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BAYLOR BEARS (2-6, 0-0 Big 12)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: Mitch Thompson (Fort Hays St., 1988)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (2-6, 0-0) vs YOUNGSTOWN STATE (1-7, 0-0)
March 3, 2023 • 6:30 p.m. CT
March 4, 2023 • 2:00 p.m. CT (Game One)
March 4, 2023 • TBD (Game Two)
March 5, 2023 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Waco, Texas • Baylor Ballpark (5,000)
LIVE STATS: BaylorStats.com
WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Friday only)
Talent: Kurtis Quillin (play-by-play) & Richard Cunningham (analyst)
LISTEN: ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM & 92.3 FM (Fri. & Sun.)
LISTEN: FOX Sports Central Texas 1330 AM & 93.9 FM (Sat.)
Talent: Derek Smith (Fri. & Sun.), Ryan Boyd, Richard Cunningham (Sat.)
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YOUNGSTOWN STATE PENGUINS (1-7, 0-0 Horizon)
Location: Youngstown, Ohio
Conference/Affiliation: Horizon League
Head Coach: Dan Bertolini (Mercyhurst, 2008)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
When you break it down, baseball is a simple game.
"You put the ball in play, you throw strikes and you make the routine plays routinely," said Mitch Thompson, whose 2-6 Bears will host Youngstown State (1-7) in a four-game series this weekend at Baylor Ballpark. "And if you'll do that, chances are you're in the game. If you'll take care of the little things, the big things end up adding up at the end of the year."
Simple hasn't come easy for Baylor, which got swept by Duke last weekend and outscored 52-7. The Bears dropped their fourth-straight on Tuesday, falling to UTSA, 8-3, in a game that was 5-3 going into the eighth inning.
"We made some nice plays on defense, had a couple other plays on defense that if we could have made them, it's a different ballgame," Thompson said. "We just have to focus on doing our job and playing the game the right way, running everything out, throwing the ball to the right base, throwing strikes. If we do that, good things will start happening."
The four-game series against the Penguins starts with Friday's 6:30 p.m. game, followed by a doubleheader at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m. With a game Tuesday against Dallas Baptist, the Bears will play five games in five days.
"That makes it really challenging on a pitching staff," Thompson said. "It's something that we've just got to deal with, and everybody else has to deal with it, too, pretty much throughout the course of a season. Some people play Tuesday and Wednesday games. This time, we've elected to do a doubleheader on Saturday."
The 14-game home stand that started with Tuesday's game is a chance to get things turned around in the right direction.
"It can be huge for us, and it needs to be," Thompson said. "We've got to get on the right track, and to be at your home and to be comfortable playing is an important thing. So, we need to take advantage of these next 13 games and make them count."
One of just two players who have started all eight games, junior outfielder/pitcher Kobe Andrade said the key is to "forget about the past."
"Yesterday's game is yesterday's game, last week's game is last week's game," said Andrade, who's hitting .241 with six extra-base hits and a team-leading .586 slugging percentage. We have to focus on (Friday). Tomorrow's game is going to be over, and then we're going to focus on Saturday's games. That's the mindset we have to have, just put the past in the past."
Considered a team strength coming into the season, pitching has been maybe the biggest issue with a bloated 9.00 staff ERA, 66 free bases (50 walks, 16 batters hit by pitch) in 70.0 innings and 11 wild pitches. One of the problems on the mound has been the inability to shut it down when there's two strikes on a batter or two outs in an inning.
"If you're going to pitch, you've got to have a killer's mentality," Thompson said. "You have to have a two-out mentality where we've got to get in that dugout, and then we can take a breath. Until then, I'm on the attack. Our pitchers have struck out a bunch of guys (85), but we've obviously walked too many and had some tough outings."
One of the bright spots in the weekend series at Duke was getting fourth-year junior right-hander Will Rigney back on the mound for the first time in 10 months after a season-ending shoulder injury last year. He pitched a scoreless inning in Friday's loss, allowing two hits and striking out two batters.
"I've been feeling better and better. I'm just trying to do anything I can to help the ball club right now," he said. "If that's eat an inning or two when the game's not super-close, that's what I'm trying to do. But it felt good on Friday."
Although he missed most of his first two seasons at Baylor with arm problems, Rigney is one of the few veterans on a staff that includes 11 first- or second-year players.
"I've sat here and watched a lot of baseball," Rigney said. "As freshmen, you tend to overlook simple things. I just try to tell them that being competitive and throwing a lot of strikes will take you a long way, not walking people, not letting free runners on base."
