Baylor Baseball Begins Road Stretch at No. 24 DBU

STORYLINES

LEADING OFF

• Baylor begins its longest road stretch of the season with five consecutive games away from home, starting with a midweek contest at DBU on Tuesday.

• The Bears are riding a five-game winning streak, their longest since winning eight straight from March 30 to April 10, 2021.

• BU is coming off a three-game series sweep over East Tennessee State, its first sweep of 2022.

• BU has scored 61 runs during its five-game win streak.

• The Bears have tallied at least two extra-base hits in each of their last six games.

• Baylor continues to turn double plays at a high rate, leading the Big 12 and ranking third in the nation with 29 total twin killings, 1.07 per game.

• The Bears rank fourth in the Big 12 with a 4.27 ERA, while current members of the weekend rotation boast a combined 2.27 ERA.

• The Bears are 5-4 against ranked opponents in 2022, with wins over No. 23 Duke, No. 23 UCLA, No. 7 LSU and No. 21 TCU.

• Baylor stays close to home in 2022, as 43 of its 52 regular-season contests will be played in the state of Texas.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Baylor leads the all-time series 53-27 over DBU.

• Under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez, the Bears are 7-2 against the Patriots.

• DBU took the most recent meeting, 5-4, on March 11, 2020, in Waco, the final game before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the 2020 season.

• BU is 4-1 at Horner Ballpark during the Rodriguez era.

• The Bears are 48-16 in midweek contests under Rodriguez, including a 5-1 mark so far in 2022.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Tuesday, April 5 • 6:30 p.m. CT • LHP Matt Voelker (1-4, 5.17 ERA) vs. RHP Zach Heaton (1-1, 4.08 ERA)

BROADCAST INFORMATION

• Tuesday's game will be streamed on ESPN+.

• Fans can also tune in to ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM and 92.3 FM for the Baylor radio broadcast, featuring Derek Smith (Play-by-Play) and former BU relief pitcher Joe Heineman (Analyst) on the call.

BEARS BATS HEATING UP

• In their last 10 games, the Bears have erupted for 115 hits as a team, posting a .308 batting average.

• Baylor has scored 88 runs over that span, including a three-game stretch with 46, it's most since April 24-28, 2018, when BU scored 51 in a three-game span.

• The Bears have tallied 36 extra-base hits over that stretch, including seven games with at least three such knocks.

• BU has eclipsed double-digit hits six times in that span.

TURNING TWO

• Baylor leads the Big 12 and ranks third nationally with 29 double plays turned in 2022 (1.07 per game).

• The Bears turned five double plays during their series at Oklahoma.

• Tre Richardson has an assist in 25 of those 29 twin killings so far this season.

• The Bears rolled just 33 double plays in all of 2021 (0.65 per game).

WE WENT TO JARED

• Baylor slugger Jared McKenzie is starting to heat up, going 18-for-45 (.400) over his last 10 games.

• The third-year sophomore preseason All-American has raised his batting average to .283 for the year with four three-hit performances over that span.

• Eight of those 18 hits have gone for extra-bases, as McKenzie has tallied five doubles, one triple, and two HRs.

• The Round Rock, Texas, native hit his third HR and second inside-the-parker in Friday's series opener against ETSU. It is unclear the last time when a Baylor player, or Big 12 player, hit two inside-the-park home runs in the same season.

• He previously circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run in Game 2 of Saturday, March 12's doubleheader against Columbia.

• His first inside-the-parker was Baylor's first since March 19, 2011, when Chris Slater did so against Texas Tech.