Preview: Baylor Baseball Travels to Durham for a Weekend Series against Duke
DURHAM, N.C. – Baylor Baseball (2-2) will travel to North Carolina to take on ACC opponent Duke (2-2) for a three-game set this weekend at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Games are slated for 3 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday (ACCXN/ESPN+).
BAYLOR BEARS
2023 Record: 2-2
Head Coach: Mitch Thompson
- Career Record: 374-140 (10th season)
- Record at Baylor: 2-2 (1st season)
2023 Projections
- D1Baseball: 9th in the Big 12
- Coaches Poll: 9th in the Big 12
Duke Blue Devils
2023 Record: 2-2
Head Coach: Chris Pollard
- Career Record: 687-551 (24th season)
- Record at Duke: 302-233 (11th season)
2023 Projections
- D1Baseball: 6th in the Coastal Division (ACC) behind UNC, VT, UVA, Miami and GT
- Coaches Poll: 6th in the Coastal Division (ACC) behind Miami, UVA, UNC, VT and GT
2023 STAT LEADERS (Min. 10 AB)
- AVG: Kolby Branch (.444)
- H: Kolby Branch (8)
- 2B: Kolby Branch, Kobe Andrade (2)
- HR: Kolby Branch, Gavin Brzozowski, John Ceccoli (1)
- RBI: Kolby Branch (9)
- R: Kolby Branch (5)
- OB%: Hunter Teplanszky (.538)
- BB: Gavin Brzozowski, Hunter Teplanszky (3)
Probable Starting Fielders: Baylor
C: So. Cort Castle (.000, 5 AB, 2 BB, .286 OB%)
1B: So. John Ceccoli (.267, 15 AB, R, 4 H, HR, 2 RBI, .267 OB%)
2B: Fr. Kolby Branch (.444, 18 AB, 5 R, 8 H, 2 2B, HR, 9 RBI, 2 BB, .500 OB%)
3B: So. Hunter Teplanszky (.400, 10 AB, 3 R, 4 H, RBI, 3 BB, .538 OB%)
SS: So. Austin Stracener (.091, 11 AB, H, RBI, BB, .167 OB%)
LF: Jr. Cole Posey (.125, 8 AB, 4 R, H, 2 BB, 2 HBP, .417 OB%)
CF: Jr. Kobe Andrade (.214, 2 R, 3 H, 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, .294 OB%)
RF: RS-Fr. Gavin Brzozowski (.273, 3 R, 3 H, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, HBP .467 OB%)
DH: Jr. Will Pendergrass (.200, 10 AB, 2 R, 2 H, .200 OB%)
*Hunter Simmons (OF), Casen Neumann (1B/DH), Harrison Caley (C) and Jack Johnson (1B/3B) will all see time throughout the weekend.
Probable Starting Pitchers
BU SP1: RHP Blake Helton (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 2.40 WHIP, 3.1 IP)
Duke SP1: LHP Jonathon Santucci (1-0, 0.00 ERA, .75 WHIP, 4.0 IP)
BU SP2: LHP Cam Caley (0-1, 9.64 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 4.2 IP)
Duke SP2: RHP Adam Boucher (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 4.0 IP)
BU SP3: RHP Mason Marriott (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 4.0 IP)
Duke SP3: RHP Alex Gow (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 2.40 WHIP, 1.2 IP)
What I Am Looking For This Weekend
- Eighteen of the Bears' first 21 games are at home. The series against Duke is the only set of games until late March that won’t be played at Baylor Ballpark. Coach Thompson believes it’s a huge advantage to play at home with such a young team, so it will be interesting to see how the guys respond in their first series away from Waco.
- Helton, Caley and Marriott weren’t great in their first starts of the season, but none were awful. I’m interested to see how they bounce back this week. If the bullpen continues to pitch like last week, there’s no reason not to pull Caley or Marriott early if they are struggling.
- Outside of Branch, there hasn’t been consistent offense from anyone else on the team. If Baylor wants to go on the road and steal a series, some other guys are going to have to step up.
- “Duke’s shortstop, Alex Mooney, was the second-highest ranked high school player to bypass the draft and show up on a college campus last year,” according to D1Baseball.
Quick Side Notes
- HOW TO WATCH: Go to Duke’s baseball schedule on their website. Click “Watch” whenever you are going to turn on the game. Link your Youtube TV, DirecTV, etc., and it should allow you to watch it on ESPN+.
- There was no media presser previewing the Duke series.