Series Preview: Baylor Baseball Welcomes Texas Tech to Waco for Three-Game Set

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (23-21, 9-12) enters the home stretch of the season with a three-game set this weekend against Texas Tech (22-22, 6-15) at Baylor Ballpark.

The Bears will open the series at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 1, but there is a strong chance the game will be moved due to inclement weather. Saturday’s game is slated for 2 p.m. CT, while the series finale on Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m CT. All three games this weekend will be streamed on ESPN+.

Baylor Bears

• Record: 23-21 (9-12)
• RPI: 59th
• SOS: 15th

2026 Season Statistics

• Batting Average: .262 (12th in Big 12)
• Earned Run Average: 5.53 (7th in Big 12)
• Fielding Percentage: .974 (6th in Big 12)

Head Coach: Mitch Thompson

• Career Record: 470-247 (13th season) 
• Record at Baylor: 98-109 (4th season) 

2026 Projections

• D1Baseball: 10th in Big 12
• Coaches Poll: 11th in Big 12

Notable Results

• Wins: Houston (3), BYU (2), UTSA, No. 25 Ole Miss,
• Losses: No. 11 Oregon State, No. 20 Southern Miss, No. 3 Texas, No. 22 West Virginia (2), Oklahoma State (2), Cincinnati (2), TCU (2), No. 25 Arizona State (3)

Texas Tech Red Raiders

• Record: 22-22 (6-15)
• RPI: 131st
• SOS: 91st

2026 Season Statistics

• Batting Average: .351 (1st in Big 12)
• Earned Run Average: 7.71 (14th in Big 12)
• Fielding Percentage: .970 (13th in Big 12)

Head Coach: Tim Tadlock

• Career Record: 494-296 (14th season) 
• Record at Texas Tech: 494-296 (14th season) 

2026 Projections

• D1Baseball: 9th in Big 12
• Coaches Poll: 9th in Big 12

Notable Results

• Wins: Kansas (2), Arizona (2)
• Losses: Oklahoma, No. 23 Vanderbilt, No. 7 Arkansas, TCU (3), Houston (2), No. 17 West Virginia (2), Utah (3), Oklahoma State (3)

Baylor’s Projected Starting Lineup

• SS: Travis Sanders (RJr.): (.355 BAVG, .977 OPS, 169 AB)
• RF: Brady Janusek (Fr.): (.316 BAVG, .964 OPS, 177 AB)
• 1B: Tyce Armstrong (RSr.): (.317 BAVG, 1.130 OPS, 167 AB)
• C: JJ Kennett (Jr.): (.306 BAVG, .849 OPS, 98 AB)
• DH: Dylan Perez (Fr.): (.189 BAVG, .528 OPS, 53 AB)
• 3B: Brytton Clements (RFr.): (.294 BAVG, .714 OPS, 102 AB)
• 2B: Pearson Riebock (So.): (.189 BAVG, .615 OPS, 132 AB)
• LF: Ty Johnson (5Sr.): (.212 BAVG, .585 OPS, 132 AB)
• CF: Bo Caraway (Fr.): (.206 BAVG, .485 OPS, 63 AB)

Projected Bench

• INF: Robert De La Garza (Jr.): (.234 BAVG, .655 OPS, 47 AB)
• DH: Hunter Snow (RFr.): (.195 BAVG, .707 OPS, 87 AB)
• C: Brayden Buchanan (RSo.): (.220 BAVG, .641 OPS, 50 AB)

*2026 Stats: (BAVG = Batting Average, OPS = On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage, AB = At-Bats)*

Texas Tech’s Projected Starting Lineup

• CF: Kyeler Thompson (Jr.): (.359 BAVG, .941 OPS, 167 AB)
• 2B: Tracer Lopez (Sr.): (.371 BAVG, .942 OPS, 175 AB)
• RF: Connor Shouse (So.): (.329 BAVG, .989 OPS, 170 AB)
• LF: Logan Hughes (Jr.): (.372 BAVG, 1.185 OPS, 164 AB)
• 3B: Linkin Garcia (Fr.): (.361 BAVG, .934 OPS, 183 AB)
• DH: Caden Ferraro (Jr.): (.380 BAVG, 1.097 OPS, 142 AB)
• C: Matt Quintanar (Jr.): (.333 BAVG, .861 OPS, 162 AB)
• 1B: Robin Villenueve (5Sr.): (.354 BAVG, 1.044 OPS, 147 AB)
• SS: Coleman Ryan (So.): (.244 BAVG, .553 OPS, 45 AB)

*2026 Stats: (BAVG = Batting Average, OPS = On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage, AB = At-Bats)*

Probable Starting Pitchers

• BU SP 1 – RHP: Lucas Davenport (Jr.); (4.57 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 43.1 IP, 9-9 APP-GS, 4-2 W-L)
• TTU SP 1 – TBD
• BU SP 2 – RHP: Zack Wallace (So.); (5.05 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 46.1 IP, 13-8 APP-GS, 3-4 W-L)
• TTU SP 2 – TBD
• BU SP 3 – LHP: Ethan Calder (Sr.); (4.77 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 54.2 IP, 11-11 APP-GS, 3-5 W-L)
• TTU SP 3 – TBD

*2026 Stats: (ERA = Earned Run Average, WHIP = Walks & Hits Per Inning Pitched, IP = Innings-Pitched, APP = Appearances)

Top Quotes

Head coach Mitch Thompson on facing Texas Tech this weekend:

• “I think they’re as good a hitting team as we have in the league. When you look at their numbers and some of their performers, you see a lot of veteran dudes and some young, physical, strong players as well. Offensively, they’re as good as it comes. They’re hitting .350 as a team and .320 in conference. That’s way up there. The deal will be to limit them and try to score some runs. They’ve had some injuries on the mound, just like everybody, and it’s affected them a bit. We’re just trying to score one more run than them and limit them when we can. You don’t want to give a team that can hit like that extra opportunities.”

Head coach Mitch Thompson on dealing with the weather this weekend:

• “We’re communicating with Texas Tech the best we can. I’ve considered different things. We know tomorrow looks tough, so I’ve considered moving the series back to Saturday, Sunday or Monday, but that puts us in a bad spot for the next week, with all three of our starting pitchers pitching on short rest. Nobody wants to play a doubleheader. For sure, Coach Tadlock and I don’t have the junior college experiences that we’ve had, where we played all those times. If we play the double-header on Saturday, if we have to, then we’ll do that. That’s kind of where I came down on it. That’s probably the best thing. We have good weather on Saturday and Sunday, so we’ll get the series in. Hopefully, we can sneak a way to get tomorrow in on Friday night, but we’re going to need Mother Nature to cooperate.”

Head coach Mitch Thompson on the key to success this weekend and the importance of this series:

• “We just have to go out and be ourselves, and we’ll be fine. We’ll compete fine if we’re ourselves. If we play well, we’ll be in it. If we don’t play well, we don’t. All these games are huge. We have [10] of them left. We were rolling there for a bit, then we hit a rough spot. Now, it’s time to get back on the good side of things. I think our guys are excited about being home. We’re excited to play again and get this behind us. This is big. We want to beat Tech. They want to beat us.”