No. 25 Baseball Takes On TCU & Texas State
2/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2012
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| No. 25 Baylor (3-0) vs. No. 15 TCU (1-1) Feb. 21 | Waco, Texas | Baylor Ballpark (5,000) No. 25 Baylor (3-0) vs. Texas State (2-1) Feb. 22 | Round Rock, Texas | The Dell Diamond (12,000) GAME NOTES  | ||||||
| TUES. | 4:05 P.M. Probable Starters:BU - RHP Trent Blank 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K TCU - LHP Brandon Finnegan0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP, 2 H, 0 K |  | WED. | 6:30 P.M. Probable Starters:BU - TBA TSU - TBA | ||||
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Baylor looks to build off its 3-0 start to the 2012 season when it takes on TCU and Texas State in a pair of midweek games. Baylor hosts TCU at 4:05 p.m. Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark, and the Bears take on Texas State in a neutral site game at The Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
The Bears are in the middle of eight consecutive games against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams. Baylor opened the season with a three-game sweep of Oral Roberts - its first three-game series sweep since May 21-23, 2010.
All Baylor baseball games are broadcast live on Waco's 1660 ESPN Radio. Tom Barfield provides the play-by-play with Lark Smith adding color commentary. Live streaming audio and GameTracker also are available for all Baylor baseball games online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the CBS College Sports Network.
SERIES INFORMATION
TCU HORNED FROGS
Overall: Baylor leads 136-109
Waco: Baylor leads 70-42
Fort Worth: TCU leads 53-49
Neutral Site: TCU leads 7-1
Unknown Site: Baylor leads 16-7
Smith vs. TCU: 17-21
First Meeting: 4/21/1904
Last Meeting: 5/10/2011
SERIES INFORMATION
TEXAS STATE BOBCATS
Overall: Baylor leads 45-18
Waco: Baylor leads 34-14
Texas State: Baylor leads 11-4
Neutral Site: Never Met
Smith vs. TSU: 31-13
First Meeting: 3/26/1919
Last Meeting: 3/8/2011
COACHES
BAYLOR: Steve Smith
Alma Mater: Baylor, 1986
Career Record: 622-415-1 (18th season)
Record at Baylor: 622-415-1 (18th season)
TCU: Jim Schlossnagle
Alma Mater: Elon, 1992
Career Record: 426-201 (10th season)
Record at TCU: 349-154 (8th season)
TEXAS STATE: Ty Harrington
Alma Mater: Texas, 1987
Career Record: 418-298 (13th season)
Record at TSU: 418-298 (13th season)
BAYLOR-IMG COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK
1660 ESPN RADIO (Waco)
Tom Barfield (pxp) and Lark Smith (color)
BAYLOR - TCU SERIES HISTORY
Baylor leads the all-time series 136-109, but TCU has won the last three meetings. The Bears hold a 70-42 lead in games played in Waco, while TCU leads 53-49 in games played in Fort Worth. TCU also leads 7-1 in neutral-site meetings, and the Bears hold a 16-7 lead in games played at unknown sites in the series that dates back to 1904.
BAYLOR vs. MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
Baylor is 144-113 against teams currently playing as members of the Mountain West Conference. The vast majority of those games have been against TCU (136-109), but the Bears have also played Air Force (2-0), BYU €ˆ(1-1), San Diego State (5-2) and UNLV (0-1). Baylor went 0-3 against Mountain West teams in 2011, dropping both games to TCU and losing 7-4 to UNLV on April 19.
BAYLOR - TEXAS STATE SERIES HISTORY
Baylor leads 45-18 in the all-time series against Texas State, including a 34-14 advantage in games played in Waco. The Bears have also gone 11-4 in San Marcos, but Wednesday's game will be the first neutral-site meeting between the teams since the series began in 1919.
BAYLOR vs. SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
Baylor is 307-135-1 all-time against teams currently playing in the Southland Confernece. The Bears have played 10 different Southland teams: Lamar (41-29-1), McNeese State (8-7), Nicholls State (7-2), Northwestern State (11-7), Sam Houston State (57-39), Stephen F. Austin (27-0), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-0), Texas State (45-18), UT €ˆArlington (78-29) and UTSA €ˆ(28-4).
Wednesday's game will be the first of 13 games against Southland Conference teams in 2012. Baylor plays at home and on the road against four different Southland teams: Sam Houston State, UT €ˆArlington, UTSA and Texas State. The Bears host TAMU-Corpus Christi for two midweek games in April and Lamar plays Baylor twice as part of the QTI Baylor Classic in March.
