No. 12 Baseball Ready for Regular Season Finale at No. 13 OSU

MEDIA INFORMATION
Game 47: Fox Sports Oklahoma
Game 48: Fox Sports Plus
Game 49: Fox Sports Plus
Radio: 1660am/93.2fm
Radio Stream: https://listen.tunein.com/baylor18schedule ($)
Live Stats: statbroadcast.com
All-Time Series vs. OSU: 43-43
Rodriguez vs. OSU: 5-4
First Meeting: April 20, 1925
Last Meeting: May 13, 2018

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            In a down-to-the-wire Big 12 title race that will be decided over the next three days, the 12^th-ranked Baylor baseball team (33-13, 14-6) hasn't really gotten any help.
            But, the Bears won't need it if they sweep No. 13 Oklahoma State (30-17, 12-9) in a three-game series that starts with Thursday's 6:35 p.m. matchup at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.
Texas Tech (34-14, 14-7) has swept its last two conference series and sits only a half-game behind Baylor, but the Red Raiders need some help from OSU, even if they sweep TCU in a series this weekend in Lubbock.
            "It's what you play for," said Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez, whose team put itself in this position by winning five of its first seven conference series. "You don't have to scoreboard watch. All we have to do is go out and play baseball and just make sure we control the simple things of the game and hopefully just play the best we can."
            The third-place Cowboys go into the weekend with an outside shot at the Big 12 title, but would need a lot of help. They are playing their final regular-season games at 39-year-old Reynolds Stadium this weekend, moving into the brand-new $60 million O'Brate Stadium next season.
            "The big thing is they're going to have a lot of energy coming in," Rodriguez said. "It's the last weekend of that ballpark, so it's going to be pretty nostalgic in a lot of ways. We're going to have to eliminate all that stuff and once the game starts just focus from the first pitch to the last pitch."
            There's also the challenge of Baylor's pitchers facing a scary Oklahoma State lineup that has belted out a league-leading 71 home runs to rank 10^thnationally. Led by Trevor Boone with 17 dingers, the Cowboys boast four of the league's top six on the home runs list, including Andrew Navigato with 12, Christian Funk with 11 and Colin Simpson with 10.
            "I think they have more conference home runs (48) than we have home runs total (45)," Rodriguez said. "When they swing, they swing hard. So, we have to be really creative on the pitching side, make sure we pitch down in the zone, play really good defense and then we've got to try to score some runs. It could be an offensive battle."
            With Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Cody Bradford out for the year with an injury, junior transfer Paul Dickens (4-1, 3.25 ERA) has settled into the No. 1 role for the Bears. Despite completely flipping the weekend rotation it expected to have going into the season, Baylor leads the league with a 3.58 ERA.
            "This being my first year here, it's awesome to pay for a team like this that's contending for a conference championship," said Dickens, the scheduled starter for Thursday's game. "I knew that Baylor was a good team coming in here, but the team has really proven itself to be one of the best in the nation."
            Sophomore Jimmy Winston (5-1, 3.72) is the probable starter for Friday's 6:35 p.m. game, while sophomore Jacob Ashkinos (2-3, 4.62) is coming off a rough outing in the series finale against Kansas State. Another possibility for Saturday is sophomore left-hander Tyler Thomas, a weekend starter last season who struck out six in a two-inning start in Tuesday's 12-2, run-rule victory over UTA.
            "He's going to be big for us," Dickens said of Thomas. "He's a really solid left-handed pitcher who throws hard, has a nasty curveball. Whenever he goes out there and fills up the zone like that – six (strikeouts) – that's incredible and always a good sign for our team."
            With the Big 12 Championship starting Wednesday at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, the Bears need all the pitching help they can get.
            "It was really good to see that, watching him come out, have some confidence and throwing some pitches for strikes," Rodriguez said of Thomas. "Through these next three games and then into the Big 12 tournament, we need pitching. So, all those guys are going to have to come up in situations like that."
            Baylor has also proven that it can win offensive battles, sporting a league-best .319 batting average and scoring 7.3 runs per game. Seven of the nine everyday starters are hitting better than .300.
            "We just have good hitters," said junior DH Andy Thomas, who is hitting .346 with 19 doubles, two homers and 25 RBI. "We work hard in the cages, we work hard on our off days, we come to the ballpark ready to hit the fastball, ready to hit anything we see up. And we've talked about it before, it's the contagious hitting. Once you get that going, it's a whole lot of fun."
            Thursday's game will be broadcast by FOX Sports Oklahoma, with the Friday and Saturday games televised by FOX Sports-Plus. Live stats are available at statbroadcast.com.

