Bears, Tigers Battle for Trip to Omaha
6/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 10, 2005
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NCAA
No. 6 BAYLOR (42-21)
vs.
No. 13 CLEMSON (42-21)
BAYLOR BALLPARK •
SUPER REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Friday, June 11,
Saturday, June 12,
Sunday, June 13, TBA -- ESPN
THE SERIES
Overall Record: Never Met
Clemson: Never Met
Neutral Site: Never Met
Smith vs. Clemson: 0-0
COACHES
BAYLOR:
Alma Mater: Baylor, 1986
Career Record: 414-255-1 (11th season)
Record at Baylor: 414-255-1 (11th season)
CLEMSON: Jack Leggett
Alma Mater:
Career Record: 554-241 (12th season)
Record at Rice: 931-531 (26th season)
TELEVISION BROADCAST
ESPN
Dave Sims, play-by-play
Nick Belmonte, color
BAYLOR RADIO NETWORK
ESPN/KRZI 1660 AM (
INTERNET FEEDS
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Audio: www.BaylorBears.com
Video: None
BAYLOR NATIONAL RANKINGS
Baseball
Sports Weekly/ESPN/Coaches (5/30) 10th
NCBWA 8th
Saturday, June 11
BU - LHP Trey Taylor (7-5, 3.43 ERA)
CU - RHP Stephen Farris (6-4, 2.56 ERA)
BU - RHP Mark McCormick (7-3, 3.12 ERA)
CU - RHP Josh Cribb (8-4, 3.22 ERA)
BU - LHP Cory VanAllen (7-4, 4.00 ERA)
CU - LHP Robert Rohrbaugh (8-2, 4.08 ERA)
Baylor continues postseason play this weekend, hosting the 2005 NCAA Waco Super Regional at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears, the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, host Clemson for a best-of-three series. Baylor and Clemson meet Saturday at
Baylor (42-21) has won 11 of its last 14 games after going 3-0 in last weekend's NCAA Waco Regional, including a 4-3, 12-inning victory against Stanford in Monday's championship game. Ranked sixth nationally in this week's Baseball America Top 25, the Bears are 34-14 since opening the year 8-7 and have not lost more than two consecutive games this season.
Clemson (42-21) has won 14 of its last 16 games after going 3-0 in last weekend's NCAA Clemson Regional, including an 8-3 victory over Oral Roberts in last Sunday's championship game. Ranked 13th nationally in this week's Baseball America Top 25, the Tigers are 27-8 since opening the year 15-13 and have not lost more than two consecutive games since a season-long three-game losing streak in early March.
Baylor will be the designated home team in game one and the designated visitor in game two. If a third game is necessary, a coin flip will determine the home team.
The NCAA Waco Super Regional will be televised live on ESPN. Dave Sims handles play-by-play duties, while Nick Belmonte provides color analysis.
All Baylor baseball games are broadcast live on ESPN/KRZI 1660 AM in
QUICK NOTES ...
STARTING PITCHER -- LHP TREY
• Baylor is 11-5 in his 16 starts this season, 33-17 in his 50 career starts.
• Saturday's start will be the 51st of his career, passing Josh Scott (50, 1998-01) for second place all-time at Baylor. Steven White (59, 2000-03) is the only other Baylor pitcher with at least 50 career starts.
• Averages 4.81 runs of support per start, lowest of Baylor's three weekend starters. Averages 3.00 runs of support while in the game and averages just 6.0 innings per start.
• In last 27 starts, has allowed three or fewer earned runs 22 times and two or fewer 16 times.
• Baylor is 18-6 in
• 10 times since the beginning of the 2004 season,
• Career in NCAA postseason play: 3 G, 1 GS, 2-0, 5.00 ERA, 16.2 IP, 20 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 5 BB, 16 K
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• The Bears are 33-10 when the starting pitcher goes at least 5.0 innings.
• Baylor is 31-4 when scoring first and 14-2 when scoring in the first inning.
• Baylor is 35-6 when scoring at least four runs, 27-2 when scoring at least five runs and 21-0 when scoring at least seven runs.