QUICK NOTES
• SERIES: Baylor leads the all-time series against TCU 136-109, including 70-42 in games played in Waco.
• The Bears are 17-21 against the Horned Frogs during the Steve Smith era.
• SERIES: Baylor leads the all-time series against Texas State 45-18. This is the first neutral-site meeting.
• The Bears are 31-13 against Texas State during the Steve Smith era.
• Baylor entered Baseball America's Top 25 Poll at No. 25 this week after a three-game sweep of Oral Roberts.
• Baylor has been ranked in at least one in-season BA Top 25 poll in 14 of the last 16 seasons.
• Baylor jumped two spots to No. 26 in Collegiate Baseball's Top 30 poll and advanced four spots to No. 25 in Perfect Game's Top 50 rankings. The first in-season USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Poll comes out Feb. 27.
• Baylor holds a 144-113 all-time record against teams currently playing in the Mountain West Conference.
• Baylor holds a 307-135-1 all-time record against teams currently playing in the Southland Conference.
• Baylor's 2012 schedule is rated the 13th-toughest nationally (No. 1 in Big 12) by Boyd's World.
• Baylor's 56-game 2012 schedule features 28 games against 2011 NCAA €ˆTournament teams.
• Baylor's first 8 games of the 2012 season are all against 2011 NCAA €ˆTournament teams.
• Baylor's 3-0 start is its best since starting the 2008 season 7-0.
• Baylor's bullpen combined for 14.0 innings of shutout relief in the sweep of Oral Roberts.
• Seven Baylor relievers combined for 13 K and 2 BB and allowed 5 hits for a .109 opponents' batting average.
• The Bears were 28-6 last season when scoring 4+ runs in a game and 3-22 when scoring 3 or fewer -- Baylor has already won twice this season when scoring 3 or fewer runs.
• Baylor has had a winning record in 11 of its last 16 regular season weekends.
• Baylor's 3-game sweep of Oral €ˆRoberts was its first series sweep since May 21-23, 2010.
• Baylor has ranked in the nation's top 25 in attendance in all 13 years since Baylor Ballpark opened in 1999.
• Eight players on Baylor's roster have been selected in previous MLB €ˆDrafts.
• Baylor is 1 of 14 programs nationally to play in 12+ NCAA Tournaments since 1998.
• Baylor has won 4 straight series (at Nebraska, at No. 19 Oklahoma State, vs. No. 13 Oklahoma, vs. ORU).
• Baylor is 41-18 in its last 59 games at Baylor Ballpark, including a 22-6 mark in non-conference games.
• Since the start of the 2003 season, Baylor is 24-16 in extra-inning games.
• Baylor returned 20 of 25 letterwinners from last season's 31-28 Houston Regional runner-up team.
• The Bears were picked fourth in the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, behind Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma.
• Baylor lost both games to TCU last season. The Bears were held to two hits in a 2-0 loss on Feb. 22 in Waco and TCU escaped a 9th-inning jam to win 7-6 on May 10 in Fort Worth.
• Baylor and Texas State split two games in 2011. The Bobcats won 13-2 in Waco on March 1and Baylor won 6-4 in San Marcos on March 8. Baylor allowed only 2 hits and had a 6-0 lead entering the 9th in San Marcos, but Texas State scored 4 runs in the ninth and had the bases loaded before the Bears escaped with the win.
BOUNCE BACK BEARS
Baylor didn't lose consecutive games until its 25th and 26th games of the 2011 season. The Bears were 18-9 following a loss in 2011, and prior to dropping a pair of midweek games at the end of March, the Bears hadn't lost consecutive regular-season games since losing a pair of games at Texas on May 1-2, 2010.
In fact, the Bears hadn't lost two in a row with both games at Baylor Ballpark in more than a year before dropping a pair of midweek games against UTSA (3/29) and Lamar (3/30). The last time that happened was when BU had a five-game losing streak from Feb. 27 through March 5, 2010. All five of those losses came against different teams, and the Bears snapped out of the losing streak by winning eight in a row.
Starting with that eight-game winning streak, the Bears have gone 41-18 on their home field, including a 22-6 mark in non-conference games.
UP NEXT
Baylor heads to Los Angeles for a three-game series at UCLA Friday through Sunday. The Bears will be playing their first true road games of the 2012 season and wrapping up a season-opening stretch of eight games against 2011 NCAA €ˆTournament teams.
