Baylor Clinches Key Road Series Win Over No. 23 Arizona, Eyes Winnable Stretch Ahead

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Over the weekend, Baylor baseball (19-8, 4-5) traveled to the Grand Canyon State and won two of three games over No. 23 Arizona, marking the first time since 2021 that the Bears had won a road series over a ranked opponent.

Friday’s series opener started with a bang when Arizona’s starting pitcher and former Bear, Collin McKinney (RSo.) couldn’t make it out of the second inning after issuing four free passes and surrendering two earned runs.

Baylor walked away victorious in the back-and-forth contest, 8-5, and took that momentum into Saturday, where the Bears took the series with a 6-3 win on the backs of the bullpen. 

Relievers Lucas Davenport (RSo.), Grayson Murry (Jr.), Caleb Bunch (Sr.) and Gabe Craig (RSr.) combined for eight strikeouts and didn’t allow an earned run over the final seven innings of Saturday’s contest. Craig is tied for the Big 12 lead with six saves; he has a 0.82 ERA and 17 punchouts compared to just one walk.

Some other top performers from the weekend include shortstop Tyriq Kemp (Sr.), who went 7-for-13 at the plate with four RBIs. Right-handed pitcher Will Glatch (Sr.) had another excellent outing out of the bullpen on Friday and collected his second win; Glatch has allowed just one earned run across 16.2 frames this season.

After blowout losses on back-to-back Fridays and Saturdays to Kansas and Kansas State, head coach Mitch Thompson told the media leading up to the Arizona series, “The last two weeks, we’ve been punched in the mouth on Friday and Saturday, and I mean literally punched in the gut and beaten up.”

Baylor Athletics

Baylor’s win over No. 23 Arizona marked the first time since 2021 that the Bears had won a road series over a ranked opponent.

Thompson added, “Our starting pitching doesn’t have to go out and win the game. It just can’t go out and lose it. Keep us in the game. Give us an opportunity to let our [lineup] swing the bats and give us an opportunity to use the backend of our bullpen; we feel like we’re in great shape with that. The guys understand, and we’re working on it. We’ll get better at it. I promise we’ll start winning games on Fridays and Saturdays.”

His words rang true for the first two games of the series, but on Sunday, left-handed pitcher Carson Bailey (Fr.), arguably the most talented pitcher on the roster, had the worst outing of his young career; he allowed eight runs and recorded only two outs before being pulled.

Arizona took a commanding 10-0 first-inning lead and never relinquished it. The Bears chipped away for much of the afternoon but struggled to get the “big hit." They went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position and eventually lost 11-6 in the finale.

Outside of the 10-run stinker inning, the Bears played good baseball for the entirety of the series. That one inning, however, could have been the difference in a series win versus a sweep, which obviously would have been an enormous accomplishment.

The only other negative from the weekend was center fielder Ty Johnson (Sr.) left Saturday’s contest after being hit by a pitch on the hand. Johnson temporarily stayed in the game before leaving an inning later. He was not in the lineup in the series finale, and it’ll be something to monitor moving forward.

Thompson told ESPN Central Texas on Saturday, “We’re hoping everything is going to be okay with him, but it’s a little scary.” Johnson is currently hitting .292 with 23 RBIs and a .432 on-base percentage.

In other news, at the rough halfway point of the regular season, Baylor’s RPI currently sits at No. 36, and it reached as high as No. 34 — the highest mark of the Thompson era — following Saturday’s 6-3 victory over the Wildcats. At this point last year, the Bears were 10-17 and still reeling from early-season injuries.

Arguably, Baylor just wrapped up its toughest 11-game stretch of the season, which included road series against Kansas (23-6, 6-3) and No. 23 Arizona (20-7, 6-3), a home series versus the Big 12-leading Kansas State Wildcats (19-8, 8-1), and a pair of midweek games against Texas State (12-15) and UT Arlington (8-16).

Before the Bears opened conference play in mid-March, I figured that everyone who followed the team would have a better understanding of where Thompson’s squad is after these three weeks. I told myself that five wins would be disappointing, six would be solid and seven would be great. 

Although it took maybe a roundabout way to get there, Baylor went 6-5 across that span and kept its head above water. Now, the schedule lightens up, and the Bears have an opportunity to cruise past their win totals from the last two seasons (20 & 22) and reach well over 15 games above .500 going into the final month.

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CF Ty Johnson (Sr.) left Saturday’s contest after getting hit on the hand by a pitch.

Baylor’s next 12-game stretch will start with a five-game homestand that features midweek games against Houston Christian and Texas State and a conference series versus Houston (15-12, 3-6). 

Next weekend, the Bears will travel to Lubbock to square off against a reeling Texas Tech (8-16, 4-5) squad. They will then take on UT Arlington in a midweek game and finally return to Waco to face Utah (13-13, 2-7). 

Texas Tech is the lone team in the Big 12 that has failed to reach double-digit wins so far, and Houston and Utah are two of the three bottom teams in the conference.

If the Bears want to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, it’s imperative they take advantage of the beatable teams on the schedule in the coming weeks. Baylor needs to find at least eight wins in this upcoming stretch, but ideally, Thompson’s squad goes 9-3 or 10-2.

The Bears (19-8) will open a five-game homestand at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1, against Houston Christian (17-8) at Baylor Ballpark; the game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Other Baseball Reading:

• Pitching Coach Sean Snedeker Talks Baylor's Hot Start, Success of Pitching Staff, More
• From Struggles to Success: Tyriq Kemp's Journey to Refind His Signature Spark
• Faith, Injury and Hope: The Resilient Return of Hunter Simmons