Gut-Check Time: Baylor Baseball Clings to Postseason Hopes After Salvaging TCU Series

Game Thread: Baylor Baseball (27-16) @ Sam Houston (9-35): Game Thread (4/29)

Over the weekend, Baylor baseball (27-16; 9-12 Big 12) kept its postseason hopes alive by salvaging its series against rival No. 23 TCU (31-13; 14-7 Big 12) with a 6-3 victory in the finale. A series win would have likely propelled the Bears onto the bubble, but a sweep by the Horned Frogs would have virtually ended any NCAA Tournament talks.

The Bears got big-time contributions on Sunday from Travis Sanders (RSo.) and Ty Johnson (Sr.), who both recorded multi-hit games while Lucas Davenport (RSo.) and Gabe Craig (RSr.) combined for seven punchouts and 5.2 scoreless frames out of the bullpen.

“You don’t have to worry about their heart; you don’t have to worry about their fight or competitiveness,” head coach Mitch Thompson said following the series finale. “There’s been a time where they press, but that’s because they want it so bad, and they played with a lot of freedom today.”

Baylor’s current RPI sits at No. 62. With a massive seven-game homestand approaching, the team has a huge opportunity to continue to climb the ranks and get back on the right side of the bubble: Arizona State (No. 46), UT Rio Grande Valley (No. 39) and Oklahoma State (No. 67).

Before the Bears shift their focus to the homestand, they must take care of a reeling Sam Houston (9-35; 3-15 CUSA) ballclub in Huntsville on Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium.

Baylor Athletics - Jack Compton

Baylor kept its postseason hopes alive with a 6-3 win over TCU on Sunday.

“We're just focused on winning one game at a time,” Johnson said Sunday. “It's kind of tough to look at the big picture right now, especially with as little games as we have left. We’re doing it one [game] at a time, and that was a big one today, but we're moving on to Tuesday.”

Thompson added, “We’ve got three series [left] and we’ve got two of them at home. We need to go win them. We’re going to fight our tail off to do that. We’re going to celebrate this one for the rest of the day. Then, we’ll take a breath tomorrow and get ready for Tuesday. We’ve got a lot ahead of us.”

Many may be wondering if the path to the postseason is possible. Yes, but is it plausible? I’m not sure. Thompson’s squad is going to have to play three weeks of really good baseball if they want any chance at making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. They would likely need to win both midweek games and win their final three series against Arizona State, Oklahoma and UCF.

We’ve yet to see a weekend where this team puts it all together for 27 innings, which can be maddening, because when they play like they are capable of playing, they look like one of the better teams in the conference.

However, the inconsistencies will more often than not rear their ugly heads, as they did in the first two games against TCU over the weekend, with a 7-2 loss in the series opener and an 8-4 loss on Saturday.

On Friday night, left-handed pitchers Mason Green (So.) and Bryson Bales (6Sr.) combined to issue four free passes in the first inning, plus a throwing error on a potential inning-ending double play gave the Horned Frogs an early 4-0 lead.

Trailing by four against, arguably, the best starting pitcher in the Big 12, Tommy LaPour (So.), was an insurmountable deficit. The Bears were shut down by LaPour, who nearly went the distance (8.2 IP) and struck out eight while only allowing five hits and two earned runs in the series opener.

Baylor Athletics - Jack Compton

Baylor has 11 games left with a seven-game homestand tucked in the middle.

On Saturday, the Horned Frogs added two early runs after multiple mistakes by left fielder Wesley Jordan (Sr.). The miscues snowballed, forcing left-handed pitcher Carson Bailey (Fr.) to exit before the fourth inning.

In relief of Bailey, right-handed pitcher Caleb Bunch (Sr.) had his worst outing of the season, surrendering three earned runs and extending TCU’s lead to 7-1 in the fifth. Bunch, who’s been fantastic all season, saw his 2.33 earned run average drop to 3.18.

Throughout conference play, there have been many instances of Baylor beating itself more than the opponent simply outclassing the Bears like in seasons past. 

Some other examples include blowing a late 4-1 lead to Houston (7-4 Loss) on April 4, multiple eighth-inning errors to seal a defeat to the Red Raiders (9-2 Loss) on April 11, seeing two leads disappear against Texas Tech (9-8 Loss) on April 13 and surrendering a 10-spot in the first inning to No. 23 Arizona (11-6 Loss) on March 30.

At other times, we’ve seen what this squad can do when they put it all together, including Sunday’s series finale. As talented as TCU’s roster was, I didn’t see a tremendous gap between the Horned Frogs and Bears. Instead, I saw TCU play with more maturity for most of the weekend, despite having one senior in its starting lineup.

If Baylor wants to make a postseason push, it desperately has to put everything together for an entire weekend: good defense, quality at-bats, minimizing free passes, etc. That doesn’t necessarily guarantee winning every game, but it at least puts you in a position to force the opponent to beat you rather than handing it to them, as we’ve seen so many times during conference play.

It’s gut-check time for the Bears, and it should make for a fascinating last three weeks of the season.

Other Baseball Reading:

• From Struggles to Success: Tyriq Kemp's Journey to Refind His Signature Spark
• The Power of Belief: Will Glatch's Path from Setbacks to Standout Reliever
• Faith, Injury and Hope: The Resilient Return of Hunter Simmons
• Schedule Breakdown: Analyzing Baylor Baseball's Potential Path to the Postseason