No. 25 Baylor travels to Kansas for first true road series of 2019

STORY LINES

• The Bears visit Kansas for their first true road weekend series of the year, March 29-31. Game one of the series is set for Friday, March 29 at 3 p.m. CT, game two is set for 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 30 and game three is at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 31. 

• The Bears enter the series at Kansas having won five-straight, including a series sweep of West Virginia last weekend. The Bears added two more midweek wins over Texas Southern on Tuesday and Wednesday, 13-3 and 3-2 in 11 innings, respectively. Over the five-game win streak, the Bears have scored 44 runs. Overall, the Bears have won nine of their last 11. This is the second time this season the Bears have recorded a win streak of at least five games, following the eight consecutive victories to open the season. 

HOW TO WATCH AND STREAM

All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+. 

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday, March 29 • 3:00 p.m. CT • LHP Paul Dickens (1-0, 6.00 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Zeferjahn (3-1, 2.31 ERA)

Saturday, March 30  • 2:00 p.m. CT • RHP Jimmy Winston (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Cyr (2-2, 5.24 ERA)

Sunday, March 31  • 1:00 p.m. CT • TBD vs. LHP Eli Davis (2-3, 5.18 ERA)

AGAINST KANSAS

• Under the direction of Steve Rodriguez, the Bears are 7-3 against the Jayhawks. In 2018 the Bears were 2-2 against KU, including a 10-5 win on May 24 at the Big 12 Tournament. The Bears dropped the series 1-2 at Waco last April 23-25. Overall, the Bears have won two-of-three series against KU during Rodriguez’s tenure, including taking 2-of-3 April 28-30, 2017 in Lawrence. 

GETTING CONFERENCE STARTED RIGHT 

• The Bears completed the first-ever sweep of West Virginia to open Big 12 play. Over the weekend, Loftin led the way with a slash line of .500/.583/.533 and also drove in three runs and scored six. Haring led the way with five RBIs on the weekend, including two home runs. Overall the Bears outscored the Mountaineers, 28-9 in the series and outhit them, 35-19. On the mound, Jimmy Winston continued to impress, tossing a career-long six shutout innings, earning the win in the Bears’ shutout 12-0 victory on Saturday. Closer Kyle Hill also collected the win without making an out on Friday (Langeliers gunned down the runner at 3rd for the final out of the top of the ninth), and he added a save in the Bears’ comeback victory on Sunday to complete the sweep. 

In the National Rankings

• The Bears boast the sixth-highest batting average in the nation (.321), jumping up 10 spots after the weekend sweep of West Virginia. The Bears rank eighth with 2.38 doubles per game and are fifth with 57 total doubles on the year. The Bears’ on-base percentage of .408 is 12th-best in the nation, while the can do a lot of different things with the bat as the team’s slugging percentage (.492) ranks eighth. The Bears’ fielding percentage of 0.980 ranks 14th nationally. The team also ranks fourth with just 6.4 hits allowed per nine innings and the team ERA of 3.18 is 29th best. • Individually, Winston also ranks 10th nationally with a 0.71 ERA.