In a matchup of fifth-year seniors, Baylor's Blake Helton will start Friday's game opposite Youngstown State's Travis Perry (1-0, 5.73 ERA). While Sunday's starters have not been announced, Saturday's doubleheader has Baylor righty Mason Marriott (0-1, 6.23) and left-hander Cam Caley (0-2) versus the Penguins' Nick Perez (0-2) and Brandon Mikos (0-2).
Youngstown State, which has had a challenging schedule with four games against Power-5 teams, has similar numbers to Baylor's with a 9.19 ERA, .247 batting average and 66 free bases in 62.2 innings. In their one win, beating Memphis 6-2 last Friday, Perry gave up one run on two hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
"This is a program up north that's trying to get their feet wet as well," Thompson said. "They have struggled so far this year, but they've got talent and they'll be coming here trying to get after us, no doubt. Hopefully, we can send them back to Ohio where they have a real good experience in Waco, they love Waco, but they don't love the results. That's what we're hoping for."
Friday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with KCEN sports director Kurtis Quillin and former Baylor baseball standout Richard Cunningham calling the action.
STORYLINES
LEADING OFF
• Baylor Baseball continues its 14-game homestand this weekend with a four-game series against Youngstown State. The home stretch lasts until March 24, when the Bears travel to take on Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., in the second week of Big 12 play.
• The Bears have eclipsed double-digit strikeouts on the mound in six of their eight games so far this season.
• Baylor enters the weekend tied for second in the Big 12 with 85 strikeouts
• The Bears are celebrating the 25th season at Baylor Ballpark with a special logo and planned promotions throughout the 2023 campaign.
• Eighteen of the Bears' first 21 games this season are home games. The Bears leave the state of Texas just three times this year, all before April 3 (at Duke, at Oklahoma State, at Kansas).
• Baylor returns just 15 players from its 2022 roster and welcomes 23 newcomers, including 10 true freshmen and 13 transfers.
• Nine of the 13 transfers have previous Division I experience in Austin Stracener, Hunter Teplanszky, Daniel Altman, Cole Posey, Will Pendergrass, Casey Sunseri, Cole Tremain, John Ceccoli and Gabe Craig.
BRIGHT SPOTS
• Sophomore RHP Mason Marriott is coming off his career-best outing, having racked up a personal-best seven strikeouts across a career-most 4.2 innings of work at Duke on Sunday, Feb. 26.
• Marriott leads the Big 12 with a 13.50 K/9 (strikeouts per nine innings).
• Junior RHP Will Rigney returned to action for the first time in over 10 months after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury last year. He pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two Blue Devils on Friday, Feb. 24.
• Freshman INF Kolby Branch is off to a hot start, leading the team with 11 hits, 10 RBIs and a .567 slugging percentage.
• Of junior LHP/OF Kobe Andrade's seven hits this season, six have gone for extra bases (three doubles, two triples, one home run). His lone single came on a drag bunt against Duke.
• Last Tuesday against HCU, Branch and redshirt freshman OF Gavin Brzozowski combined to drive in 10 of BU's 11 runs. The pair had six hits between them, including two home runs, one of which was a grand slam off the bat of Branch.
• The Bears set a modern-era (since 2000) program record with 38 strikeouts in their three-game series against CMU to open the year.
• A total of 20 Bears have made their Baylor debuts so far in 2023, including eight freshmen.
SERIES HISTORY VS YOUNGSTOWN STATE
• This will be the first meeting between Baylor and Youngstown State.
• The Bears are 1-0 all-time against teams from the Horizon League, having defeated Wright State in an elimination game in the 2018 Stanford Regional.
PROBABLE STARTERS
• Friday, March 3 • 6:30 p.m. • RHP Blake Helton (0-1, 14.14 ERA) vs. RHP Travis Perry (1-0, 5.73 ERA)
• Saturday, March 4 • 2:00 p.m. • RHP Mason Marriott (0-1, 6.23 ERA) vs. RHP Nick Perez (0-2, 10.00 ERA)
• Saturday, March 4 • TBD • LHP Cam Caley (0-2, 11.57 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon Mikos (0-2, 9.90 ERA)
• Sunday, March 5 • 1:00 p.m. • TBD vs. TBD
BROADCAST INFORMATION
• Friday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Kurtis Quillin (play-by-play) and former Bear Richard Cunningham (analyst) on the call.
• Fans can also tune in to the Baylor home radio broadcast, featuring Derek Smith and Ryan Boyd on the call.
MAKING BANANA PANCAKES
• Baylor and Youngstown State both have a redshirt freshman named Jack Johnson on their rosters.
• YSU's Johnson hails from Katy, Texas, the Penguins' only player from the Lone Star State.
• Baylor's Johnson is from Thousand Oaks, Calif.
• BU's Johnson delivered the walk-off hit in the Opening Day thriller over Central Michigan, the first hit of his collegiate career.
To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.
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