• Baylor is 33-7 when allowing four or fewer runs, 28-5 when allowing three or fewer runs, 16-3 when allowing two or fewer runs and 10-1 when allowing one run or less.
• Baylor is 23-6 when hitting at least one home run and 10-0 when hitting at least two home runs.
• Baylor is 32-3 when out-hitting the opponent.
• Baylor is 13-1 when leading after one inning,
• Baylor has recorded 65 infield hits, 18 bunt singles and 55 sacrifice bunts this season. Last season, the Bears produced 48 infield hits, six bunt singles and only 25 sacrifice bunts.
• C/DH Josh Ford has reached safely in 20 consecutive games. He has reached safely in 57 of his last 58 games and in 61 of Baylor's 63 games.
• Ford is hitting .337 (30-for-89) over the last 24 games with six doubles, a triple, three home runs and 11 RBI. He has a .528 slugging percentage and a .464 on base percentage in that time.
• C/DH Zach Dillon is hitting .321 (18-for-56) over the last 16 games with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 15 RBI (best on the team in that stretch). In that time, he has a .500 slugging percentage and a .412 on base percentage.
• Dillon leads the team with 23 two-out RBI. He also hits .368 with runners on base and .378 with runners in scoring position, both tops on the team.
• CF Chase Gerdes is hitting .301 (25-for-83) since April 1.
• Gerdes leads the team with a .342 batting average (13-for-38) since May 1; in that time, he has one double, one triple, eight RBI, a .421 slugging percentage and is 6-for-6 in stolen bases.
• 2B Michael Griffin is 21-for-63 (.333) since May 11 with two double, two triples, one home run, three RBI, 15 runs scored, a .476 slugging percentage and a .411 on base percentage. He leads the team in hits, runs and total bases in that time. Also in that time (15 games), Griffin has hit safely in all but two games.
• Griffin enters the weekend with 1,045 career at bats, fifth in NCAA Division I history. He needs 18 at bats to move into fourth place.
• SS Paul Witt has produced 14 of his 27 RBI this season with two outs (51.9 percent), the second-best such percentage on the team.
• Gerdes has produced 11 of his 21 RBI this season with two outs (52.4 percent), the best such percentage on the team.
THE CLEMSON SERIES
Baylor and Clemson have never met in varsity baseball action. However, the two schools have ties in other sports.
In 1979, Baylor defeated Clemson 24-18 at the 1979 Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga. That is the only gridiron meeting between the two schools. Former Baylor football head coach Chuck Reedy was an assistant coach at Clemson prior to his time with the Bears.
On the hardcourt, Baylor holds a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series with Clemson. The Bears defeated the Tigers 73-71 in the third-place game at the Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament in El Paso, Texas, during the 1963-64 season. The following year, Baylor defeated Clemson 68-59 in the championship game of the Poinsettia Classic in Greenville, S.C. The teams did not meet again in basketball until a 102-52 Clemson victory at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson during the 1983-84 season.
Earlier this school year, Baylor defeated Clemson 4-0 in women's tennis action at the Baylor Tennis Center.
BAYLOR-CLEMSON COMPARISON
The Bears and the Tigers have played only one common opponent this season -- Oral Roberts. Baylor went 2-1 against Oral Roberts at Baylor Ballpark in the season's second weekend (Feb. 18-20). Clemson defeated ORU 8-3 last Sunday in the championship game of the NCAA Clemson Regional.
Baylor has not played any other Atlantic Coast Conference team this season, and Clemson plays its first Big 12 Conference team this weekend.
BAYLOR NCAA REGIONAL HISTORY
Baylor makes its third NCAA Super Regional appearance this weekend. This is Baylor's 12th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bears are 26-23 all-time in NCAA postseason play, going 24-15 all-time in regional play, 2-4 in super regional play and 0-4 in two trips to the College World Series.
This is the second time Baylor Ballpark has hosted a super regional. In 1999, the Bears dropped two of three games to Big 12 Conference foe Oklahoma State.
Baylor's other super regional Appearance was in 2003. That season, the Bears won the series opener at Louisiana State but dropped the next two games.
