Baylor
Houston
BSB Opens Conference Play at Houston
3/7/2024 1:00:00 PM | Baseball
Bears and Cougars to meet for first time since 2017 Houston Regional
 |
BAYLOR BEARS (4-8, 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 (4-8, 0-0) at HOUSTON (8-4, 0-0) March 8, 2024 • 6:30 p.m. CT March 9, 2024 • 6:30 p.m. CT March 10, 2024 • 1:00 p.m. CT Houston, Texas • Schroeder Park (3,500) LIVE STATS: BaylorStats.com WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Talent: Gerald Sanchez, Kyle Rogers LISTEN: ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM/92.3 FM (Fri/Sun); 104.9 FM KBHT (Sat) Talent: Tom Barfield, Joe Heineman (Fri/Sat), Michael Griffin (Sun) Baylor Social Media:    |
 |
HOUSTON COUGARS (8-4, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Houston, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Todd Whitting (Houston, 1995) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
While Baylor baseball has the exact same record as it did through 12 games last season – 4-8 – that's really where the comparisons begin and end.
Playing a much tougher schedule, the Bears' ERA (5.69) is still two runs lower than it was at this point last season and their batting average is 40 points higher at .271.
"Totally different level of performance from our staff," said second-year Baylor coach Mitch Thompson, whose team opens a three-game series against Houston (8-4) at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Schroeder Park.
"We're obviously not where we want to be record-wise right now. But at the same time, playing the schedule we've played, facing the adversity we've faced . . . we're two runs better, ERA, than we were last year at this time. We're hitting 40 points better, as an offensive team, having gone through the adversity we've gone through. So, there are good things happening. It just hasn't showed up yet on the wins and losses. That's where we need it to show up now."
Baylor has certainly dealt with more than its share of adversity, losing four potential starters, including outfielder/DH Hunter Simmons to a season-ending fractured ankle. Through the first five games, Simmons was hitting .353 with two doubles, a triple, one home run and six RBIs.
But as the injuries have flared up, the Bears have had other players like outfielders Kade Fletcher and Caleb Bergman, infielders Daniel Altman and Chase Womack and designated hitters Wesley Jordan and Zach Mazoch step up to fill bigger roles.
"It really shows what our club is made of, just the next-man-up mentality," said junior first baseman Will Pendergrass, who is hitting .293 with one homer, four doubles and seven RBIs. "It hit us pretty fast early in the year, and that's all we could do is just next man up."
Altman, who has started four of the last six games at second base and one in centerfield, is hitting .471 over that stretch (8-of-17).
"One of the things I always preach is the together thing, it's real, man," Thompson said. "We're doing this together, and we neeed every guy on this team. You've got to keep preparing for your moment. And whenever your moment shows up, the world is going to know if you're ready or not. . . . it's been fun seeing the guys be able to do that so far. Hopefully, we can start piling up some wins and start feeling a lot better about our win-loss record."
After winning just one of their first eight games, the Bears swept a three-game series last weekend against Oral Roberts. In Sunday's series finale, they came back from two-run deficits three times to pull out an 11-7 win.
"That was a massive weekend," said junior catcher Cortlan Castle, who is hitting .348 with seven hits in his last 14 at-bats. "Mostly, because it showed what we can do. All of us knew what we were capable of doing. But to go out against Oral Roberts . . . and really do what we feel like we're capable of doing was huge. There was just an absolute energy shift that you could see throughout that weekend."
Before that series, the team had a hug-it-out session where "we, legit, started giving each other hugs for like 10 minutes," Castle said.
"This sounds weird, but it was the most awesome feeling ever, just being hugged over and over by all your teammates," he said. "We hugged each other, you tell them how much you love them, what you respect about them. And for some reason, that just changed everything. We were able to use that love and those hugs and really bring that into the weekend."
Even in Tuesday's 8-5 loss to 17th-ranked Dallas Baptist, Baylor scored single runs in the each of the last three innings and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth.
"We had so many opportunities to score and just didn't take advantage," Thompson said. "We didn't get the hit. If we get a hit, it kind of cracks the door open. And hitting is contagious, it just is. You go through hat game, and they walked us as many times as they did and put that many guys on base, it was disappointing we couldn't get more runs in."
The series continues with games at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, with all three games streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
STORYLINES
LEADING OFF
• Baylor Baseball hits the road to open Big 12 play at Houston after wrapping up a season-long nine-game homestand.
• BU is facing the nation's toughest schedule statistically through March 14, according to Pro Baseball Radar, based on 2023's RPI and win percentage.
• Baylor plays 26 games against the RPI top-50 this season, the most in the Big 12.
• The Bears have already played five games against ranked opponents (Tennessee, Indiana, DBU), and a sixth against a team that was receiving votes (Oregon).
• 53% of Baylor's offense (58 of 109 hits) has been produced by underclassmen or players in their first season at Baylor.
