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Baylor Baseball

Baylor Baseball to Miss Big 12 Tournament for Second Consecutive Season

May 13, 2024
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Baylor baseball (21-29, 9-18) will miss the Big 12 Tournament for the second consecutive year and the second time in program history.

After reaching the middle of conference play with a 9-7 record, head coach Mitch Thompson’s Bears looked destined for a return to Arlington. Since April 19, Baylor has lost 11 straight Big 12 contests and has been outscored 129-to-46 during that stretch.

Many factors have played a role in Thompson’s disappointing second year at the helm, such as injuries to key contributors in the lineup and an underachieving pitching staff.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365
On April 19, the Bears reached .500 (18-18, 9-7) for the first time in 2024. Since then, Baylor is 3-11 and has lost 11 straight conference contests.

To clinch the 10th and final bid in the conference tournament, the Bears' last hope was for No. 19 Oklahoma State (34-16, 17-9) to sweep Texas Tech (30-22, 12-17) in Stillwater.

The Cowboys took the first two games of the series, but inclement weather canceled the finale, forcing Baylor to compete against the Red Raiders in win percentage instead of by final record, where BU held the tiebreaker. 

Even if the Bears return to Waco and sweep UCF (31-17, 12-14) this weekend at home, it will not matter since Baylor’s (.400) winning percentage will be lower than Texas Tech’s (.414) regardless.

After breaking a program record in losses (35) last season, returning to the conference tournament was a major goal for Thompson’s Bears in 2024. With that goal now unaccomplished, Baylor will soon head into another crucial offseason, during which the coaching staff must retain the talent on the roster while supplementing the rest of the team with transfer portal additions.

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Baylor Baseball to Miss Big 12 Tournament for Second Consecutive Season

7,514 Views | 17 Replies | Last: 7 mo ago by Chucky38
Jorkel
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12:25p, 5/13/24
Not a big surprise
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True Grit
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2:57p, 5/13/24
9-7 in conference play and finished 9-18. That's 11 straight Big 12 losses. Yikes...
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ImABearToo
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3:28p, 5/13/24
Better year but still a long long way to go. See y'all next February.
“Life is short, eat desert first!”
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canoso
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4:39p, 5/13/24
The chickens keep coming home to roost.
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Baylorfan1989
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5:43p, 5/13/24
A
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Baylorfan1989
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5:57p, 5/13/24
A disappointing season by far, you can blame the coaches, Thompson a has been , Leverton did not develope any pitcher, the same with Dillon no hitter development either. Thompson relied on the freshman pitchers the first half of the season that was a mistake, the team was rebuilding use your veterans work the young guys in slowly. This season he used all his guys and brought in the upper classmen later in the season. If you really want to get into it talk to Chad Jackson and Chad Castle there the ones that created this mess. No player wants to be here , if Thompson stays he need to get older players from the portal, not the ones that have played for him in the past, this is D1 baseball not Mclennen. Chad Jackson should be talking to players like he did when he wanted Rodriguez out. We are worse now than we were then.
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ImABearToo
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7:24p, 5/13/24
Saw on espn scores that there was a BU - TCU baseball game tomorrow night now showing cancelled? Was it a make up game?
“Life is short, eat desert first!”
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Jack Bauer
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In reply to ImABearToo • 9:06p, 5/13/24
ImABearToo said:
Saw on espn scores that there was a BU - TCU baseball game tomorrow night now showing cancelled? Was it a make up game?
They have already played 3x, looks like it was a non-conference fill in game but..

