BAYLOR BASEBALL: No. 12 Bears Host DBU in Midweek Tilt

Story lines

• The Bears remain at home for their midweek matchup against Dallas Baptist, set for 6:35 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The game will be televised live on FSSN-Plus and radio will be available on 1660 a.m./93.2 f.m. 

• Projected Pitching Matchup

Tues., Feb. 26 • 6:35 p.m. CT • LHP Paul Dickens vs. RHP Luke Trahan

• First Career Start for Dickens

Junior college transfer Paul Dickens is set to make his first start as a Bear. In 2018 at Navarro College, Dickens was 8-2 in 13 starts with a 2.62 ERA, 92 strikeouts in 65.1 innings. So far in 2019 he has been used out of the pen, throwing 7.0 innings over two different appearances. He threw a Baylor career high 3.2 innings in relief against Holy Cross on Feb. 16, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and a career-high 4 strikeouts in his Baylor debut. He settled in during his second appearance of the season on Feb. 23 vs. Cornell, earning his first Baylor win in relief after throwing 3.1 innings of shutout ball, scattering 2 hits with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. 

• Dallas Baptist 

Perennial contender out of the Missouri Valley Conference, DBU is currently 5-2 to start the season. The Patriots swept Kent State on opening weekend, but followed that up with a midweek loss at Oklahoma. This past weekend the Patriots took two-of-three from a strong Minnesota club, including winning the rubber game on Sunday, 7-5. Projected starter is freshman RHP Luke Trahan, who threw two-complete innings against Kent State, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts in his collegiate debut. 

• Last Weekend Recap

• The Bears are 7-0 on the season after sweeping visiting Cornell, 3-0. The Bears tallied double-digit run totals in all three games, including a 17-0 shutout on Friday. Overall, the Bears outscored the Big Red, 39-7 on the weekend. 

            • In game one, Hayden Kettler was once again outstanding, collecting a career-high nine strikeouts in six innings of shutout ball. He earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. At the plate, Chase Wehsener had a career day, driving in a career-high 5 runs on 3 hits with one walk. All in all, the entire starting lineup had at least one hit on the day, with six Bears collecting multi-hit games. Josh Bissonette, Cole Haring and Mack Mueller each launched their first home runs of the season.  

            • In game two of the series, Paul Dickens entered in relief in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and two outs and got a pop out to end the inning. He would cruise through three more scoreless innings en route to his first Baylor victory. Richard Cunningham had 3 hits on the day, while Nick Loftin led the team with 3 RBI. Both Bissonette and Wendzel had two doubles on the day, tying their career-high marks.

            • In game three, the Bears  trailed 2-0 early, but answered the call in the bottom half of the first inning, tying things up and then quickly put the game out of reach as they scored seven in the second inning, due in part to home runs by Kyle Harper and Cole Haring. For Harper, it was a two-run shot, the first of his career, while Haring’s was a three-run shot and his second of the weekend.