Baylor Baseball Opens Spring as Gaines' Gift, New Faces Signal Fresh Start

WACO, Texas – As Baylor baseball opens practice in preparation for its Feb. 13 Opening Day matchup against New Mexico State, much of the buzz surrounding the program centers on the recently announced donation from Chip and Joanna Gaines, which will support anticipated capital projects and give a new name for the facilities: Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark.

“Obviously, it’s been a great week for us to announce the gift that Chip and Joanna and Magnolia have made to Baylor baseball and being the biggest one in school history. It’s a huge deal for our program, and we’re very thankful and appreciative, and can’t wait to see those things put to use and improving our facilities,” head coach Mitch Thompson said in the team’s first media session of the spring.

While the exact amount of the donation hasn’t been released, the Bears are expected to allocate the majority of the funds toward much-needed facility upgrades, though the details and timing of the renovations and additions haven’t been finalized.

“My thought process on it is the things that are going to affect the players — a player development facility, maybe a turf practice facility, maybe locker room enhancements, training room enhancements — all those things that touch the players on a daily basis are what we need to do,” Thompson said. “We built the ballpark 26, 27 years ago. It’s been awesome. Everything that still touches the fans is fantastic. But what touches the players, we need to continue to improve on.”

Inside the building, the hope is that the Gaines’ gift can be the first domino to fall, and that other people and donors will want to get involved, especially with the newly hired athletic director Doug McNamee, who is an expert in donor relations and was a student manager for the baseball program back in the early 2000s.

“I think that other people are going to want to be a part of it,” Thompson said. “With Chip and Jo, when they put themselves behind something, it encourages other people to join and be a part of it, too. We’re just thankful to be able to play at Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark, and it’s got a really nice ring to it.”

As for on-the-field play, the Bears are coming off a 33-22 season in which they made the Big 12 Tournament but struggled in conference play, finishing 13-17. The main goal this year, in Thompson’s fourth season at the helm, is to get over that hump and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his tenure and first time as a program since 2019.

“We can continue to push the bar and continue to push it, push it higher and higher, and our goal is to get back in the NCAA Tournament, have a chance to compete, and go to Omaha,” Thompson said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, things are going to have to fall the right way, and we’re going to have to stay healthy, but all those things are looking good right now. We’re excited about it.”

The desire to win and take that next step as a program is strong within the clubhouse, particularly for senior left-handed pitcher Ethan Calder, a Baylor legacy who desperately wants to see the Bears competing in late May and early June in the NCAA Tournament.

“I remember growing up coming to games here, and that Arkansas Super Regional, I’ve seen this place packed out, so I think that’s something that a lot of people envision,” Calder said. “We’ve been talking about a lot in the mornings. We’ve been having meetings in the mornings, talking about how huge it’d be to put this program on a national standard, like where it’s been.”

In the transfer portal and NIL-age, it would have been easy for Calder to jump ship and make the NCAA Tournament with another program, but he didn’t want to take the easy route, and if he’s able to play in a Regional later this spring, he wants to make sure he’s doing it, wearing the Green and Gold.

“I have a lot of ties to Baylor, and I think in this day and age, a lot of people jump ship really quickly, and I’ve seen some guys transfer out, and the grass isn’t always greener,” Calder said. “This is my fourth year. I want to see this program grow. I want to see us make it regional. I think it makes it that much sweeter if you stay with a team — I love this place, like all the people here are great — it makes it that much sweeter to really find success. To make a regional would mean the world to me.”

Calder expects the pitching staff to take another leap under second-year pitching coach Sean Snedeker, with whom he has a great relationship. In 2025, the Bears went from the basement of the Big 12 in nearly every single pitching category to the middle of the pack in just one offseason. With another year in Waco under Snedeker’s belt, the goal is to improve upon a really strong first season.

“I like what we’ve got; I think we’re deeper, especially when we get the guys back that we were missing in the fall,” Thompson said. “The guy’s arms are all bouncing back. We’re throwing strikes. That’s the thing that last year was such a big, big change for us, just the ability to throw strikes and to compete in the zone. I anticipate the staff will take another step forward. They asked me last night at the coaches’ show, ‘Are you going to improve two runs in ERA again?’ I said, ‘Well, if we do, we’ll lead the country.’ So that’d be fine with me. I’m ready for it. But that’d probably be a little bit of a large step for us.”

The biggest question that the pitching staff faces is how to replace their star closer, Gabe Craig. Craig, an All-American, All-Big 12 First Teamer and National Pitcher of the Year Award Finalist, was drafted in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was unhittable last year, as he posted a microscopic 0.56 ERA and 0.50 WHIP, both of which happened to lead the nation. 

“You’re probably not gonna find a guy that’s gonna have, I don’t even know what he had, like a 0.50 ERA, and he freaking strikes out the world, right? It’s going to take a couple of guys,” Calder said. “It takes a couple of guys building in or coming into new roles to try to fill those innings. But I think we have the guys to do that. We have the stuff to do that. But you’re not going to go out there and immediately try to replace a Gabe Craig, right? He’s the best pitcher I’ve seen come through here. So it’s going to take a couple of different guys to kind of fill in those roles and those closing roles.”

The Bears will also have a new look in their lineup this season, as five everyday starters move on, headlined by the departure of All–Big 12 First Team selection Tyriq Kemp. Kemp put together an outstanding season at shortstop, leading the team in most offensive categories while also anchoring the defense with elite play in the field.

With Kemp taken in the sixth round of the MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals, his close friend and former roommate, Travis Sanders, is expected to transition from second base to shortstop. Sanders, who earned All–Big 12 honorable mention honors in 2025, hit .335 with eight home runs and drove in 25 runs last spring.

“Trav did a really nice job this fall,” Thompson said. “He’s an athletic guy. He was drafted high out of high school and is pretty good as a shortstop, but we had Tyriq there last year. Man, when you saw Tyriq make the plays that he made last year, you understood, so. But Travis had a really nice fall, and we’re expecting big things out of him.”

Elsewhere in the infield, the Bears welcome back second baseman Pearson Riebock, who earned Big 12 All-Freshman Team honors, and bolster the lineup with a pair of everyday starters from UT Arlington: third baseman Cade Dodson and first baseman Tyce Armstrong.

“We got some good hitters,” Calder said. “Obviously, we lost a lot of hitters, but I think bringing in new guys and keeping talent, like Pearson and Travis, [was big]. Those two are going to be everyday guys in the middle of the order, and then guys like Tyson Armstrong, you’re going to love watching him hit. He can hit the ball as hard as anyone he can. He can hit a long way. So getting new guys and keeping that talent is huge, and you’re gonna see that in our lineup.”

In the outfield, veteran center fielder Ty Johnson returns as the lone established presence, while the rest of the unit will lean heavily on youth. Hunter Snow, Brady Janusek, Dylan Perez and Bo Caraway all have the potential to make an impact this season, though none has yet recorded a collegiate at-bat.

“You’re talking about guys who haven’t played yet, that nobody knows yet about; we think we know them, and we think that we’ve got good players out there,” Thompson said of his freshmen outfielders. “Brady Janusek is an athletic kid that going to hit some balls out of the ballpark. Hunter Snow’s a redshirt freshman, athletic, big, physical. You guys like the way those guys look in a uniform. Dylan Perez, Bo Caraway — all freshmen — who we have high aspirations. These are guys that, that we think in the next three or four years they could, they can really write their name on Baylor baseball.”

The Bears will open the season against New Mexico State at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13, at Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark.