May 11, 2001
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The Texas Tech Series -- Baylor (34-18, 16-8 Big 12), ranked 17th in this week's ESPN/Baseball Weekly Coaches' Poll, plays host to Texas Tech (37-15-1, 17-9-1 Big 12) in the final Big 12 series of the season this weekend.
All games will be broadcast on KRZI 1580/1660 with John Morris, Mark Rogers and Reagan Ratcliff calling the action. The broadcasts can also be heard over the internet by visiting www.GoBaylorBears.com.
Sunday's game versus Texas Tech will be televised on FOX Sports Southwest as part of the Big 12 baseball television package. Bill Land and Jack Lazorko will call the action. Due to the broadcast, the start time of the game has been moved to 1 p.m.
Baylor vs... -- Against Texas Tech, the Bears are an even 52-52. Last season in Lubbock, the Red Raiders swept Baylor (3-2, 16-11, 10-6) during the regular season, but the Bears rebounded in the Big 12 tournament with a 10-1 semifinal win.
The Last Time Out -- Paul Richmond's RBI single in the tenth inning scored Trevor Mote and gave Baylor a 13-12 victory over Southwest Texas State Wednesday night at Baylor Ballpark. Kyle Edens picked up the win in relief for the Bears. In three scoreless innings of relief, Edens did not give up a hit or a walk and struck out five.
Texas Tech comes to Waco after taking more than a week off for final exams. The Red Raiders collected a pair of wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-2, 13-2) last week in Lubbock.
About Coach Smith -- Steve Smith is in his seventh season as head coach at Baylor and owns a 259-147-1 (.636) career record. He led the Bears to a Big 12 regular season championship in 2000 and their first-ever 50-win season in 1999.
The 2000 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Smith came to Baylor from Mississippi State, where he was an assistant under Ron Polk for five seasons. Prior to that, he served as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M.
A former standout pitcher at Baylor from 1982-83, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA in 1982, bettering league foes and future major league pitchers Norm Charlton, Roger Clemens, Doug Drabek and Calvin Schiraldi.
Almost two decades later, Smith is passing his pitching knowledge on to his players. In the past nine years, he has tutored six pitchers who were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft, including Jason Jennings, the 1999 consensus national player of the year and the 16th pick by the Colorado Rockies in 1999.
In Smith's six years as Baylor's head coach, he has produced six All-Americans, five GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and one GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year. Baylor has also had 18 first-team all-Big 12 performers, including the Big 12 Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999.
Ruling the Roost -- In the last 27 Big 12 conference series it has played, Baylor holds an amazing 24-3 record. The Bears have lost conference series to Texas A&M (2-1, 1998), Texas Tech (3-0, 2000) and Nebraska (3-0, 2001).
In the Big 12 Pitching Category -- The Baylor pitching staff currently ranks second in the conference with a 3.67 team ERA.
On the heels of an outstanding outing at Oklahoma State, starter Steven White ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 individual pitching category with a 2.09 ERA in 11 appearances. With a 10-1 record, he is in second place in the wins category. White has been ranked No. 1 in ERA all season.
Righty Justin Taylor comes in at No. 7 with a 3.18 ERA.
Don't Forget the Hitters -- Catcher Kelly Shoppach is now ranked second in Big 12 individual batting with a .409 average. Shoppach also ranks second in RBI with 61 and in hits with 81.
Senior 2B Trevor Mote ranks second on the Big 12 on the runs scored list with 60, while OF Chris Durbin is third in the league with 20 doubles.
Leading Off -- So far this season, the Bears have had three successful leadoff hitters in OF Chris Durbin, OF Tim Hartshorn, and 2B Trevor Mote
Control Freaks -- Through 52 games this season, the Baylor pitching staff has put together a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 1.8-to-1. RHP Steven White leads the team with 67 strikeouts, while RHP Justin Taylor has 56 and LHP Josh Scott has 48.
Stingy Staff -- In addition to a stellar team ERA, the Baylor pitching staff has allowed just 27 home runs this season.
Amazingly, the Bears went 160 innings without giving up a home run, having given up a bomb against Rice in the first game of the season and one against Houston in the 20th game.
Near Misses -- Kelly Shoppach was just a double shy of hitting for the cycle against Texas (April 22). After belting a home run, a triple and a single, Texas centerfielder Kalani Napoleon made an outstanding catch to rob Shoppach of the feat.
Against Southwest Texas (May 9), Chris Durbin just missed hitting for the cycle by a triple. He was 4-for-6 on the night.
And the Hits Keep Coming -- Matt Williams reached the 200 career hit mark with a hit against Oklahoma (March 16).
Kelly Shoppach got his 100th career hit against Texas A&M (Feb. 25). He accomplished the feat in just 104 games, averaging a hit in nearly every game he's played.
Streaking -- Junior C Kelly Shoppach had his 28-game hitting streak snapped against Rice (April 10). It stands as the second-longest hitting streak in Baylor history. The longest is 31 games, put together by James Blair over the 1997 and 1998 seasons. That streak is also the Big 12 record.
Shoppach is the second Baylor player this season to hit in at least ten straight games. Senior 2B Trevor Mote began the season with a 10-game hitting streak, which ended on Feb. 18 against Nicholls State.
Watch Lists -- Fort Worth native Kelly Shoppach is currently on the watch list for the second annual Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation's top collegiate catcher. The list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists on May 15.
Shoppach is also being considered for the Dick Howser Trophy, given by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association to the nation's best player.
Three Baylor players, including Shoppach, Zane Carlson and Mike Huggins are currently on the watch list for the Rotary Smith Award, one of the top awards in college baseball. Baylor's Jason Jennings won the award in 1999. That list will be narrowed down in early May as well.
