MORE THAN ONE
5/15/2025 8:35:00 AM | Baseball
Bears going into series against UCF with a goal of winning all three
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Trying to nail down its first Big 12 Tournament bid in three years, Baylor baseball (31-20, 11-16) will close the regular season with a three-game series against UCF (28-24, 8-19) this weekend at John Euliano Park in Orlando, Fla.
"Let's go win a series, let's go win three games," said Baylor coach Mitch Thompson, whose team needs one win against the Knights or a loss by BYU (25-25, 8-19) in a series versus Texas Tech to earn one of the 12 spots for the Big 12 Championship that starts next Wednesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
"We're going to play three, so let's try and win three and just keep moving forward and hopefully create some momentum going into the (Big 12) tournament."
Keeping a modest streak alive that has seen the Bears win at least one game in each of its first nine conference series, they avoided a sweep against Oklahoma State with a walk-off, 5-4 victory in the 10th inning on Sunday.
"The energy going into the locker room after that game, it was a lot of fun," said senior pitcher Cole Stasio (3-1, 6.00 ERA), who tossed two shutout innings in Sunday's game. "Everybody was like, 'All right, we're ready to go, just continue this.' It's continued over to practice. Practice was a lot of fun. Drew Leach was wearing wrist tape and eye black during practice, so that was something different, just bringing energy."
Senior DH Hunter Simmons has been mired in a serious slump, collecting just one hit combined in his last eight games with a .038 batting average (1-for-26) during that stretch. But he played a pivotal role in Sunday's win, driving in the tying run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly and then hitting a grounder that the shortstop booted, allowing Tyriq Kemp to go from second to home and sliding in ahead of the throw to the plate.
"Obviously, it wasn't what you wanted to do," said Simmons, who has seen his batting average drop by more than 50 points to .311. "I think the relief was my teammates kind of just celebrating, no matter what's going on. Just keeping my confidence high, spirits high. It's not what I wanted to do, but it got the job done."
Despite Simmons' recent struggles, Thompson said he has never wavered in sticking with him in the lineup.
"I had other options to go to," he said. "I was sitting here going, 'Nope, we're going to go with him.' And he competed, got the sac fly. Even on the ground ball, there's multiple things that happen that just show you how hard the guys are playing.
"Pearson Riebock is in their grill at second base, it's going to be bang, bang, if (the shortstop) does catch it, to get the out at second. And then Tyriq is running hard all the way from second to third on a routine ground ball to shortstop, and he's rounding the bag, anticipating . . . and he's able to get there by this much at the end. Those are little things that show you they're playing the game as hard as they can, as well as they can."
At this point, Simmons said it's more mental than physical, that he needs to "trust myself and kind of let it go."
"But it's baseball," he said. "There's going to be ups, there's going to be downs. I'm just riding the wave right now, trying not to think about it too much and just try to get back on track."
The Bears are facing a UCF team that has had its share of ups and downs, winning series against BYU, TCU and Tech, but also getting swept three times. Tied for 12th with BYU going into the weekend, the Knights have the edge in the head-to-head meeting and could move up to 11th with a sweep of Baylor.
Despite sitting near the bottom of the standings, UCF is second in the league in both batting average (.319) and ERA (4.29).
"They're a good team," Thompson said. "Everybody I've talked with all year long has said, 'Man, these guys are good.' And they've all question why they struggled with conference play. I thought they were good here last year."
While Baylor has only named one starter, going with junior right-hander Ethan Calder (3-6, 5.46 ERA) in Friday's 5 p.m. CT matchup, the Knights' all-righty rotation includes Camden Wicker (0-2, 4.75) in Thursday's 5 p.m. series opener, Russell Sandefer (2-3, 3.15) on Friday and Matt Sauser (3-2, 3.86) in Saturday's 11 a.m. series finale.
"I don't think anything changes. It's just another series," said Stasio, a Davie, Fla., native. "We understand what needs to be done, but we're always going in there to get three. That's the mindset. I think we need to throw the first punch early in the first game and kins of just run from that and continue this momentum coming from the weekend."
Stasio, the last right-hander to start a game – the Bears have started lefties in 40-consecutive games – could get the nod on either Thursday or Friday. Mason Green (0-2, 6.08), who has started each of the last five weekends, will likely stick to his Saturday routine.
"They've got good arms, they've got physical bats. They play the game the right way," Thompson said of UCF. "And they're fighting for their lives right now, too. It should be very competitive, should be a great environment down there."
