourth among Big 12 coaches. The 2000 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Smith came to Baylor from Mississippi State, where he was an assistant under Ron Polk for five seasons. Prior to that, he served as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M. A former standout pitcher at Baylor in 1982-1983, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA as a junior. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1983 Major League draft by the San Francisco Giants and played four years of pro ball before moving into the coaching ranks. An accomplished pitching coach, Smith has tutored six pitchers in the last 12 years who were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. He also had at least one pitcher named to the all-conference first team for 11 straight years (1992-2002). In Smith's nine seasons as head coach, the Bears have produced four first-round draft picks, 10 all-Americans, six Academic All-Americans, one National Player of the Year, one GTE/CoSIDA Academic all-American of the Year, 25 first-team all-conference performers, nine freshman all-Americans, and three conference players of the year. Baylor has also placed 35 players on the Academic all-Big 12 first team in the past seven seasons, a number that leads the Big 12.

Familiar Foes: Bears Face Raiders in First Round

Players Mentioned

Ryan LaMotta

Kevin Sevigny

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Familiar Foes: Bears Face Raiders in First Round

Players Mentioned

Ryan LaMotta

Kevin Sevigny

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