• True or redshirt freshmen have accounted for 45% of innings pitched on the mound this season (47.1 of 106.0).
• Eighteen Bears have made their Baylor debuts so far in 2024, including 13 players making their Division I debut and nine freshmen making their collegiate debuts.
• The Bears have eclipsed double digits in strikeouts in seven of their 12 games so far in 2024, increasing the total to 27 games in the Thompson era in which BU has fanned at least 10 opponents.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST HOUSTON
• Baylor leads the all-time series over Houston, 90-69.
• This will be the first meeting between the two sides since the 2017 Houston Regional, where the Cougars eliminated the Bears after a 17-3 win.
• The last time BU and UH met for a weekend series, Baylor took two of three in Waco.
• The Bears are 3-3 in their last six conference-opening series, including a series victory over K-State last year, and hold a 10-8 record in those 18 games.
• Baylor is 1-2 this season against in-state rivals.
HOW SWEEP IT IS
• Baylor completed a weekend sweep over Oral Roberts on March 1-3, it's second sweep in the Mitch Thompson era and third sweep since the start of the 2022 season.
• BU went 2-0 to begin a weekend series for just the fourth time in the last three seasons.
• The Bears racked up 31 runs on 42 hits, their most in a three-game weekend series since May 7-9, 2021, when they scored 43 runs on 45 hits against Kansas State.
• All nine starters reached base safely in each of the three games on the weekend.
• The bottom of the order (spots 6-9) produced 14 hits, scored 11 runs and drove in six throughout the series.
PROBABLE STARTERS
• Fri., March 8 • 6:30 p.m. • RHP Mason Marriott (0-1, 5.27) vs. RHP Jaxon Jelkin (0-0, 3.29)
• Sat., March 9 • 6:30 p.m. • RHP Collin McKinney (1-1, 6.08) vs. LHP Antoine Jean (1-1, 1.32)
• Sun., March 10 • 1:00 p.m. • TBD vs. TBD
BROADCAST INFORMATION
• All three games this weekend will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Gerald Sanchez (play-by-play) and Kyle Rogers (color analyst) on the call.
• Fans can also tune in to the Baylor radio broadcast on ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM/92.3 FM on Friday and Sunday, and 104.9 FM KBHT on Saturday, featuring Tom Barfield and Baylor Baseball alumni Joe Heineman (Friday and Saturday) and Michael Griffin (Sunday) on the call.
WHO'S HOT
• Redshirt junior OF Enzo Apodaca has reached base safely in 11 consecutive games.
• Redshirt junior INF Will Pendergrass leads the team with a seven-game hit streak and has hit .367 over that stretch.
• Junior C Cortlan Castle has seven hits in his last 14 at-bats across an eight-game on-base streak.
YOU GO, WE GO, 'ZO!
• Of the 26 times that redshirt junior OF Enzo Apodaca has reached base, he has either scored a run or driven in a run 16 times (62%).
• In the 40 innings that Baylor has scored at least one run, Apodaca has reached base in 21 of them (53%).
SCORING EARLY, SCORING OFTEN
• 37 of BU's 71 runs so far this season have been scored in the first four innings (52%).
• Baylor has out-scored its opponents 16-13 in the first two innings.
• Last weekend against ORU, Baylor scored in 14 of its 24 offensive innings (58%), including a season-high seven-run sixth inning in Friday's series opener.
BULLPEN TAKING SHAPE
• Baylor received fantastic relief performances over the weekend from redshirt junior RHP Patrick Hail (3.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K) and sophomore LHP Ethan Calder (4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) in the wins on Friday and Saturday.
• Hail and Calder are two of five Bears with sub-3.25 ERA's who have pitched more than once out of the bullpen, joining freshman LHP RJ Ruais (2.57), freshman RHP Stephen Sepulveda (3.12) and redshirt junior RHP Drew Leach (3.24).
• Freshman LHP Mason Green has also given the Bears good innings out of the 'pen, including back-to-back three-strikeout appearances in his last two outings.
MARRIOTT GROWING INTO FRIDAY NIGHT ACE
• Junior RHP Mason Marriott has put together two very solid starts so far in 2024.
• The native of Tomball, Texas has set and tied his career high with 5.2 innings pitched twice, vs. Nebraska and against Oral Roberts.
• In those two starts, Marriott has combined to allow just two earned runs on five hits and has struck out 18.
• Marriott's 10 strikeouts on Opening Day were the most by a Baylor starter in a season opener since Shawn Tolleson fanned 11 against Duke on Feb. 19, 2010.
TURNING TWO
• After leading the nation in 2022 with 64 double plays and 1.19 twin killings per game, the Bears are off to another hot start turning two in 2024.
• Through 12 games, Baylor has turned 14 double plays (1.17 per game) to lead the Big 12 and rank seventh nationally.
To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.
-BaylorBears.com-