Baylor baseball's Tuesday game at TCU has been cancelled with respect for the health and well-being of student-athletes.
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LIB,MR BEARS
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In reply to ImABearToo • 3:39a, 5/14/24
ImABearToo said:
Saw on espn scores that there was a BU - TCU baseball game tomorrow night now showing cancelled? Was it a make up game?
The mother of one of the TCU players passed after a long battle with cancer. The funeral attended by the team
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Chucky38
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In reply to Baylorfan1989 • 10:26a, 5/14/24
not arguing but college sports/baseball is not about development anymore. You put together a totally different team each season with new players. College sports is now about roster management. You must figure out a way to attract good players each year and keep any good players that have had a good year. Go look at what Calipari recently said. He is only going to have 7 or 8 players on his basketball team at Arkansas. He said that he does not want to develop a kid who is 9th or 10th on his bench and then the kid transfers and beats him with a new team. Do you think LSU won the baseball National Championship last year because the coach developed his pitchers? No they bought the best players from around the country and won the Championship. Skenes did not get developed by the LSU coaches. Baylor baseball is going to be a very hard place to win moving forward. The hurdles are very real. 1. Tuition costs, 2. Lack of NIL funds, 3. Poor facilities, 4. Poor game attendance and atmosphere.
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LIB,MR BEARS
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In reply to Chucky38 • 10:35a, 5/14/24
Chucky38 said:
not arguing but college sports/baseball is not about development anymore. You put together a totally different team each season with new players. College sports is now about roster management. You must figure out a way to attract good players each year and keep any good players that have had a good year. Go look at what Calipari recently said. He is only going to have 7 or 8 players on his basketball team at Arkansas. He said that he does not want to develop a kid who is 9th or 10th on his bench and then the kid transfers and beats him with a new team. Do you think LSU won the baseball National Championship last year because the coach developed his pitchers? No they bought the best players from around the country and won the Championship. Skenes did not get developed by the LSU coaches. Baylor baseball is going to be a very hard place to win moving forward. The hurdles are very real. 1. Tuition costs, 2. Lack of NIL funds, 3. Poor facilities, 4. Poor game attendance and atmosphere.
Nothing in those 4 items listed says some other coach would do well at BU without some major changes in the way the university approaches baseball.
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Chucky38
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In reply to LIB,MR BEARS • 10:45a, 5/14/24
Yes I 100% agree. I am a Thompson fan. If there is a coach who can figure out a way for Baylor baseball to be competitive and finish middle of the pack in the Big 12 right now, it is Thompson. The school has to get behind the program/coach financially otherwise it will not happen.
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Robert Wilson
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In reply to LIB,MR BEARS • 11:41a, 5/14/24
I know it is a chicken/egg issue, but items 2, 3, and 4 would all improve significantly if the fan base (or potential fan base) had any reason to get excited. Ultimately, it comes down to the coach instilling some hope / optimism / vision into the program.
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LIB,MR BEARS
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In reply to Robert Wilson • 2:07p, 5/14/24
Robert Wilson said:
I know it is a chicken/egg issue, but items 2, 3, and 4 would all improve significantly if the fan base (or potential fan base) had any reason to get excited. Ultimately, it comes down to the AD and coach instilling some hope / optimism / vision into the program.
FIFY
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Dia del DougO
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6:19p, 5/14/24
Well, at least they have another streak going.

I'm not all out on Mitch. They have been plagued with terrible fortune with injuries in both seasons and a really thin roster to work with. Something has to happen to beef up the roster for next year or he may be in trouble. But I don't think Baylor really puts much stock in baseball these days, so the patience may be long here from the top,

They need a significant jump next season, but it's tough if they lose the few guys who can excel at this level.
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."
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Baylorfan1989
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In reply to Chucky38 • 2:13p, 5/15/24
Skenes didnt get to where he is now w/o development, his coaches coached him everyday, instructed him. This does not happen at Baylor. I agree with you lack of NIL money that a players parent has his hands in is not a good look. The atmosphere is non existant,there is more excitment at a T ball game. Terrible music and a video board that is not used to its fullest. There is no home field advantage ever, teams enjoy playing in Waco, like being in church. Jackson needs to pull his head out!!!
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Chucky38
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In reply to Baylorfan1989 • 12:50p, 5/16/24
My point was that LSU coaches did not develop Skenes. The guy was a hired gun. Baylor not only can not pay to get a great college player, they can't pay to get an average college player. Baylor baseball is a very very hard job right now no matter who the coach is. If you don't have good players, you will not win. And getting good players just got a whole lot harder for Baylor baseball because of NIL. Baylor lost it's best player last year to Georgia (Branch). Branch is hitting .276 with 15 homeruns this year. Good numbers but not great. So he is an average player and Baylor could not hold on to him.

And if you are saying Chad Jackson is the person who gets baseball coaches hired and fired, then he hasn't done a good job the last two hires (Rodriguez and Thompson). It is not Chad's fault. If you don't have money, you don't win.
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