STORY LINES
• The Bears embark on their final regular season weekend as they visit No. 13 Oklahoma State in a three-game series with implications for the Big 12 title beginning on Thursday, May 16. Game one of the series is set for Thursday at 6:35 p.m., game two on Friday is also at 6:35 p.m. and game three is on Saturday at 6:05 p.m.
• The Bears lead the Big 12 by 0.5 games as we enter the final weekend of the regular season and the magic number to clinch the title is three games. The Bears need to either sweep at Oklahoma State, or match what Texas Tech does against TCU.
• The Bears are looking for their fourth Big 12 title and first since 2012 (2012, 2005, 2000). The Bears also won Southwest Conference titles in 1923 and 1966.
• The Bears have won 8-of-10 three game series on the year, including 5-of-6 in the Big 12.
• With three regular season games left, the Bears are one win away from tying the most regular season wins under head coach Steve Rodriguez (34 in 2017).
• Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (24-6 in 2019) in all 20 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 456-204 all-time at the park.

HOW TO WATCH AND STREAM
Thursday's game will be televised live on Fox Sports Oklahoma, while Friday and Saturday will be televised on Fox Sports Plus. All three games will also be streamed on the Fox Sports Go app.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUP
Thursday, May 16 • 6:35 p.m. CT • LHP Paul Dickens (4-1, 3.25 ERA) vs. RHP Jensen Elliott (7-3, 3.84 ERA)
Friday, May 17 • 6:35 p.m. CT • RHP Jimmy Winston (5-1, 3.72 ERA) vs. LHP Parker Scott (2-1, 1.44 ERA)
Saturday, May 18 • 6:05 p.m. CT • RHP Jacob Ashkinos (2-3, 4.62 ERA) vs. RHP Brett Standlee (2-1, 4.50 ERA)

AGAINST OKLAHOMA STATE
• Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Steve Rodriguez, the Bears are 5-4 against the Cowboys. The Bears have won the last two series against the Cowboys, taking two-of-three against then-No. 20 OSU in 2018, taking game one, falling in game two before winning the rubber match. Then in 2017 in Stillwater, the Bears swept the Cowboys by scores of 9-3, 3-2 and 8-7. In Rod's first year at the helm, the Bears were swept at home.

IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
• The Bears boast the fourth-highest batting average in the nation (.319), 18th with 2.24 doubles per game,14th in slugging percentage (.482) and 19th in on-base percentage (0.404). The Bears' fielding percentage of 0.979 ranks 15th nationally. On the mound the Bears rank 23rd in ERA (3.58) and 14th with just 7.54 hits allowed per nine innings. Also, the Bears' six shutouts on the year rank seventh nationally.

INDIVIDUALS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
• Davis Wendzel ranks 32nd nationally with a batting average of .385 and his on-base percentage ranks 19th (.500). Andy Thomas ranks fifth nationally with 0.49 doubles per game, while his 19 doubles on the year rank19th. Nick Loftin is the 22nd-toughest guy nationally to strikeout, only doing so once every 13.3 at bats.

No. 12 Baseball Ready for Regular Season Finale at No. 13 OSU

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Ashkinos

Cody Bradford

Paul Dickens

Nick Loftin

Andy Thomas

Tyler Thomas

Davis Wendzel

Jimmy Winston

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