All three games will be streamed by ESPN+.
Baylor Bear Insider
Trying to nail down its first Big 12 Tournament bid in three years, Baylor baseball (31-20, 11-16) will close the regular season with a three-game series against UCF (28-24, 8-19) this weekend at John Euliano Park in Orlando, Fla.
"Let's go win a series, let's go win three games," said Baylor coach Mitch Thompson, whose team needs one win against the Knights or a loss by BYU (25-25, 8-19) in a series versus Texas Tech to earn one of the 12 spots for the Big 12 Championship that starts next Wednesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
"We're going to play three, so let's try and win three and just keep moving forward and hopefully create some momentum going into the (Big 12) tournament."
Keeping a modest streak alive that has seen the Bears win at least one game in each of its first nine conference series, they avoided a sweep against Oklahoma State with a walk-off, 5-4 victory in the 10th inning on Sunday.
"The energy going into the locker room after that game, it was a lot of fun," said senior pitcher Cole Stasio (3-1, 6.00 ERA), who tossed two shutout innings in Sunday's game. "Everybody was like, 'All right, we're ready to go, just continue this.' It's continued over to practice. Practice was a lot of fun. Drew Leach was wearing wrist tape and eye black during practice, so that was something different, just bringing energy."
Senior DH Hunter Simmons has been mired in a serious slump, collecting just one hit combined in his last eight games with a .038 batting average (1-for-26) during that stretch. But he played a pivotal role in Sunday's win, driving in the tying run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly and then hitting a grounder that the shortstop booted, allowing Tyriq Kemp to go from second to home and sliding in ahead of the throw to the plate.
"Obviously, it wasn't what you wanted to do," said Simmons, who has seen his batting average drop by more than 50 points to .311. "I think the relief was my teammates kind of just celebrating, no matter what's going on. Just keeping my confidence high, spirits high. It's not what I wanted to do, but it got the job done."
Despite Simmons' recent struggles, Thompson said he has never wavered in sticking with him in the lineup.
"I had other options to go to," he said. "I was sitting here going, 'Nope, we're going to go with him.' And he competed, got the sac fly. Even on the ground ball, there's multiple things that happen that just show you how hard the guys are playing.
"Pearson Riebock is in their grill at second base, it's going to be bang, bang, if (the shortstop) does catch it, to get the out at second. And then Tyriq is running hard all the way from second to third on a routine ground ball to shortstop, and he's rounding the bag, anticipating . . . and he's able to get there by this much at the end. Those are little things that show you they're playing the game as hard as they can, as well as they can."
At this point, Simmons said it's more mental than physical, that he needs to "trust myself and kind of let it go."
"But it's baseball," he said. "There's going to be ups, there's going to be downs. I'm just riding the wave right now, trying not to think about it too much and just try to get back on track."
The Bears are facing a UCF team that has had its share of ups and downs, winning series against BYU, TCU and Tech, but also getting swept three times. Tied for 12th with BYU going into the weekend, the Knights have the edge in the head-to-head meeting and could move up to 11th with a sweep of Baylor.
Despite sitting near the bottom of the standings, UCF is second in the league in both batting average (.319) and ERA (4.29).
"They're a good team," Thompson said. "Everybody I've talked with all year long has said, 'Man, these guys are good.' And they've all question why they struggled with conference play. I thought they were good here last year."
While Baylor has only named one starter, going with junior right-hander Ethan Calder (3-6, 5.46 ERA) in Friday's 5 p.m. CT matchup, the Knights' all-righty rotation includes Camden Wicker (0-2, 4.75) in Thursday's 5 p.m. series opener, Russell Sandefer (2-3, 3.15) on Friday and Matt Sauser (3-2, 3.86) in Saturday's 11 a.m. series finale.
"I don't think anything changes. It's just another series," said Stasio, a Davie, Fla., native. "We understand what needs to be done, but we're always going in there to get three. That's the mindset. I think we need to throw the first punch early in the first game and kins of just run from that and continue this momentum coming from the weekend."
Stasio, the last right-hander to start a game – the Bears have started lefties in 40-consecutive games – could get the nod on either Thursday or Friday. Mason Green (0-2, 6.08), who has started each of the last five weekends, will likely stick to his Saturday routine.
"They've got good arms, they've got physical bats. They play the game the right way," Thompson said of UCF. "And they're fighting for their lives right now, too. It should be very competitive, should be a great environment down there."
All three games will be streamed by ESPN+.
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