Series Preview: Baylor Baseball Faces Rival TCU in Waco for Huge 3-Game Set

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (21-15, 8-7) faces rival TCU (22-14, 8-7) for a huge series this weekend at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears will open the three-game set at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17. Saturday’s game is slated for 2 p.m., while the series finale on Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m. All three games this weekend will be streamed on ESPN+.

Baylor Bears

• Record: 21-15 (8-7)
• RPI: 33rd
• SOS: 10th

2026 Season Statistics

• Batting Average: .266 (T12th in Big 12)
• Earned Run Average: 5.24 (4th in Big 12)
• Fielding Percentage: .974 (5th in Big 12)

Head Coach: Mitch Thompson

• Career Record: 468-241 (13th season) 
• Record at Baylor: 96-103 (4th season) 

2026 Projections

• D1Baseball: 10th in Big 12
• Coaches Poll: 11th in Big 12

Notable Results

• Wins: Houston (3), BYU (2), UTSA, No. 25 Ole Miss,
• Losses: No. 11 Oregon State, No. 20 Southern Miss, No. 3 Texas, Kansas State, No. 22 West Virginia (2), Oklahoma State (2), Cincinnati (2)

TCU Horned Frogs

• Record: 22-14 (8-7)
• RPI: 49th
• SOS: 45th

2026 Season Statistics

• Batting Average: .266 (T12th in Big 12)
• Earned Run Average: 5.78 (8th in Big 12)
• Fielding Percentage: .972 (7th in Big 12)

Head Coach: Kirk Saarloos

• Career Record: 177-101 (5th season) 
• Record at TCU 176-101 (5th season) 

2026 Projections

• D1Baseball: 1st in Big 12
• Coaches Poll: 1st in Big 12

Notable Results

• Wins: Kansas State (2), Texas Tech (3), No. 23 Vanderbilt, No. 7 Arkansas
• Losses: Arizona (2), UCF (2), Arizona State (2), No. 1 UCLA (3), Oklahoma

Baylor’s Projected Starting Lineup

• SS: Travis Sanders (RJr.): (.338 BAVG, .937 OPS, 139 AB)
• 2B: Pearson Riebock (So.): (.208 BAVG, .635 OPS, 106 AB)
• RF: Brady Janusek (Fr.): (.338 BAVG, .937 OPS, 145 AB)
• 1B: Tyce Armstrong (RSr.): (.288 BAVG, 1.054 OPS, 139 AB)
• 3B: Brytton Clements (RFr.): (.323 BAVG, .779 OPS, 93 AB)
• DH: Dylan Perez (Fr.): (.200 BAVG, .613 OPS, 25 AB)
• C: JJ Kennett (Jr.): (.274 BAVG, .767 OPS, 73 AB)
• LF: Ty Johnson (5Sr.): (.216 BAVG, .599 OPS, 111 AB)
• CF: Bo Caraway (Fr.): (.239 BAVG, .559 OPS, 46 AB)

Projected Bench

• INF: Cade Dodson (So.): (.232 BAVG, .708 OPS, 69 AB)
• INF: Robert De La Garza (Jr.): (.263 BAVG, .733 OPS, 38 AB)
• DH: Hunter Snow (RFr.): (.190 BAVG, .710 OPS, 79 AB)
• C: Brayden Buchanan (RSo.): (.229 BAVG, .664 OPS, 48 AB)

*2026 Stats: (BAVG = Batting Average, OPS = On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage, AB = At-Bats)*

TCU’s Projected Starting Lineup

• LF: Colton Griffin (Jr.): (.282 BAVG, .770 OPS, 85 AB)
• 2B: Cole Cramer (5Sr.): (.322 BAVG, .865 OPS, 143 AB)
• RF: Sawyer Strosnider (So.): (.279 BAVG, 1.047 OPS, 129 AB)
• CF: Chase Brunson (Jr.): (.275 BAVG, .964 OPS, 120 AB)
• DH: Noah Franco (So.): (.241 BAVG, .702 OPS, 58 AB)
• 1B: Brady Dallimore (Fr.): (.274 BAVG, .905 OPS, 73 AB)
• SS: Jack Bell (Jr.): (.305 BAVG, .975 OPS, 95 AB)
• C: Nolan Traeger (So.): (.267 BAVG, .723 OPS, 101 AB)
• 3B: Kyuss Gargett (Jr.): (.229 BAVG, .712 OPS, 70 AB)

*2026 Stats: (BAVG = Batting Average, OPS = On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage, AB = At-Bats)*

Probable Starting Pitchers

• BU SP 1 – RHP: Lucas Davenport (Jr.); (3.56 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 30.1 IP, 7-7 APP-GS, 3-1 W-L)
• TCU SP 1 – RHP: Trever Baumler (So.); (7.09 ERA, 1.84 WHIP, 26.2 IP, 11-4 APP-GS, 1-2 W-L)
• BU SP 2 – RHP: Zack Wallace (So.); (5.66 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 35 IP, 11-6 APP-GS, 3-3 W-L)
• TCU SP 2 – RHP: Lance Davis (RFr.); (5.36 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 42 IP, 9-9 APP-GS, 3-3 W-L)
• BU SP 3 – LHP: Ethan Calder (Sr.); (4.17 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 45.1 IP, 9-9 APP-GS, 3-3 W-L)
• TCU SP 3 – RHP: Zack James (So.); (2.87 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 37.2 IP, 10-3 APP-GS, 4-0 W-L)

*2026 Stats: (ERA = Earned Run Average, WHIP = Walks & Hits Per Inning Pitched, IP = Innings-Pitched, APP = Appearances)

Top Quotes

Head coach Mitch Thompson on facing rival TCU this weekend:

• “They’re a really good team. They’re really well-coached. They’ve got big-time position players. They’ve fought with injuries, and they’ve struggled through that this year, but they’ve been hit hard with it, and are still more than holding their own and doing well. I’ll wish them well after this weekend. I just don’t want them to start playing great baseball until after this weekend.”

Junior left-handed pitcher RJ Ruais on what Tuesday’s win over UTSA can do for Baylor’s confidence:

• “It shows a lot of fight in this team. We want to win. There are some teams out there and some teams I’ve been on in the past, where we’re down, we’ve fought, that’s good enough, but this team wants to win. This team wants to make a deep run this year. We’ve got goals, and we want to achieve them, and it’s awesome to go out there and see us fight every single game to do that.”