Baylor Baseball: Back to Big 12 Play as BSB Preps for West Virginia

Thu Apr 8 14:36:49 CDT 2021

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 8, 2021

Back to Big 12 Play as BSB Preps for West Virginia
The Bears and Mountaineers will begin the series on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU
Game Notes: http://baylorbea.rs/3r9TtUN
For more information contact: Zach Rhodes, 919-247-7585, Zach_Rhodes at baylor.edu

WACO, Texas – Baylor is back in Big 12 play when it hosts West Virginia this weekend for a three-game series at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (19-10, 1-5 Big 12), who are on a six-game win streak and the Mountaineers (11-12, 3-3 Big 12) will play a nationally-televised game on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Game two will be at 3 p.m. on Saturday and game three will start at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Baylor leads 12-10 against West Virginia in the all-time series, including 7-6 under head coach Steve Rodriguez. The Bears are 8-4 in Waco against the Mountaineers, while the last time the two teams met was March 22-24, 2019 at Baylor Ballpark with BU sweeping the three-game series.

Individual tickets for the games are still available on BaylorBears.com/tickets. Promotions for this weekend include trading card giveaways (Fri.) and Bark at the Park (Sat.) with a dog bowl giveaway.

SERIES INFO
Date: April 9-11 (Fri.-Sun.)
Game Times: 7:30 p.m./3 p.m./11:30 a.m.
Site: Waco, Texas / Baylor Ballpark (5,000) (50 percent capacity)
TV: Big 12 Now (ESPN+)
• Talent: (Fri.) Anish Shroff (pxp), Mike Rooney (color)
                        (Sat. & Sun.) Lincoln Rose (pxp), Pat Combs (color)
Radio: ESPN 1660/92.3 FM
• Talent: Derek Smith (pxp)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com
Twitter Updates: @BaylorBaseball
Series History: BU leads, 12-10
Streak: Baylor, W4
                        First Meeting: April 5, 2013
                        Last Meeting: March 22-24, 2019 (BU swept the series)
                        Under Rodriguez: 7-6

PITCHING MATCHUP
Fri. April 9 – LHP Tyler Thomas (3-2, 1.65 ERA) (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Jackson Wolf (3-2, 2.36 ERA)
Sat. April 10 – RHP Blake Helton (2-2, 3.49 ERA) vs. LHP Adam Tulloch (0-2, 6.86 ERA)
Sun. April 11 – RHP Hayden Kettler (3-1, 3.90 ERA) vs. LHP Ben Hampton (2-0, 2.63 ERA)

STORY LINES
• Baylor remains as one of the top hitting teams in the country statistically with a .307 team average which is good enough for 1st in the Big 12 and 8th in the nation. With the Bears 301 hits in 29 games, BU ranks 1st in the conference and 2nd in the country. Six of Baylor’s top 10 hitters are hitting .300 or better.

• The Bears are 17-2 this season at Baylor Ballpark. BU has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better in all 21 seasons (Since 1999) and is 473-208 all-time at the park.

• The Bears outfield have a knack for robbing home runs as Kyle Nevin (LF), Jared McKenzie (CF) and Davion Downey (RF) have all robbed one home run in 2021. On Tuesday against UT Arlington, Downey made a diving catch in right and made it to No. 3 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays. Nevin one-upped Downey in the same game with a leaping grab to bring a home run back inside the park and was the No. 1 SC Top 10 play on Tuesday night. Earlier in the season, Downey was No. 4 on top plays with his home run-robbing catch against Sam Houston on March 2.

• Tyler Thomas continued his dominance on the mound after throwing a complete-game shutout against North Carolina A&T on Thursday. It was the first complete-game shutout since Cody Bradford did so against TCU on April 20, 2018. On the season, Thomas is sporting a 1.65 ERA and leads the team in innings pitched (43.2) and strikeouts (44). Thomas ranks 4th in the Big 12 in ERA and in hits allowed per nine innings.

• With the two shutouts against NC A&T, Baylor is now 1st in the Big 12 and 2nd in the nation in shutouts with five in 2021. Tyler Thomas and Blake Helton went back-to-back with complete game shutouts against North Carolina A&T which is the first time that has happened for BU since 2017.

• After hitting .406 last season in the leadoff spot, in 2021 Jared McKenzie has a .354 average. McKenzie is 9th in the Big 12 in batting average and ranks 2nd in the conference in hits (45) and 3rd nationally, in addition, he is 1st in the nation in runs scored (38) and 3rd in the Big 12 in total bases (76). He also has seven home runs this season after not hitting any in 2020.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on Facebook (Baylor Baseball), Twitter (@BaylorBaseball) and Instagram (@BaylorBaseball).

-BaylorBears.com-

Zach Rhodes | Associate Director of Athletics Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 919-247-7585 | O: 254-710-3784

[signature_1239763429]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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