April 16, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
A battle for third place in the Big 12 Conference standings takes place this weekend when the No. 20 Baylor Lady Bears travel to Columbia, Mo., to take on the Missouri Tigers. Missouri currently stands percentage points ahead of the Lady Bears for third place in the Big 12 and enters the two-game series with a record of 19-21 overall and 6-2 in the conference.
Following a loss to Texas A&M earlier in the week, Baylor enters the series with a record of 37-10 overall and 7-3 in the conference. Baylor will look to duplicate the results of the last visit to Columbia, Mo., when the Lady Bears swept the Tigers in 2002.
Missouri swept last season's series in Waco, Texas, and have posted a record of 15-9 all time against the Lady Bears. The Tigers enter the game winners of six of their last eight, including a 3-0 win over rival Kansas earlier in the week.
THE SERIES Baylor vs. Missouri: Missouri leads 15-9
Waco, Texas: Missouri leads 9-5
Columbia, Mo.: Tied 3-3
Neutral: Missouri leads 3-1
Streak: Missouri won 2
Last Meeting: Missouri 4, Baylor 1 (4/19/2004)
LIVE COVERAGE Radio: None
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Television: None
HEAD COACH Glenn Moore
Glenn Moore is in his fourth season as Baylor's head coach, coming to Waco after a stellar three-year stint at Louisiana State.
In his first season at Baylor, Moore led the Lady Bears to a 38-22 overall record and a sixth-place, 7-9 mark in the Big 12 Conference. The following season, he guided the Lady Bears to even greater successes with more than 50 team and individual, single-game and single-season school records. Baylor finished 46-18 overall and 10-8 in the Big 12 Conference, establishing school marks for victories in a season, conference victories in a season and highest conference finish (fourth).
Moore led Baylor to a third straight 30-win season in 2003, and the Lady Bears cracked the NFCA Top 25 for the third consecutive year. During the 2003 season, Moore claimed his 100th victory as Baylor's head coach with the Lady Bears 3-0 triumph against Texas Tech. He is now 152-79 (.661) in three-plus seasons at Baylor.
Moore has a career record of 291-121 (.708); he posted a 22-17 mark in his first year as a collegiate head coach at William Carey in Mississippi. Moore is 269-102 (.727) at the Division I level.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
Missouri enters the showdown with the Lady Bears winners of six of their last eight, including a 3-0 victory over Kansas earlier this week. The Tigers have posted an impressive 6-2 record in Big 12 play behind the pitching of Kalka.
So far in conference play, Kalka has posted a record of 6-2 with an ERA of 0.84. In 53.1 innings of work, Kalka has struck out 63 batters while only walking 16 and has held opponents to an average of .172. For the year, Kalka is 15-13 on the year with an ERA of 1.87.
At the plate, LeCluyse leads the team with an average of .271 on the year. She also has knocked in a team high 15 runs and has eight doubles on the season.
LAST TIME: BAYLOR FALLS TO TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M avenged a 1-0 loss to No. 20 Baylor earlier in the year with a 2-0 victory over the Lady Bears in Big 12 Conference action at Aggie Softball Field. With the loss, Baylor falls to 37-10 on the year and 7-3 in conference play, a game and a half behind second-place Texas A&M who improved to 26-16 and 8-1 in conference action.
Texas A&M ended up scoring all the runs it would need when the Aggies tallied a single run in the first inning when Sharonda McDonald scored while Jana James got caught in a rundown between first and second.
The play was set up when McDonald led off the game with a triple to right field. Baylor starter Cristin Vitek managed to get two outs without allowing McDonald to score, however, on the first pitch to Kristin Gunter, James took off for second base and stopped when Lady Bears catcher Danelle Arnold threw down to second base. While James was caught in the rundown, McDonald came home to score before Vitek applied the tag on James to end the inning.
Adrian Gregory added an insurance run for the Aggies with a solo home run over the right-center field wall with two outs in the fourth to give Texas A&M a 2-0 lead.
Baylor threatened to rally in the top of the sixth when the Lady Bears loaded the bases with only one out, however, Texas A&M starting pitcher Jessica Kapchinski struck out the next two batters to end the threat and retired the side in the seventh as the Aggies recorded their eighth conference win of the season.
The Lady Bears managed to out-hit the Aggies in the contest 4-3, however, stranded five runners on base compared to one runner left on base for Texas A&M.
Vitek took the loss for Baylor, allowing two runs on two hits in 4.1 innings of work, and fell to 22-5 on the year.
BAYLOR IN THE BIG 12 RANKINGS
Off to a 7-3 start in conference play, it is no surprise the Lady Bears rank near the top in several key conference categories. Baylor is currently third among Big 12 teams with a .276 team batting average and leads the league with an ERA of 1.18 in 47 games this season.
In conference play, Baylor ranks fifth in the league with a .236 batting average and is fourth in league play with an ERA of 1.03.
Harmony Schwethelm is the highest ranking Lady Bear in the conference in batting average, as she currently ranks third in the league with a .392 average. Carrie Leerberg has made an impact on the base paths for Baylor, as she is second in the league with 22 stolen bases.
On the mound, Baylor's high ranking is due to the season's Lisa Ferguson and Cristin Vitek are having on the mound. Vitek is second in the league with a 0.92 ERA while Ferguson currently stands at fourth in the conference with a 1.03 ERA on the season.
VITEK NAMED FINALIST FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Baylor's Cristin Vitek is one of 25 finalists for the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award the Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball announced today. Vitek's selection marks the first time in school history a Baylor player has been selected as a finalist for the award.
The award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and is the only national player of the year award, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.
The list will be reduced to ten players on April 28 and three finalists will be announced May 11. The winner of the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced May 26 at the opening ceremonies of the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. The winner will be recognized and presented with the Player of the Year trophy during the ASA National Council Meeting in Mobile, Alabama, in November.
UP NEXT...
Baylor concludes its four-game road swing in the Big 12 Conference with a visit to Austin, Texas, to take on the Texas Longhorns. The Lady Bears and the Longhorns will play a single game on April 21, at 6:30 p.m.
