Preview: Baseball Welcomes #23 Duke for Weekend Series

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball finishes its season-opening seven-game homestand with a weekend series against Duke at Baylor Ballpark. Games are slated for 3:00 p.m. Friday, 3:00 p.m. Saturday, and 1:00 p.m. Sunday (all on ESPN +).

This series has the potential to make a major impact on the Bears season. With a series win, the team will get the major confidence boost that is needed to propel them into conference play in a few weeks.

Losing this series would hurt, but it would not be the end of the world with so many opportunities ahead to redirect the ship. Getting swept and not keeping the games particularly close could allow doubt or worry to creep into the clubhouse.

Maryland and Duke were scheduled for a reason, to test and compete with Baylor. The Bears failed the test against Maryland, but a series win against Duke would mean huge implications confidence-wise for the team and it would boost their resume come late May. 

BAYLOR BEARS                 

2022 Record: 1-3

2022 Big 12 Record: 0-0

Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez
Career: 573-421 (19th season)
BU: 172-121 (7th season)

2022 STAT LEADERS

AVG: Cortlan Castle & Nicolas Balsano (.429)

2B: Tre Richardson, Jack Pineda, Jared McKenzie, & Chase Wehsener (1)

HR: Tre Richardson (1)

RBI: Tre Richardson (4)

SB: Jack Pineda, Kyle Nevin, & Antonio Valdez (1)

#23 Duke Blue Devils     

2022 Record: 3-1

2022 ACC Record: 0-0

Head Coach: Chris Pollard
Career: 666-518 (23rd season)
Duke: 281-200 (10th season)

2022 STAT LEADERS

AVG: Chad Knight (.400)

2B: Graham Pauley (4)

HR: Chad Knight (1)

RBI: Chad Knight & Damon Lux (5)

SB: Alex Mooney (2)

Probable Starting Fielders

C: Fr. Cortlan Castle (.429, R, 3 H, 2 RBI) Went 3-7 in his first two collegiate starts. 

1B: Jr. Chase Wehsener (.200, R, 3 H, 2B, 2 RBI) Had a two-hit day on Saturday against Maryland.

2B: So. Tre Richardson (.313, 3 R, 5 H, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) Has had multi-hit games in the last two games.

3B: Sr. Esteban Oquendo-Cardoza (.111, 2 R, H, 2B) 1-9 so far this season. 

SS: Jr. Jack Pineda (.294, 4 R, 5 H, 2B, BB, SB) Played his best game of the season Tuesday night against HBU, 2-5, 3B, 3R.

LF: Jr. Antonio Valdez (.125, R, H, RBI, 2 BB) Is 1-8 so far at the plate. 

CF: So. Jared McKenzie (.214, R, 3 H, 2B, RBI, 3 BB) 20-for-62 (.323) Went 2-3 opening night, has gone 1-11 since then. 

RF: So. Kyle Nevin (.267, 2 R, 4 H, 3 RBI, BB, SB) Went 2-2 on Tuesday night with 2 RBI.

DH: So. Nicolas Balsano (.429, 3 H) 3-7 in two starts so far this season. 

Probable Starting Pitchers

BU SP1: LHP Tyler Thomas (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

Duke SP1: RHP Marcus Johnson (0-1, 8.31 ERA)

BU SP2: RHP Jake Jackson (0-1, 5.40 ERA)

Duke SP2: LHP Luke Fox (0-1, 1.80 ERA)

BU SP3: RHP TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Duke SP3: RHP Stinson Cooper (0-0, 9.00 ERA)