Getting Over the Hump: Baylor Searching for a Breakthrough After Round Rock Reality Check
What Went Wrong? Breaking Down Baylor Baseball's Winless Showing in Round Rock
Admittedly, I was encouraged by Baylor baseball’s first week of the season, which saw a sweep of New Mexico State and a dominating midweek win over Texas State, but I was waiting until the Round Rock Classic and this weekend’s Bruce Bolt Classic in Houston to really get a full picture of what the Bears are working with this year on the diamond.
So, while I think we’ll get a better idea of what to expect the rest of the way after matchups against No. 25 Ole Miss, No. 3 Texas and UTSA this weekend, I’ll go ahead and contextualize my thoughts following Baylor’s winless trip to Dell Diamond that featured a narrow 3-1 loss to No. 11 Oregon State, a brutal blown lead in a 6-5 walk-off defeat to Purdue, and lastly, an ugly offensive showing against No. 20 Southern Miss, 5-1.
Starting with this caveat: things are never as good or as bad as they seem. However, I’m no longer in the business of moral victories for this program. Granted, I know this team is younger than it was last season, but this is Year 4 of this coaching staff, and at some point, head coach Mitch Thompson’s squad has to get over the hump.
Entering the weekend, I wanted to see the Bears handle a Purdue team picked toward the bottom of the Big Ten, and then to look competitive against the Beavers and Golden Eagles, two traditionally really good programs that routinely make the NCAA Tournament. Halfway through the weekend — roughly 14.5 innings — Baylor was exceeding my expectations.
Starting on Friday, left-handed pitcher Stefan Stahl (Sr.) had to make a spot-start in place of Lucas Davenport (RJr.), who was out the week with “arm soreness,” but I’m optimistic that Davenport won’t have to miss an extended period of time. Back to Stahl, he was phenomenal under the circumstances, tossing four scoreless innings and striking out three.
In the other dugout, however, the Bears ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Oregon State’s right-handed pitcher, Dax Whitney (So.), a sure-fire top-five pick in the 2027 MLB Draft. Whitney was absolutely electric, as he went on to strike out a career-high 17 batters, while limiting the Bears to just two measly hits across seven frames, both of which came from Baylor’s second baseman, Pearson Riebock (So.).
Despite the absolute domination, Baylor had a fighting chance throughout this contest, and with Whitney finally off the mound, shortstop Travis Sanders (RJr.) tied the game with a clutch RBI double into the right-center field gap in the bottom of the eighth inning. Later in the frame, with Sanders on third base and one out, Riebock couldn’t put the ball in play and went down swinging to a pitch outside the zone.
Veteran righty Caleb Bunch (5Sr.), one of Baylor’s most trusted relievers, entered out of the bullpen and threw a clean eighth inning before hitting the leadoff batter in the ninth. Bunch bounced back, getting two outs, but his command clearly started to go, as he walked back-to-back batters on nine pitches total. Bunch stayed in the contest and allowed a go-ahead, two-run single to Oregon State’s Easton Talt (Sr.) to seal the Beaver win.
Even though Baylor broke a program record in strikeouts (21) on Friday, you’re arguably one ball put in play from Riebock or a quicker hook on Bunch away from winning that game. Oh, and right fielder Hunter Snow (RFr.) had his first career home run robbed at the wall in the seventh inning. All things considered, I was encouraged but disappointed the Bears couldn’t capitalize on the moment.
“This lights a fire under us; we knew the expectations coming into this game were high, and we knew we could compete with anybody,” Sanders said post-game. “I think it’s good for us to go out there and compete against a really good arm, probably the best in the country. We know that going forward, we faced this guy and were in the game until the ninth.”
That fire sure did carry over into Saturday, for the first five innings, at least, as the Bears jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, thanks to some big hits from some underclassmen as Brady Janusek (Fr.), Brytton Clements (RFr.) and Brayden Buchanan (RSo.) all had RBI base knocks. Then, on the mound, lefty Ethan Calder (Sr.) was dominant, tossing five scoreless frames and punching out five.
With a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth inning, things went south as the offense hung four straight zeros, and then right-handed pitcher Cayden Baker (RFr.), who entered in place of Calder, surrendered a three-run homer. Purdue’s scrappy lineup kept chugging along and collected 10 hits across the final four frames, eventually walking the Bears off in the bottom of the ninth, 6-5.
“That was a tough one,” Thompson said post-game. “You have to give Purdue credit. They fought back to get in that game. We took a nice 5-0 lead. Ethan threw the ball extremely well in his start. It’s a disappointing way to lose one, but I think you have to give Purdue credit. They got hits to get it done. We weren’t giving them walks, errors, extra outs — they earned it. Disappointing loss for us, and a good win for them.”
Obviously, this is the game that’s the most frustrating because this is one you needed to have against an opponent that you dominated for more than half of the contest. These are the types of games you have to find ways to win in Year 4 of Thompson’s tenure. The loss against Purdue pigeon-holed Baylor into needing to close the weekend with a victory over a tough No. 20 Southern Miss squad on Sunday.
Against the Golden Eagles, the Bears could get absolutely nothing going at the plate. Although Baylor drew a combined nine free passes in the second and third innings, it mustered just one run across. The Bears’ pitching staff kept the team in the game all afternoon, but the batting order went 0-for-19 with runners on and 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, while totaling 12 punchouts, seven of which were down looking.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed we couldn’t get a win here this weekend,” Thompson said post-game. “I’m disappointed with how today’s game went offensively. It was a struggle. We couldn’t get anything going. They gave us some opportunities with walks and hit by pitches.”
On Tuesday, the Bears returned to Waco and jumped out to a 5-0 lead against an inferior SFA squad and later an 8-3 lead, powered by home runs from Janusek, Armstrong and Snow, as well as an extra-base hit from Sanders. The bullpen, however, almost blew this one as MCC transfer Cade Waibel (Jr.) surrendered a five-spot in the sixth to tie the game at eight apiece.
It’s early in the year, and Baylor’s coaching staff is still trying to figure out which pitchers they can trust in these moments, so I wouldn’t take too much away from this performance, but thankfully for Thompson and the Bears, it didn’t matter, as Janusek swiped home in the eighth inning on a perfectly executed double-steal to seal the midweek victory.
It was good to see Janusek and Armstrong both hit home runs and record three-hit games against SFA after a rough showing in Round Rock, but the Bears really need them, as well as the rest of the lineup, to perform well this weekend in Houston against better-quality pitching.
Riebock, Sanders, Janusek and Buchanan accounted for 12 of Baylor’s 17 hits over the weekend. The rest of the team went a combined 5-for-53 (.094) in the Round Rock Classic. This should go without saying, but 51 strikeouts across the last four games is not going to cut it.
As I mentioned earlier, we’ll get a better idea of where things stand after this upcoming Bruce Bolt Classic, but overall, I still feel good about the pitching staff for the most part. Tuesdays might be a little more interesting than they were last year, because I’m not sure the Bears have the same level of depth on the pitching staff, but I like the options for the weekend rotation more than last season’s, and I think there’s still a handful of players out of the bullpen that you can trust.
So, with that, I ask, what’s it going to take to finally get over the hump? The stage is set for the Bears (5-3) this weekend in Houston, where a prime opportunity awaits to break through against three of the top RPI teams: No. 25 Ole Miss (9-0/No. 1 in RPI), No. 3 Texas (8-0/No. 2 in RPI) and UTSA (7-1/No. 3 in RPI). Now, it’s just about finding a way to win.
