BAYLOR BEARS (21-20, 4-11 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas  Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez (Pepperdine, 2001) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)	BAYLOR (21-20, 4-11) vs TEXAS TECH (29-15, 9-6) April 29, 2022 • 6:30 p.m. CT April 30, 2022 • 3:00 p.m. CT May 1, 2022 • 1:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Baylor Ballpark (5,000) LIVE STATS: BaylorStats.com WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Talent:  John Morris, Richard Cunningham LISTEN: Learfield / ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM & 92.3 FM Talent:  Derek Smith, Ryan Boyd Baylor Social Media:
	TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (29-15, 9-6 Big 12) Location: Lubbock, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Tim Tadlock (Texas Tech, 1992) Roster | Stats | Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            More than ever, Baylor baseball has to keep the past in the past.
            Hosting ninth-ranked Texas Tech (29-15, 9-6) for a weekend series at Baylor Ballpark, the Bears (21-20, 4-11) have to "turn the page" and forget about getting swept at Texas last weekend.
            "It's behind us," said sophomore second baseman Tre Richardson, who leads the Baylor starters with a .313 batting average. "Being able to turn the page and just understand that whatever happened in Austin, we can't really change that. It's a new day and a new week."
            After giving up 46 runs to the Longhorns, Baylor faces another potent lineup with a Texas Tech team that is hitting .300 with 63 home runs. The series opens with a game at 6:30 p.m. Friday, followed by 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, with all three games streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
            "Offensively, they can really hit," said Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez, whose team has won five-straight games at home. "Starting pitching is very good, and they have some power arms coming out of the bullpen. We just have to go out there and try to minimize everything that their offense is capable of doing and let our offense hopefully take form early on."
            Baylor's pitching took a couple hits last weekend, with two of the three starters suffering injuries and throwing a combined 2.0 innings. Fifth-year senior ace Tyler Thomas will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery, while sophomore Will Rigney is waiting on test results but will not pitch at all this weekend.
            "It's definitely not how we drew it up at the beginning and not down the stretch here," Rodriguez said. "(Rigney) is a young man that can endure a lot of pain and has. When he signaled to us that he's not going to be able to go, we knew that it was pretty serious and we had to get somebody else in there."
            That puts Nevada grad transfer Jake Jackson (3-3, 8.92 ERA) back in the starting rotation for the second time in four weeks. Thrust into Friday's game after Rigney's early exit, Jackson had his roughest outing of the season, giving up 10 runs on 10 hits, two walks and two hit batters in 2 1/3 innings.
            Sophomore Kobe Andrade (3-2, 4.50) is the lone survivor of last weekend's starting rotation and will be opposed by junior right-hander Brandon Birdsell (6-2, 2.17) in Saturday's game. A former Texas A&M transfer, Birdsell opted to return to Lubbock after being drafted in the 11^th round last year by the Minnesota Twins.
            Junior Blake Helton (0-1, 5.40), who pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief in Saturday's game, is back in the rotation for the first time since the opening weekend.
            "Obviously, he had an issue at the beginning of the season. He was out till now," Rodriguez said of Helton, who was a weekend rotation pitcher last year as a sophomore. "Hopefully, we can kind of slowly get him back to where he can start getting it built up. And as long as he feels good, then I think our team will respond well with it."
            Beyond the pitchers' injuries, Rodriguez said there are a "couple of guys dealing with illnesses, so they won't be around for at least one week, maybe two." Plus, first baseman Chase Wehsener suffered a broken left hand when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning of Sunday's game at Texas and is "out for at least several weeks."
            "It's not how you drew it up," Rodriguez said. "But like I told our guys, you come to a place like this and a conference like this – into a Power 5 conference – for experience and opportunity. Well, now you've got it. You're wanting those guys to take advantage of every opportunity they get."
            Baylor comes into the weekend on a positive note, coming back from a five-run deficit in the seventh inning to defeat Incarnate Word, 8-7, Tuesday night. Jared McKenzie had a two-run double in the seventh, then Jack Pineda delivered a bases-clearing double in the eighth.
            "A lot of teams could have just rolled over after that grand slam (by IWU in the sixth) was hit," Richardson said. "We just really thought we weren't out of this game at a single point. Especially going down 7-2, we understood that we just have to keep the line moving. Eventually, somebody's going to come up and take over. And we saw what Jack did with that double in the gap. That was real big, not just for him, but for all of us as a team."
 

STORYLINES

LEADING OFF

• Baylor continues its five-game homestand with a weekend series against No. 9 Texas Tech.

• BU currently sits in seventh place in the Big 12 standings at 4-11 in conference play, with 3 Big 12 series remaining.

• The Bears continue to turn double plays at a high rate, leading the Big 12 and ranking second nationally with 44 total twin killings and 1.07 per game.

• BU has recorded at least one extra-base hit in each of its last 20 games, have notched at least two XBH in nine of its last 10 games and have bashed 28 extra-base hits in their last eight games.

• Sophomore OF Kyle Nevin is riding a career-best 21-game on-base streak and holds a 10-game hitting streak.

• Nevin hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season in Sunday's series finale at No. 10 Texas.

• Sophomore OF Jared McKenzie recorded his third-career multi-HR game by knocking two out of the park during Saturday's game in Austin.

• McKenzie is the first Bear to tally a multi-HR game in 2022.

• McKenzie leads the team with 15 multi-hit performances in 2022 and has collected three consecutive two-hit games.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Texas Tech narrowly leads the all-time series 91-85 over Baylor.

• Under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez, the Bears are 7-10 against the Red Raiders, but are 5-5 against TTU over the last 10 meetings.

• Baylor won last season's series by taking two of three from Tech in Lubbock.

• BU also claimed the most recent series played in Waco in 2018 with a pair of wins on that weekend.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Friday, April 29 • 6:30 p.m. CT • RHP Jake Jackson (3-3, 8.92 ERA) vs. RHP Andrew Morris (5-0, 3.70 ERA)

Saturday, April 30 • 3:00 p.m. CT • LHP Kobe Andrade (3-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon Birdsell (6-2, 2.17 ERA)

Sunday, May 1 • 1:00 p.m. CT • RHP Blake Helton (0-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. TBD

BROADCAST INFORMATION

• This weekend's series will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with John Morris (PxP) and former Baylor outfielder Richard Cunningham (Analyst) providing the commentary.

• Fans can also tune in to ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM and 92.3 FM for the Baylor radio broadcast, featuring Derek Smith and Ryan Boyd on the call.

FEED THE BEAVER

• This weekend will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of BU's 2012 Big 12 Championship team, a team that won a Big 12-record 24 games in a row, including 18 Big 12 games, and reached No. 1 for the first time in program history.

• Members of the 2012 team will be in attendance for Saturday's recognition, including Big 12 Player of the Year Josh Ludy and All-American Josh Turley.

• The first 500 fans in attendance on Saturday will receive an exclusive Baylor Baseball stuffed beaver.
 

 
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