BEARS, TIGERS AMONG SUPER REGIONAL LEADER
Baylor and Clemson both rank among the top 15 schools nationally in all-time super regional appearances. Since the current format began in 1999, Clemson has reached the super-regional round five times and Baylor three times.
BAYLOR vs. 2005 NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD
Baylor has posted a 20-14 record this season against teams participating in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Nebraska, against which the Bears were 1-3, is the only national top-eight seed to have played Baylor this season. Against the 16 No. 1 seeds, Baylor has posted a 7-5 record, facing Long Beach State (1-2), Nebraska (1-3), Tennessee (1-0) and Texas (4-0).
In a stretch from Feb. 18 through March 8, Baylor played 11 consecutive games against would-be NCAA regional participants; the Bears were 5-6 in that stretch. That span was at the heart of a 21-game stretch with 17 games against would-be NCAA regional participants (Feb. 12 through March 20); the Bears were 11-6 in those games.
BEARS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Baylor has posted a 14-7 record this season against nationally ranked opponents, including a 7-1 mark against teams ranked in the top 10. Earlier this season, the Bears established school records with nine consecutive wins against ranked teams and seven consecutive wins against top-10 teams.
The 2005 Bears have tied the school record for wins against ranked teams, a mark shared with the 2003 team that went 14-16 in such games. The 2003 Bears also hold the school record for wins against teams ranked in the top 10 (eight). This season's winning percentage both against ranked opponents and against top-10 opponents are assured to be school records. The 2005 Bears also will join the 1999 team (9-8), the 1993 team (8-5) and the 1985 team (6-5) as Baylor's only teams to finish with a winning record against ranked opponents.
BAYLOR ON TELEVISION
The Bears are 19-17 all-time in televised games, including a 4-2 mark this season. Baylor has posted wins against Texas (twice), Nebraska and Texas A&M on television this season with losses to Texas Tech and Nebraska.
Baylor is 2-2 all-time in ESPN network games, 1-0 on ESPN. The Bears' 2003 games at the NCAA Baton Rouge Super Regional were televised by ESPN+Plus. Earlier this season, Baylor defeated Texas A&M 9-8 on ESPN.
The Bears are 15-11 in televised games under head coach
LATE-SEASON BLOOMERS
Baylor has posted a 34-14 record since starting the season 8-7. The Bears have been especially strong down the stretch, going 23-9 since April 8. This year's team is one win shy of the Baylor record for wins after May 1 (14, established by the 2003 team). The 2005 squad already has established a Baylor record for most wins after April 1 (25), breaking the previous mark of 24 established by the 1999 team.
Baylor is 36-19 in the months of May and June over the past three seasons.
Josh Ford: MR. ON BASE
C/DH Josh Ford has grown accustomed to time on the base paths this season. He has reached base safely in all but two of Baylor's 63 games. Only Oral Roberts (Feb. 18, pitchers Bigley/Robinson) and Nebraska (April 24, pitchers Duensing/Dorn) have kept Ford from reaching base in a game this season.
Currently, Ford has reached safely in 20 consecutive games. That streak is one game removed from a career-long streak of 37 consecutive games, meaning he has reached safely in 57 of the last 58 games.
Ford leads the team in on base percentage (.436), times reached base safely (122), walks (32) and times hit by pitch (16 -- a figure that is tied for second all-time at Baylor).
THANKS FOR THE ASSIST
Through 63 games, Baylor already has established a single-season school record for team assists with 724. That tops the previous school mark of 673, established over 62 games in 2002. In fact, the difference between this season's total and the 2002 total is larger than the difference between the 2002 total and the eight-place total (623 in 1986).
Furthermore, SS Paul Witt has passed Trevor Mote's previous school record of 192 assists from the 2001 season, a mark Mote established in 61 games. Witt has 200 assists this season and needs 44 assists to reach the Big 12 Conference record set by Texas' Todd West in 2000.
1B Kyle Reynolds was on pace to break Baylor's single-season putouts record before breaking his thumb two weeks ago. Reynolds, who has 544 putouts this season, is just three putouts shy of Mike Huggin's 2002 mark of 547.
