Preview: Baylor Baseball to Finish Big 12 Play against TCU

FORT WORTH, Texas – Baylor baseball (16-32, 6-15) will finish conference play with a weekend series against rival TCU (27-21, 8-10) at Lupton Stadium.

The first pitch Friday is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s game will start at 2 p.m., and Sunday’s finale is set for 1 p.m. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.

In order for the Bears to avoid missing the Big 12 Tournament for the first time in program history, they need to win the series over TCU at the very least. Currently, Baylor has three pathways to Arlington that are further discussed below.

Baylor Bears

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Wednesday’s defeat over Lamar gives BU its 32nd loss, a tie for the most in program history.

2023 Record (RPI): 16-32 (No. 163)

Head Coach: Mitch Thompson

• Career Record: 16-32 (1st season) 
• Record at Baylor: 16-32 (1st season)

2023 Projections

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

TCU Horned Frogs

2023 Record (RPI): 27-21 (No. 50)

Head Coach: Kirk Saarloos

• Career Record: 65-43 (2nd season) 
• Record at TCU: 65-43 (2nd season) 

2023 Projections

• D1Baseball: 2nd in the Big 12
• Coaches Poll: 1st in the Big 12

2023 STAT LEADERS

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Junior RF Hunter Simmons leads the team in batting average (.331).

• AVG: Hunter Simmons (.331)
• H: Kolby Branch (63)
• 2B: Kolby Branch (16)
• HR: Kolby Branch, John Ceccoli, Hunter Teplanszky (5)
• RBI: Kolby Branch (37)
• R: Kolby Branch (42)
• OB%: Kolby Branch (.422)
• BB: Kolby Branch (31)

Probable Starting Fielders: Baylor

• C: So. Cort Castle (.308, .376 OB%)
• 1B: So. John Ceccoli (.232, .357 OB%) 
• 2B: Jr. Cole Posey (.282, .395 OB%)
• 3B: So. Hunter Teplanszky (.327, .418 OB%)
• SS: Fr. Kolby Branch (.330, .422 OB%)
• LF: Jr. Hunter Simmons (.331, .387 OB%)
• CF: Fr. Caleb Bergman (.233, .303 OB%)
• RF: R-Fr. Gavin Brzozowski (.220, .351 OB%)
• DH: Jr. Cole Tremain (.279, .337 OB%)

Baylor Athletics

Junior RHP Will Rigney has the lowest ERA on the team (3.55) and will start Friday’s game on the mound.

Probable Starting Pitchers

• BU SP1: RHP Will Rigney (3-2, 3.55 ERA)
• TCU SP1: RHP Louis Rodriguez (1-1, 4.46 ERA)
• BU SP2: TBD
• TCU SP2: TBD
• BU SP3: TBD
• TCU SP3: TBD

What I Am Looking For

• Currently, Baylor has three pathways to Arlington for the Big 12 Tournament. I don’t think any of these options are likely, but technically, they are still plausible.

  

  Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

  Currently, Baylor has three pathways to Arlington for the Big 12 Tournament. I don’t think any of these options are likely, but technically, they are still plausible.

  Option 1) Win two of three over TCU (8-10), plus Texas Tech (9-9) sweep Kansas (7-14) in Lubbock. The Jayhawks have the tiebreaker over Baylor (6-15).

  Option 2) Sweep TCU and Kansas lose the series to Texas Tech.

  Option 3) Sweep TCU and the following weekend, hope that the Horned Frogs lose the series in Manhattan by Kansas State.

• In Tuesday’s loss to Grand Canyon and Wednesday’s loss to Lamar, Baylor was extremely rusty after not playing a game in a week because of final exams. Fortunately for the Bears, TCU has not played a game since Sunday against Cal State Fullerton. The Horned Frogs might be a little cold this weekend as well.

• Baylor currently holds a record of 16-32, a tie for the most losses in program history.

  The 2023 team will have a worse record than Steve Smith’s last season (23-32) in 2015, a worse record than Steve Rodriguez’s first season (24-26) in 2016 and a worse record than Rodriguez's final season (26-28) in 2022.

  Regardless of how bad Baylor’s record is, I admire how Thompson and his staff have been able to keep the clubhouse from going toxic. The Bears still compete hard in every game, despite being undermanned.

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  Baylor Athletics

  Former Baylor 2B Tre Richardson transferred to TCU this past offseason and is hitting .312 with an on-base percentage of .403.

  TCU was the heavy conference favorite entering 2023 and in mid-April, the Horned Frogs went through a 2-8 stretch that put them on the wrong side of the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. TCU will likely have to take care of business against Baylor and Kansas State for any shot of making the postseason.

• Former Baylor 2B Tre Richardson transferred to TCU this past offseason and is hitting .312 with an on-base percentage of .403.

Top Quotes

• Coach Mitch Thompson on the team playing with its backs to the wall:

“We’re going to go try and win games. I think if we harp on anything else, we’re going to be putting added pressure on our guys … But we have a lot to play for, and we’ve got to try and finish this thing right.”

• Will Rigney on his health for tomorrow’s start

“I’m feeling… I’m feeling good enough. I can’t complain. It’ll be fun to compete [against TCU].”