Hitmen -- Chris Durbin leads the team with 25 multiple-hit games, while teammate Kelly Shoppach is not far behind with 23.
Durbin smacked four hits in a 12-2 win over Missouri (March 4) and in a 13-12 victory over Southwest Texas (May 9), while Shoppach went 4-for-5 against Houston (March 6).
Set `Em Up -- Sophomore RHP Paul Thorp has quietly emerged as one of the team's best mid-relief pitchers. He has a 3-0 record, four saves, ranks fifth on the squad with 38 strikeouts, and leads the team with 24 appearances.
A First Time For Everything -- Back-up catcher Paul Richmond's grand slam against Southwest Texas (Feb. 14) was the first he's ever hit -- and that includes his time in Little League, high school and junior college baseball.
Freshman OF David Murphy belted his first collegiate home run, a first-pitch, bases-loaded shot to right field against Houston (March 6).
Lots of Runs -- Baylor's 22 runs scored against Southwest Texas marks the first time the Bears have scored 20 or more runs in a game since defeating Minnesota 22-6 in the 1999 Waco Regional.
The Bears have scored ten or more runs in 20 games this season.
Home Sweet Home -- Last year, in the first full season at Baylor Ballpark, the Bears posted an impressive 26-6 record at home. In 2001, the Bears have posted a 21-10 record on their home field.
In 2000, Baylor ranked 13th nationally in attendance, averaging more than 2,700 fans per game.
In the Record Books -- With a home run against Texas (April 22) senior 3B Matt Williams moved into second place on the Baylor career home runs list with 41. He needs 10 home runs to take sole possession of first place (Jon Topolski, 50, 1996-99). On the career runs scored chart, Williams ranks third with 188.
LHP Josh Scott currently ranks fourth on the Baylor career strikeouts list with 282. The senior needs six strikeouts to move past Kip Wells into third place (288, 1996-98). With a start against Southwest Texas (May 1), Scott moved into a tie with Kris Lambert (1994-97) for first place on the career games started list with 48.
Last season, Scott became just the seventh Baylor pitcher to strikeout 200 batters in his career.
Setting New Records -- With his sixth save of the season and the 21st of his career against Dallas Baptist (April 6), sophomore closer Zane Carlson continues to set new Baylor records for career saves. Last season, he racked up 15 saves to set the school single season saves record.
The NCAA record for saves in a career is 49, set by Jack Krawczyk of Southern Cal (1995-98).
Zane's World -- RHP Zane Carlson had the longest outing of his career at Southwest Texas (April 17). Usually the Bears' closer, Carlson worked 6.2 innings of the 15-inning game and struck out a career-high seven batters.
His longest outing previously was five innings and took place March 11, 2000 against Oral Roberts.
Young Guns -- This season, Baylor is fielding a young and experienced team. In fact, 18 of the top 25 players on last season's Big 12 Championship team were freshmen and sophomores. Senior LHP Josh Scott is the only senior on a pitching staff dominated by sophomores.
Getting Experience -- Four true freshmen, 3B/DH Jared Clements, RHP Cody Hall, OF David Murphy, and SS/2B Trey Webb have seen action this season. Murphy leads the young bunch, appearing in 51 games and starting 45.
Academic Excellence -- Several Baylor players have been recognized for their exceptional work in the classroom. OF Tim Hartshorn and RHP Justin Taylor lead the way, having been named to the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.
Bears who were named to the Big 12 baseball all-academic team are: Hartshorn, Taylor, Keith Ellison, and Justin Spooner. Baylor players named to the second team are: Steven White and Mike Huggins.
All-Tournament Team -- Catcher Kelly Shoppach was named the Most Outstanding Player by a vote of the media at the inaugural Astros College Classic. The junior hit .316 over three games with three doubles, a home run and six RBI. 2B Trevor Mote and LHP Josh Scott were also named to the team.
Community Service Honors -- Junior Tim Hartshorn was recently named a Bank of America/Big 12 Conference Community Champion for his dedication to academic excellence and community service.
250 Wins -- With a 10-6 victory over Houston (April 4), Bears coach Steve Smith earned his 250th career win. Smith, 40, is one of the nation's winningest coaches under the age of 45.
Baylor in the Postseason -- The Bears made their third straight postseason appearance in 2000. Last season also marked the second consecutive year in which Baylor hosted an NCAA regional.
In the News -- In the April 9th college baseball weekend wrapup, Baseball America editor John Manuel called Baylor catcher Kelly Shoppach the best catcher in the nation.
Shoppach is also featured in the Top Prospects edition of Baseball America. A story on the junior from Fort Worth can be found in the Colleges West section by Jim Callis. Last season, pitcher Kyle Evans was featured in the same section.
Big 12 Pitchers/Players of the Week -- Three Baylor players have been honored by the Big 12 conference for their weekly performances.
Senior 3B Matt Williams earned Big 12 Co-Player of the Week (March 26) honors for his incredible performance in the series at Kansas. Williams hit .556 on the week, which included a game against No. 1 Rice. He also smacked four doubles, three home runs and had 11 RBI.
Sophomore righty Steven White was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 12) for his performance in the Bears' 5-0 win over Cal State Fullerton. White tossed seven shutout innings, giving up just two hits, while striking out five batters and issuing just four walks. The League City, Texas native also limited the Titans to a .087 batting average.
Sophomore 1B Mike Huggins was named the Phillips 66/Big 12 Player of the Week (Feb. 19) for his performances against Southwest Texas and Nicholls State. He hit a sizzling .615 with a pair of doubles and five RBI.
Up Next -- Baylor travels to Oklahoma City, Okla., for the Big 12 tournament at Bricktown Ballpark. The Bears will practice at 9:25 a.m. on Thursday, May 16.
