As the Bears return to the diamond, they look to put the disappointing 2023 season behind them, where they went 22-31 and missed the Big 12 Tournament for the second consecutive year.

If significant moves aren’t made, this team could enter 2025 in a similar situation to last spring – a talented lineup with a ton of question marks on the mound.

Now, the focus shifts to a critical offseason in which Thompson will have to hire a new pitching coach, rebuild a pitching staff and retain the current talent on the roster. Today, I’ll address Baylor’s biggest needs in the transfer portal, which opens Monday, June 3.

In two years under Leverton, the Bears pitching staff struggled immensely. In 2024, BU had the fourth-highest ERA (6.51) in the Power Five. Baylor was also last in the conference in free passes issued (340) and second-to-last in batting average against (.284).

Mitch Thompson’s second season as head coach of the Baylor baseball program has come to an end. I’ll break down the survey answers and reflect on this year while looking forward to a critical offseason as well.

Baylor baseball’s Wesley Jordan (Jr.) received Second-Team All-Big 12 recognition while Ethan Calder (So.) and Cole Posey (Sr.) earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12, as announced by the conference office Monday.

Baylor baseball (22-30, 10-19) ended its 12-game conference losing streak after splitting its doubleheader with UCF (32-18, 13-15) Friday at Baylor Ballpark.

Baylor baseball (21-29, 9-18) extended its conference losing streak to 11 games with back-to-back losses to No. 18 Oklahoma (32-17, 21-6) Saturday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Entering this season, I had three major goals I wanted to see head coach Mitch Thompson’s Bears accomplish: make the Big 12 Tournament, play their best baseball in April and May and have a strong nucleus of returning talent.

Baylor baseball (20-25, 9-14) extended its conference losing streak to seven games with a 9-7 loss in extra innings to TCU (28-16, 12-14) Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

Baylor (17-18, 8-7) has won nine of its last 10 games and is coming off three consecutive series wins, including a road sweep of the BYU Cougars in Provo – marking the first time the Bears have swept a conference opponent since 2019.

Baylor baseball (17-18) extended its winning streak to four games with a 3-1 defeat of UT Arlington (15-22) Tuesday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.

The Bears have won eight of their last nine games and are coming off three consecutive series wins, including a road sweep of the BYU Cougars in Provo.

In the last-ever series as conference foes, Baylor baseball (8-13, 3-4) walked away with a 4-3 come-from-behind extra innings victory in the series opener to Texas (14-9, 2-2) Friday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

“I don’t take [playing at Baylor] for granted,” sophomore left-handed pitcher Ethan Calder often thinks to himself. “Every day, I still look at the ballpark and say, ‘Man, this is what I wanted to do as a kid.”’

Baylor has won three of its last four games, including a weekend sweep of Oral Roberts and a narrow loss to No. 20 DBU.

After opening the season on a sour note with a 1-7 record, the Bears bounced back with a weekend sweep of Oral Roberts and a narrow loss to No. 20 DBU.

In a sit-down interview with SicEm365, Baylor baseball head coach Mitch Thompson discusses the struggles of his first year, how the Bears will be improved in 2024, and the reasons for optimism surrounding the program moving forward, amongst other things.