Bears 14 ETSU 1, 8th
Baylor Baseball Welcomes East Tennessee State for a Weekend Series
WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (13-11, 2-4) takes a brief pause from conference play and welcomes East Tennessee State (18-5) to Baylor Ballpark for a three-game set this weekend. Games are slated for 6:30 P.M. Friday, 3:00 P.M. Saturday, and 1:00 P.M. Sunday (ESPN+).
BAYLOR BEARS - (#54 RPI Ranking & #16 Strength of Schedule)
2022 Record: 13-11
2022 Big 12 Record: 2-4
Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez
- Career Record: 585-429 (19th season)
- Record at Baylor: 184-129 (7th season)
2022 STAT LEADERS
- AVG: Tre Richardson (.309)
- H: Jack Pineda (31)
- 2B: Kyle Nevin (7)
- HR: Kyle Nevin (4)
- RBI: Kyle Nevin (22)
- R: Tre Richardson (28)
- OB%: Harrison Caley (.418)
- SB: Jack Pineda (8)
- BB: Jared McKenzie & Tre Richardson(14)
East Tennessee State Buccaneers - (#117 RPI Ranking & #117 Strength of Schedule)
2022 Record: 18-5
2022 SoCon Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Joe Pennucci
- Career Record: 106-79 (5th season)
- Record at ETSU: 106-79 (5th season)
2022 STAT LEADERS
- AVG: Cam Norgen (.364)
- H: Cam Norgren (28)
- 2B: Cam Norgren (8)
- HR: Cam Norgren (7)
- RBI: Garett Wallace (26)
- R: Ashton King (25)
- OB%: Cam Norgren (.485)
- BB: Tommy Barth (12)
Probable Starting Fielders: Baylor
C: So. Harrison Caley (.304, 5 R, 17 H, 2B, 6 RBI, 10 BB, .418 OB%)
1B: R-Jr. Chase Wehsener (.295, 13 R, 26 H, 4 2B, 20 RBI, 13 BB, .393 OB%)
2B: So. Tre Richardson (.309, 28 R, 30 H, 4 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 14 BB, 2 SB, .398 OB%)
3B: Sr. Esteban Oquendo-Cardoza (.228, 14 R, 18 H, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 5 BB, .319 OB%)
SS: Jr. Jack Pineda (.290, 21 R, 31 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 10 BB, 8 SB, .372 OB%)
LF: So. Alex Gonzales (.211, 7 R, 12 H, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 5 BB, .286 OB%)
CF: So. Jared McKenzie (.284, 16 R, 27 H, 4 2B, 3B, HR, 11 RBI, 14 BB, 2 SB, .393 OB%)
RF: So. Kyle Nevin (.235, 17 R, 23 H, 7 2B, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 9 BB, 3 SB, .295 OB%)
DH: Fr. Casen Neumann (.350, 5 R, 7 H, 9 RBI, 3 BB, .435 OB%)
Probable Starting Pitchers
BU SP1: LHP Tyler Thomas (3-3, 1.79 ERA)
ETSU SP1: RHP Hunter Loyd (3-0, 1.21 ERA)
BU SP2: LHP Kobe Andrade (2-0, 1.89 ERA)
ETSU SP2: LHP Colby Stuart (3-0, 5.88 ERA)
BU SP3: RHP Will Rigney (1-0, 4.74 ERA)
ETSU SP3: RHP Landon Smiddy (1-2, 2.88 ERA)
What I Am Looking For This Weekend
- ETSU is not a bad team by any means, they only lost to #1 Tennessee 5-1. Baylor cannot take this opponent lightly, ETSU across the board can flat out hit.
- Extra-Base Hits! This team did a great job of tallying doubles, triples, and home runs against Oklahoma. Let’s hope the momentum carries over.
- How will Andrade perform in his second Saturday start? Andrade was excellent against Oklahoma, let’s see if he can continue the momentum.
- Lastly, the bullpen…. Again. Who can be trusted? Who pitches when? Who can consistently hit the zone? The questions that I had going into last weekend remain unanswered heading into the ETSU series. Walking people is going to be a major issue against a lineup of ETSU’s caliber. On a positive note, I will say that Jake Jackson and Cam Caley were solid out of the pen.
Quick Side Notes
- RPI and SOS rankings were last updated last at 3:00 P.M. 3/31