Baylor
Texas State
SB Continues Crucial Stretch at Texas State
4/21/2026 1:30:00 PM | Softball
Six of BU's final seven games are against ranked teams
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BAYLOR BEARS (26-20, 9-9 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Glenn Moore (Northwestern St., 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (26-20, 9-9 Big 12) at Texas State (31-17, 11-17 Sunbelt) April 22 • 6 p.m. San Marcos, Texas • Bobcat Softball Stadium (1,000) LIVE STATS: BaylorBears.com/stats WATCH: ESPN+ LISTEN: Cool 101.3 FM Talent: Jeffrey Cohen Baylor Social Media:    |
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Texas State Bobcats (31-11, 11-7 Sunbelt) Location: San Marcos, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Sunbelt Head Coach: Ricci Woodard (NMSU, 1991) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
Story lines
• Baylor opens a big week down IH 35 for a showdown with Texas State Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN+
• The Bears will then return home for their final home series against No. 14/17/18 Oklahoma State
• In a crucial stretch to end the regular season, BU will play six of its final seven games against ranked foes
• With 15 games against ranked opponents this season and six more scheduled to close the season, BU is looking at 21 ranked opponents this regular season, its most since 2011 when the Bears saw 22 ranked teams en route to the College World Series
• Ranked 43rd in the RPI entering the week, the Bears have been as high as 16th this season, playing the fourth-most difficult schedule in the league
• The Bears lead the all-time series with Texas State 44-20, boasting a 15-9 mark in San Marcos
• BU will try to continue a recent streak of success against the Bobcats, winning four of the last five
• Baylor will try to close the gap in its series with the Cowgirls as OSU holds a 52-33 all-time record, with Baylor leading 17-15 in Waco.
• Baylor aims for its first series win over OSU since 2017, as the Cowgirls have won seven-straight series'
• The Bears will honor its three seniors (Brooklyn Carter, Amber Toven & Kaci West) following Sunday's game
• As teams jockey for one of the top-eight spots in Oklahoma City, Baylor enters the weekend with a game lead on Arizona State for sixth, with Iowa State lurking two games back in eighth (BU owns tiebreaker). BU's win over Utah last weekend dropped the Utes to ninth place, .5 games back of eighth and 2.5 games back of Baylor
• Baylor owns the tiebreaker over three of the five teams jockeying for the final four spots in Bricktown (Iowa State, UCF and Utah)
• This Baylor team has shown a great ability to come from behind, winning seven times this season, when trailing after the fourth inning or later, including last Sunday against the Utes where they trailed 2-1 down to its final out before plating a pair on the final play for a 3-2 win.
• Baylor has won two of its three conference series' at Getterman Stadium, where BU has a 502-203 mark all-time
• Baylor has been buoyed by its pitching staff spearheaded by a couple of Texas natives who transferred back to their home state in Georgetown's Creager (Arizona St.) and Lake Jackson's Peyton Tanner (Tennessee)
• Creager enters this weekend in the top-10 in the conference in innings (107.2)
• Tanner enters the weekend eighth in the league with 79 strikeouts, giving Baylor two pitchers with at least 60 K's since 2024
• Baylor is one of two Big 12 Teams (Texas Tech) with multiple pitchers in the top-12 in the Big 12 in strikeouts
• Entering the season with a combined 64.0 innings a season ago, Tanner (94.1) and Creager (107.2) have combined for 202 innings this season
• Tanner has allowed just seven earned runs in her last six outings combined. In those six appearances, she has worked 31.2 of BU's 37.2 innings with 20 strikeouts.
• Senior Amber Toven is in the midst of her best collegiate season, sitting second among active players on the team in batting average (.356) and has a team-best 44 RBIs, the most by a Baylor player since Shaylon Govan's 54 in 2024.
• Named to Softball's America's top-15 midseason shortstops, Toven has had a 10-game hit streak and a 20-game on-base streak (both career bests) at different times this season
• Toven and Brooklyn Carter have shared the leadoff spot for much of the season, Carter who is batting .341 with a .401 OBP, creating chaos on the bases with 21 stolen bases, which is second in the Big 12
• Carter is statistically one of the toughest hitters in the conference to strike out K-ing on just 4.6% of her plate appearances this season
• Leah Cran enters the weekend leading the team with 18 extra-base hits on the strength of 13 doubles, which is top-10 in the Big 12. Additionally her 13 doubles are the most by a Baylor Player since Aliyah Binford had 15 in 2022
• Freshmen Kaygen Marshall leads the team with nine homeruns, the most by a Baylor Freshman since Kassidy Krupit hit 10 in 2019 (6th most by a freshman in the Glenn Moore era)
• Olivia Buettner has worked herself into a lineup regular appearing in 37 games with 27 starts and ranks third among active players on the team in on-base% (.396)
• Freshman Gianna Gusman has also contributed in her first season on campus appearing in 34 games with 28 starts, hitting .260, with several highlight-reel plays in the outfield, replacing the injured Karynton Dawson
• Sa'Mya Jones enters this week putting some good at-bats together, collecting hits in five-straight games and put the ball in play on Sunday that ultimately led to the winning runs against Utah.
• In 46 games entering the weekend, Moore has used 44 different lineup combinations
• Toven (Arizona, 2022), Carter (Washington, 2023) and Tanner (Tennessee, 2025) all boast Women's College World Series experience at their former stops
• Picked eighth in the Preseason Big 12 Coaches Poll, Baylor has met or outperformed its preseason expectations in 17 of Moore's 25 previous seasons at Baylor
