Preview: Baylor Baseball Travels to Austin to Take On Texas As Big 12 Foes One Final Time

AUSTIN, Texas – Baylor baseball (7-13, 2-4) will hit the road for one final series with the Texas Longhorns (13-8, 2-1) as conference foes at UFCU Disch-Falk Field this weekend. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s contest will start at 2:30 p.m., and the series finale on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m. All three games will be televised on Longhorn Network.

Baylor Bears

Baylor Athletics

Baylor is coming off a 2-2 week that saw a ranked series win over No. 24 Texas Tech and an 18-3 blowout loss to Sam Houston.

• 2024 Record: 7-13
• Big 12 Record: 2-4
• RPI: No. 143
• Notable Wins: No. 24 Texas Tech (2)
• Notable Losses: No. 23 Indiana (3), No. 20 Dallas Baptist, No. 5 Tennessee, Oregon, Nebraska

Head Coach: Mitch Thompson

• Career Record: 399-185 (11th season) 
• Record at Baylor: 27-47 (2nd season) 

2024 Projections

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

Texas Longhorns

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Former Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez is entering his second year as an assistant coach at Texas.

• 2024 Record: 13-8
• Big 12 Record: 2-1
• RPI: No. 44
• Notable Wins: No. 17 Texas Tech (2)
• Notable Losses: No. 3 LSU, Texas State, No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 7 Texas A&M

Head Coach: David Pierce

• Career Record: 470-255 (13th season) 
• Record at Texas: 273-146 (8th season) 

2024 Projections

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

Baylor Probable Starting Fielders:

*BAVG = Batting Average, OB% = On-Base Percentage, AB = At-Bats*

Baylor Athletics

DH Wesley Jordan (Jr.) is starting to turn a corner at the plate, going 5-for-14 with two extra-base hits this past week.

• C: Cortlan Castle (Jr.) - (.270 BAVG, .341 OB%, 10 R, 3 RBI, 37 AB)
• 1B: Will Pendergrass (RJr.) - (.226 BAVG, .304 OB%, 9 R, 6 XBH, 9 RBI, 62 AB)
• 2B: Mason Greer (Sr.) - (.235 BAVG, .303 OB%, 6 R, 6 XBH, 10 RBI, 68 AB)
• SS: Tyriq Kemp (Jr.) - (.180 BAVG, .300 OB%, 3 R, RBI, 50 AB)
• 3B: Hunter Teplanszky (Jr.) - (.256 BAVG, .322 OB%, 9 R, 3 XBH, 9 RBI, 78 AB)
• LF: Daniel Altman (Sr.) - (.293 BAVG, .431 OB%, 5 R, 2 XBH, 8 RBI, 41 AB)
• CF: Ty Johnson (Jr.) - (.302 BAVG, .371 OB%, 4 XBH, 4 RBI, 63 AB)
• RF: Enzo Apodaca (RJr.) - (.361 BAVG, .433 OB%, 17 R, 9 XBH, 18 RBI, 72 AB)
• DH: Wesley Jordan (Jr.) - (.291 BAVG, .409 OB%, 12 R, 7 XBH, 10 RBI, 55 AB)

Projected Bench

• C: Harrison Caley (Sr.) - (.316 BAVG, .435 OB%, 7 R, 4 XBH, 8 RBI, 19 AB)
• C/DH: Zach Mazoch (So.) - (.222 BAVG, .462 OB%, R, 3 RBI, 9 AB)
• 1B/DH: Brayden Buchanan (Fr.) - (.167 BAVG, .375 OB%, 2 R, 18 AB)
• 2B: Chase Womack (Fr.) - (.071 BAVG, .316 OB%, 2 RBI, 14 AB)
• OF Kade Fletcher (RJr.) - (.192 BAVG, .371 OB%, 3 R, XBH, 5 RBI, 26 AB)

Probable Starting Pitchers:

• BU SP 1 – RHP Mason Marriott (Jr.) - (0-3, 5.25 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 24.0 IP, 5 GS)
• UT SP 1 – RHP Lebarron Johnson Jr. (RJr.) - (1-1, 3.08 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 26.1 IP, 5 GS)
• BU SP 2 – RHP Collin McKinney (RFr.) - (1-2, 5.66 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 20.2 IP, 5 GS)
• UT SP 2 – RHP Cody Howard (RSo.) - (2-2, 7.11 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 19.0 IP, 4 GS)
• BU SP 3 – LHP Mason Green (Fr.) - (1-1, 3.60 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 20.0 IP, 2 GS)
• UT SP 3 – RHP Max Grubbs (So.) - (2-0, 2.61 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 20.2 IP, 2 GS)

Texas Probable Starting Fielders:

Texas Athletics

UT’s Friday night starter, RHP Lebarron Johnson Jr (RJr.), is a legit ace and was the Big 12 Preseason Pitcher of the Year.

