Bears Welcome Texas State for 2007 Home Opener
2/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 12, 2007
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RELEASE TWO • FEB. 12, 2007
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday Baylor vs.
Baylor Ballpark •
BAYLOR/ISP RADIO NETWORK
1660 ESPN RADIO (
Tom Barfield, play-by-play
Lark Smith, color
INTERNET FEEDS
GameTracker: www.BaylorBears.com
Audio: www.BaylorBears.com
Video: www.BaylorBears.com
Baylor returns to action Tuesday, Feb. 13, hosting
The Bears (0-3) dropped games to Houston (4-2), top-ranked Rice (7-0) and eighth-ranked Vanderbilt (7-4) over the weekend at the Houston College Classic at
Texas State (5-1) has won four straight after sweeping a two-game set at home against Prairie View A&M over the weekend (7-2, 9-4). Last Tuesday, the Bobcats knocked off top-ranked Rice 3-2 at home.
All Baylor baseball games are broadcast live on
Live streaming video also is available for Tuesday's game. For more information, follow the BearCasts link at www.BaylorBears.com.
BAYLOR IN HOME OPENERS
Baylor is 8-4 in home openers under head coach Steve Smith after snapping a three-game losing streak in such games last season with a 9-2 victory over Stephen F. Austin. Since 1960, Baylor is 35-12 in home openers. The Bears won nine consecutive home openers from 1991 to 1998.
WE'LL BE HERE A WHILE
Tuesday's game against
BEARS HOPE 2006 MIDWEEK SUCCESS CARRIES OVER
Baylor posted a 13-4 record in non-conference midweek games during the 2006 regular season, including an 11-3 mark on Tuesdays. That was quite an improvement from the 2005 season when the Bears were 7-8 in non-conference midweek games, including a 6-6 mark on Tuesdays.
BAYLOR STARTER: Kendal Volz
True freshman RHP Kendal Volz (0-0, 16.20) makes his first career start Tuesday. Volz made his first career appearance last Friday against
QUICK HITS
• Baylor is 32-8 (.800) at Baylor Ballpark since the start of the 2005 postseason. The Bears posted a school record with 27 regular-season home wins last season.
• Baylor starts the season 0-3 for the first time since 2002 when the Bears also opened with three straight losses at the Houston College Classic.
• This is the fourth time since 1972 that Baylor has opened a season 0-3 (1978, 1998, 2002). In each of the previous three seasons, the Bears won their fourth game of the season and eventually reached the NCAA Tournament. In 1978, the Bears reached the College World Series. In 1998, the Bears reached the NCAA South I Regional (their first NCAA appearance under head coach Steve Smith). In 2002, the Bears were the runners-up at the NCAA Austin Regional and were eliminated by eventual national champion
• Baylor's opening-day lineup featured three true freshmen (3B Raynor Campbell, RF Aaron Miller, 2B Shaver Hansen), the most in a Baylor opening-day lineup since four true freshmen started opening day in 1996 (DH Eric Nelson, LF Jimmy Blair, CF Jon Topolski, RF Jeremy Dodson). That team, whose freshmen were head coach Steve Smith's first recruiting class, went on to finish 32-27. As juniors, the 1996 freshman class earned Baylor's first NCAA Regional in five years. As seniors, they posted a school-record 50 wins and were one win from
• Baylor's opening-day lineup featured only one player with more than one year of Division I experience -- fourth-year starter CF Chase Gerdes. In fact, Gerdes had 459 career Division I at bats to start the 2007 season. The other eight batters in Baylor's opening-day lineup had 589 career Division I at bats, meaning Gerdes had 43.8 percent of the career Division I at bats in Baylor's opening-day lineup.
• SS Beamer Weems hit Baylor's first home run of the season, a leadoff shot off Vanderbilt's Brett Jacobson in the sixth inning of Sunday's 7-4 loss to the Commodores. It was Weems' ninth career home run after hitting eight as a freshman last season. It was his first career home run from the left side of the plate.
• RHP Jake Weghorst allowed two runs in 2.1 relief innings in Saturday's 7-0 loss to Rice. That snapped Weghorst's 28.0-inning scoreless streak over 18 appearances, dating back to last season. Weghorst had not allowed a run since March 29, 2006, in a start against
THE
Baylor and
Overall: Baylor leads 37-14
Neutral Site: Never Met
Smith vs.
First Meeting: result unknown [3/26/1919]
Last Meeting: at Baylor 5,
LAST TIME vs.
BAYLOR 5,
Tim Jackson's two-out, two-run single keyed a three-run seventh inning as Baylor defeated
Baylor again loaded the bases with the score tied 2-2 and no outs in seventh. Pankratz flied out to right but not deep enough to score Zach Dillon from third. Booker then struck out swinging. Jackson, who grounded out to third in each of his first three at bats, then looped a single into shallow left-center, scoring Dillon and Kevin Sevigny. Seth Fortenberry, who went from first to third on Jackson's single, then scored on a wild pitch to give the Bears a 5-2 lead.
Jeff Mandel earned the victory in relief, allowing one run on one hit and a walk with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings of relief.
Sevigny's RBI single gave the Bears a 1-0 lead in the first, but