Baylor outfielders have combined for 14 assists this season, led by Kevin Sevigny with a career-high nine. In the May 1 game against Texas Tech, Sevigny threw out runners at home twice, both ending innings. Seth Fortenberry (three) and Mike Pankratz (two) are responsible for Baylor's other oufield assists this season. The outfield has combined for only seven errors this year, five of which were of the throwing variety. Sevigny has not made an error this season, and LF Reid Brees has committed just one.
REYNOLDS OUT WITH BROKEN THUMB
1B Kyle Reynolds will miss a minimum of three weeks' action due to a broken left thumb, sustained during the May 21 game against Missouri. Reynolds, who started each of Baylor's first 55 games, did not play in the regular-season finale and missed the Big 12 Conference Tournament and last week's NCAA Waco Regional.
A product of Second Baptist High School in Houston, Reynolds leads Baylor with eight home runs and is tied for the team lead with 11 stolen bases. On the season, he is hitting .270 with 40 runs, 57 hits, 14 doubles, 33 RBI, a .450 slugging percentage and a .343 on base percentage. In his first season at first base after two years as a middle infielder, Reynolds has posted a .990 fielding percentage with only six errors in 582 total chances.
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 156-91 (.631), the Bears are ahead of Texas (151-99, .604) and Texas Tech (146-102-1; .588). Included in the first nine seasons for Baylor are two Big 12 championships (2000, 2005) 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 eight seasons (1998-2005). Baylor also is the only school to have never finished below .500 in Big 12 play.
Including the 2005 totals, Baylor leads all conference schools in Big 12 history in first-team Academic All-Big 12 selections (45) and is tied for second in all-time first-team All-Big 12 selections (24).
HEAD COACH Steve Smith
The 2005 season marks the beginning of
Smith has compiled a 414-255-1 (.619) career record, all at Baylor. He holds the best winning percentage of any coach in Baylor baseball history, and he ranks second among the program's 18 head coaches in career victories. Smith has led Baylor to seven NCAA Regional appearances, three NCAA Super Regional appearances and Big 12 Conference titles in 2000 and 2005. He also has coached 12 All-America selections and seven USA Baseball National Team members while at Baylor.
In January 2005, Smith was named head coach of the USA Baseball National Team for the upcoming summer. Smith is just the second Big 12 Conference coach to serve as head coach of the national team. He also previously served as an assistant coach under his former Mississippi State boss Ron Polk on the 1998 USA Baseball National Team that posted an overall record of 30-12.
Smith led the Bears to their first-ever 50-win season in 1999 and a Big 12 championship in 2000, and piloted the team to six straight NCAA appearances from 1998 to 2003. His Bears have the best conference record in the Big 12 since the league began. Through the 2004 season, Smith ranked 47th 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 first 11 seasons as head coach, the Bears 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, one Johnny Bench Award Winner, 25 first-team all-conference performers, nine freshman All-Americans, and three conference players of the year. Baylor also placed a league-leading 45 players on the Academic All-Big 12 first team in the past nine seasons.
BAYLOR BASEBALL RADIO NETWORK
Catch every inning of Baylor baseball in 2005 on the flagship station for Baylor athletics, ESPN/KRZI 1660 AM Waco.
Smith, whose attachment to Baylor baseball dates back to the days of coach Dutch Schroeder, was Sports Director for the Baylor campus radio station in the late 1970s and served as play-by-play voice for the Bears' 1977 and 1978 College World Series teams. After nearly two decades in broadcasting, Smith now works for the Heart O'Texas Federal Credit Union in Waco.
Live streaming audio for all 2005 Baylor baseball games are available on the Internet at www.BaylorBears.com. BU baseball is also a staple of the daily "Baylor SportsBeat" hosted by
BAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases,
INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by
UP NEXT ...
The winner of the NCAA Waco Super Regional advances to the 2005 NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb. Play at the CWS begins June 17. The winner of the Baylor-Clemson series will face the winner of the Mississippi-Texas series, being play this weekend at University Stadium/Swayze Field in Oxford, Miss., in the first round of the College World Series.
