Baylor
New Mexico State
BSB Opens 2026 Campaign with New Mexico State
2/12/2026 6:30:00 PM | Baseball
Bears and Aggies to meet for first time since 2016
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BAYLOR BEARS (0-0, 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 (0-0, 0-0) vs. NEW MEXICO STATE (0-0, 0-0) Feb. 13, 2026 • 4:00 p.m. CT Feb. 14, 2026 • 2:00 p.m. CT Feb. 15, 2026 • 1:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark (5,000) LIVE STATS: BaylorBears.com/Stats WATCH: ESPN+ LISTEN: ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM/92.3 FM (Fri. & Sun.) LISTEN: Kicker Country 99.3 FM/1590 AM (Sat.) Talent: Derek Smith, Tom Barfield, Cortlan Castle Baylor Social Media:    |
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NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES (0-0, 0-0 C-USA) Location: Las Cruces, N.M. Conference/Affiliation: Conference USA Head Coach: Jake Angier (South Dakota State, 2009) Roster | Stats |
STORYLINES
LEADING OFF
• Baylor Baseball begins the 2026 campaign with a four-game homestand at newly-minted Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, welcoming New Mexico State for a three-game series on Opening Weekend.
• The Bears will host Texas State on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in their first midweek contest of the season before heading to back-to-back weekend tournaments in the second and third weeks of the year in Round Rock and Houston.
• BU returns 20 players from its 2025 roster, including three position player starters (Johnson, Sanders, Riebock), and welcomes 17 newcomers.
• Baylor has 19 underclassmen (Fr., R-Fr., So., R-So.) on its 2026 squad.
• 30 players on the 37-man roster are in their first or second years with the program.
PRESEASON PICKS
• The Bears are led by Preseason All-Big 12 shortstop Travis Sanders, who hit .335 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs in 2025. Sanders was voted to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team by the league's head coaches as one of five infielders, regardless of position, but was also tabbed as the conference's top shortstop by three outlets: The Diamond Report, Just Baseball and Perfect Game.
• Additionally, sophomore infielder Pearson Riebock was picked to The Diamond Report's Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team and freshman outfielder Brady Janusek was tabbed to the same publication's Preseason All-Big 12 Freshman Team.
• Head coach Mitch Thompson was also projected as the Preseason Coach of the Year in the Big 12, per The Diamond Report.
• Three Bears were listed on D1Baseball's Preseason Rankings at their respective positions: Travis Sanders (No. 43 SS), Grayson Murry (No. 49 RP), and Mason Green (No. 184 SP).
• BU was predicted to finish 8th (The Diamond Report), 10th (D1Baseball) and 11th (Big 12 Coaches) in the conference in a trio of preseason polls.
THE 2026 SLATE BY THE NUMBERS
• Baylor will play a combined 22 games against 11 NCAA Tournament teams in 2026, including three conference champions from a year ago.
• 14 30-game winners headline the 2026 campaign, including six teams that won 40 or more games last season.
• 52% of this year's schedule features opponents that finished 2025 with a top-75 RPI.
• Six of Baylor's 2026 opponents were ranked in a preseason Top 25 poll: Oregon State, Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Texas, West Virginia and TCU.
• An additional six teams on the schedule also received votes in at least one poll: UTSA, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Arizona State and Texas Tech.
• Baylor's schedule is projected to be the 23rd-most difficult in the nation by College Splits, which ranks 10th among Big 12 teams.
OPENING DAY -- THE GREATEST WORDS IN BASEBALL
• Baylor is 4-5 on Opening Weekend in three seasons under fourth-year head coach Mitch Thompson.
• The Bears swept Youngstown State last year and scored double-digit runs in all three games of the series.
• Baylor is 66-37 all-time on Opening Day, with wins in six of its last 10 season openers.
• Since 2016, the Bears have won five of their last 10 Opening Weekend series.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST NEW MEXICO STATE
• Baylor and New Mexico State have split the all-time series, 2-2.
• In their last meeting, the Aggies took two games from the Bears in 2016 as part of a weekend tournament in Waco.
• BU defeated then-No. 25 NMSU in back-to-back midweek games in 2012 at Baylor Ballpark.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
• Fri. Feb. 13 • 4:00 p.m. CT • RHP Lucas Davenport (4-2, 4.25 ERA)* vs. RHP Colton Sneddon (0-0, 7.07 ERA)*
• Sat. Feb. 14 • 2:00 p.m. CT • LHP Ethan Calder (3-6, 5.18 ERA)* vs. TBD
• Sun. Feb. 15 • 1:00 p.m. CT • RHP Cade Hansen (12-1, 2.68 ERA)* vs. TBD
*Stats from 2025 season | Hansen pitched at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2025
BROADCAST INFO
• All three of this weekend's games will be televised on ESPN+.
• Fans can also tune in to ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM/92.3 FM on Friday and Sunday to hear the Baylor radio broadcast, featuring Derek Smith and Tom Barfield.
• Barfield will be joined by former Baylor All-Big 12 Honorable Mention catcher Cortlan Castle, who is set to make his broadcast debut on Saturday and Sunday.
• Saturday's broadcast will be available on Kicker Country 99.3 FM/1590 AM.
• The television feed will pull the radio broadcast for simulcasting of all three games this weekend.
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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