Baylor
Duke
BSB Hosts No. 23 Duke for Three-Game Set
2/24/2022 2:55:00 PM | Baseball
Bears are 2-0 all-time against the Blue Devils, have not met since 2010
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BAYLOR BEARS (1-3, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez (Pepperdine, 2001) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (1-3, 0-0) vs DUKE (3-1, 0-0) Feb. 25, 2022 • 3:00 p.m. CT Feb. 26, 2022 • 3:00 p.m. CT Feb. 27, 2022 • 1:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Baylor Ballpark (5,000) LIVE STATS: Friday | Saturday | Sunday WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Combs (analyst) LISTEN: Fox Sports Central Texas / 1330 AM & 93.9 FM (Fri-Sat) LISTEN: Learfield / 1660 AM & 92.3 FM (Sun) Talent: Derek Smith (Fri), Ryan Boyd (Fri-Sun), Matt Czimskey (Sat), Joe Heineman (Sun) Baylor Social Media:    |
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DUKE BLUE DEVILS (3-1, 0-0 ACC) Location: Durham, N.C. Conference/Affiliation: ACC Head Coach: Chris Pollard (Davidson, 1996) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Baylor shortstop Jack Pineda hopes to be able to look back at getting swept at home by Maryland last weekend and laugh.
"I think at this level, the team that plays better is usually going to win. A big part of that is not beating ourselves," said Pineda, who's hitting .294 out of the leadoff position for the Bears (1-3), who host 23rd-ranked Duke (3-1) for another three-game series this weekend.
"This team is good enough to where if we play our game, there's not a team that can beat us. It's all about reaching our maximum capability. Something that really good teams do is play their best baseball at the end of May and in June. If we keep building momentum, we'll look back at and laugh at this past weekend."
Outscored 21-9 by a Maryland team that cracked into the polls this week, the Bears bounced back with a 6-2 win over Houston Baptist on Tuesday. The top four batters in the lineup went a combined 6-for-13 with four RBI and six runs scored.
"Obviously, the elements were a little interesting – cold, 20-mph winds blowing straight in – was not exactly the most ideal baseball weather," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "Every fly ball was interesting, but I thought they did a good job managing that. I was really happy with some of our guys at the top of the order, who came around and were hitting the ball really well."
While the Bears are hitting just .241 and averaging 3.8 runs per game, the confidence is still there in a lineup that returns seven starters.
"We've got the right guys that are going to be able to swing the bat," said junior first baseman Chase Wehsener, who's off to a slow start with a .200 batting average. "We've got the right guys that are going to be able to swing the bat."
Defense has also been an issue. Baylor committed six errors in the three-game series against Maryland and had three more in Tuesday's win over HBU. Third baseman Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo has committed four at the hot corner, while freshman catcher Cortlan Castle had two throwing errors on pickoff attempts in Saturday's 9-5 loss to the Terrapins.
"It's not like there were any mental mistakes," Rodriguez said. "It was more just physical nuances that sometimes just happen. That's just part of baseball. And unfortunately, they kind of piled up on us over the weekend."
Castle did make up for it at the plate, hitting .429 in his two starts over the weekend. Sophomore second baseman Tre Richardson has hit .313 (5-for-16) through the first four games and blasted a two-run homer – the team's first – in Tuesday's win over HBU.
Duke came back from a season-opening 10-5 loss to win the next two in a series against Virginia Military Institute and then beat Appalachian State, 8-5, on Tuesday.
The closer last year with seven saves and five wins, 6-6 junior right-hander Marcus Johnson (0-1, 8.31 ERA) got off to a shaky start as Duke's Friday night starter, giving up five runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings.
Johnson will be paired against Baylor fifth-year senior lefty Tyler Thomas (0-1, 3.00) in Friday's 3 p.m. series opener at Baylor Ballpark, with Duke left-hander Luke Fox (1-0, 1.80) matched against Nevada grad transfer Jake Jackson (0-1, 5.40) in Saturday's 3 p.m. Game 2. Neither team announced the start for Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale.
"They've got great pitching," Rodriguez said of Duke. "Coach (Chris) Pollard has done a great job with them. We just have to make sure we minimize our mistakes and hopefully capitalize on theirs."
While temperatures will be in the late 30s and high 40s the next two days, Rodriguez said he is confident that the teams can get the series in this weekend.
"Just like every baseball coach, you're also part-weatherman," he said. "Coach Pollard and I have been in communication. I told him that Saturday might be an issue with rain. He said, 'That's fine, we can do a doubleheader.' So, we've talked about the different possibilities, but it's always good to have a contingency plan just in case."
All three games this weekend, which complete a season-opening seven-game homestand, will be streamed live by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
STORYLINES
HOME SWEET HOME
• Baylor continues its seven-game homestand to begin the 2022 season with a three-game set against No. 23 Duke.
• BU is 73-29 (.716) at home over the last five seasons.
• The Bears will stay close to home in 2022, as 46 of its 52 regular-season contests will be played in the state of Texas.