*BAVG = Batting Average, OB% = On-Base Percentage, AB = At-Bats, (Stats as of 3/19)*

• C: Kimble Schuessler (RJr.) - (.382 BAVG, .435 OB%, 19 R, 6 XBH, 9 RBI, 55 AB)
• 1B: Jared Thomas (So.) - (.400 BAVG, .510 OB%, 21 R, 11 XBH, 13 RBI, 80 AB)
• 2B: Jack O’Dowd (Sr.) - (.197 BAVG, .257 OB%, 8 R, 8 XBH, 11 RBI, 66 AB)
• SS: Jalin Flores (So.) - (.329 BAVG, .380 OB%, 18 R, 14 XBH, 19 RBI, 82 AB)
• 3B: Peyton Powell (RSr.) - (.398 BAVG, .453 OB%, 15 R, 12 XBH, 25 RBI, 83 AB)
• LF: Porter Brown (RSr.) - (.219 BAVG, .360 OB%, 15 R, 8 XBH, 15 RBI, 73 AB)
• CF: Will Gasparino (Fr.) - (.311 BAVG, .348 OB%, 13 R, 8 XBH, 15 RBI, 61 AB)
• RF: Max Belyeu (So.) - (.263 BAVG, .408 OB%, 18 R, 11 XBH, 13 RBI, 57 AB)
• DH: Ryan Galvan (So.) - (.340 BAVG, .415 OB%, 10 R, 16XBH, 12 RBI, 47 AB)

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Caption

Top Quotes

Head coach Mitch Thompson on playing UT for the final time as conference foes:

• “I hate to see it go. It’s been a great rivalry for a long time. I’m sure that they are the team that Baylor has played the most in the history of our program. … I hope that we can still figure out ways to get together and keep playing in Austin and play in Waco.”

Infielder Mason Greer (Sr.) on putting the 18-3 loss to Sam Houston behind them: 

• “It’s tough when you get beat like that, but you have to go one game at a time, and I think that’s what we’re doing as a team. You obviously want to work things that didn’t go well, but we have to look at the positives and keep going.”

Left-handed pitcher Mason Green (Fr.) on becoming Baylor’s Sunday starter:

• “My personal goal is to win ballgames. I like to be able to fill a role for the team and be able to help us get wins under our belt.”

What I’m Looking For This Weekend + Other Notes

• I’m having a tough time gauging where exactly this short-handed lineup is at this point in the season. To be quite honest, I thought the offensive outpouring against Oral Roberts was fool’s gold, and I believed the Houston series was a more accurate representation of what we’d see from the lineup moving forward. However, in the series win over the Red Raiders, guys like Ty Johnson (Jr.), Wesley Jordan (Jr.) and Mason Greer (Sr.) have begun to look more comfortable at the plate. It’ll be interesting to see how the offense performs this weekend, although I’m not expecting much on Friday night against UT’s extremely talented ace, Lebarron Johnson Jr. (RJr.).
• 

  Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

  LHP Jackson Elizondo (Fr.) left Tuesday’s game against Sam Houston with an apparent injury to his left arm.
  The injury bug has decimated Baylor’s roster so far this spring. The Bears have already lost OF Hunter Simmons (Sr.), OF Gavin Brzozowski (RSo.), INF Jack Little (So.) and INF John Youens (Fr.) for the season. Other names, such as INF Cole Posey (Sr.), OF Caleb Bergman (So.) and LHP Sam Crain (RJr.), have also been dealing with some nagging injuries that have prevented them from playing. The latest injury came on Tuesday night against Sam Houston when lefty Jackson Elizondo (Fr.) threw a pitch and immediately tossed off his glove in frustration and pointed to his elbow. He was pulled from the contest and was emotional walking off the mound.
• Prediction: Texas wins the series, but Baylor takes a game. If there was ever a year to steal a series in Austin, this may be the time. This is probably one of the weaker teams David Pierce has had in his tenure at UT, but by no means am I saying that the Longhorns don’t still pose a major challenge. I think if the Bears can get a quality start or two from Collin McKinney (RFr.) or Mason Green (Fr.) and have Ethan Calder (So.) and Patrick Hail (RJr.) ready in the bullpen, Baylor will have a chance.