• Baylor doesn't leave the state of Texas until April 8-10, when it travels to take on West Virginia in Morgantown.
TESTED RIGHT FROM THE START
• Baylor opened its season against a Power 5 opponent for just the third time in the last seven years, and will host another this weekend with No. 23 Duke coming to town.
• BU has not faced back-to-back P5 opponents within the first two series since facing Duke and Georgia in 2010.
• The Bears will play 22 games against 10 teams who competed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, including five teams that reached a Super Regional and two that reached the College World Series.
• Following last weekend's series against Maryland, the Terrapins climbed to No. 22 in the latest D1Baseball rankings.
SERIES HISTORY BY THE NUMBERS
• Baylor is 2-0 all-time against Duke, having won both of the previous matchups in 2010 in a season-opening three-team series that included Georgia.
• BU has not faced Duke under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, Feb. 25 • 3:00 p.m. CT • LHP Tyler Thomas (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. RHP Marcus Johnson
Saturday, Feb. 26 • 3:00 p.m. CT • RHP Jake Jackson (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. LHP Luke Fox
Sunday, Feb. 27 • 1:00 p.m. CT • TBD vs TBD
BROADCAST INFORMATION
• All three games this weekend will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+
• John Morris (PxP) and Pat Combs (Analyst) will provide the call for Friday's series opener, while Saturday and Sunday's broadcast will pull the home radio feed.
• Fans can tune in to Fox Sports Central Texas 1330 on Friday and Sunday, and ESPN Central Texas 1660 on Saturday for the home radio broadcasts. Derek Smith will provide the commentary alongside Ryan Boyd on Friday, while Boyd will team with former Bears Matt Czimskey on Saturday and Joe Heineman on Sunday.
ADD ANOTHER TO THE K-COUNTER
• The Baylor pitching staff racked up double-digit strikeouts in all three games against Maryland, recording 14 K's on Friday, 10 on Saturday and another 12 on Sunday.
• The Bears only reached double figures in 16 of their 51 games in 2021.
• Senior LHP Tyler Thomas led the Bears with a career-high tying nine strikeouts on Friday.
• 12 of the 13 BU pitchers who made an appearance recorded at least one punchout.
NEW BEARS ON THE BLOCK
• Nine Bears made their Baylor debuts against Maryland, including Kobe Andrade, Harrison Caley, Cortlan Castle, Henry Cone, Brett Garcia, Cody Grebeck, Jake Jackson, Mason Marriott and Matt Voelker.
• Caley, a transfer from Abilene Christian, was behind the plate for Friday's opener.
• Voelker, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, made his first appearance out of the bullpen for the Bears on Saturday.
• Jackson, a transfer from Nevada, made his first start for the Bears on Sunday.
• Garcia also made his first two appearances in green and gold on Friday and Sunday.
• Andrade, a transfer from Texas A&M, made his first-career start in left field on Sunday.
• Castle, who earned his first-career start on Saturday, Cone, Grebeck and Marriott each made their collegiate debuts.
• Castle and Grebeck recorded their first-career hits, while Marriott notched his first-career strikeout.
WHAT'S NEW?
• BU returns 27 players from its 2021 team to the 2022 active roster, and adds 12 newcomers.
• Of the newcomers, six are freshmen and six are transfers.
•Baylor returns 78.3% of its offense with seven position starters returning. Former All-American catcher Andy Thomas and longtime right fielder Davion Downey are the only two departures from the 2021 starting nine.
• Only 47.4% of BU's 2021 innings pitched return, as seniors Jacob Ashkinos, Luke Boyd, Logan Freeman, Hayden Kettler, Ryan Leckich and Jimmy Winston all depart.
BACK ON THE BUMP
• RHPs Anderson Needham (March 3, 2020) and Will Rigney (March 23, 2021) each made their first appearances on the mound since suffering season-ending injuries.
• Needham threw two scoreless innings over two appearances, allowing just one hit and striking out one.
• Rigney tallied a career-high four punchouts in his two-inning outing.
DIGGIN' THE LONG BALL
• Baylor has hit 256 home runs in 293 games under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez, including 48 in 2021.
• Before 2020, the Bears were coming off back-to-back-back seasons with at least 50 home runs (51 in 2017, 54 in 2018, 57 in 2019) for the first time since 2008 (52), 2009 (73) and 2010 (57) and first time in the BBCOR era.
• In 2020, BU was on pace to hit over 50 home runs once again prior to the season getting canceled.
• The Bears finished with 15 homers in just 16 games in 2020.
EXTRA, EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT
• Baylor has recorded at least one extra-base hit in each of its last 17 games, and 29 of its last 31, dating back to last season, for a total of 99 extra base hits, including 61 doubles, 10 triples and 29 home runs.
• Baylor has notched at least two extra-base hits in 24 of its last 31 games.
• Through four games in 2022, BU has tallied five doubles, one triple and one home run.
-BaylorBears.com-
