April 19, 2004
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The Baylor Lady Bears will look to end a three-game losing skid when No. 24 Texas State travels to Getterman Stadium for a single game before BU returns to Big 12 play with a trip to Austin, Texas, to meet the Longhorns.
Baylor and Texas State will meet in a re-scheduled game from earlier in the season with first pitch scheduled at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20. The teams have already met once this year, with the Lady Bears claiming a 7-0 victory in San Marcos, Texas.
The meeting with the Longhorns is the first of two between the schools this season. Texas owns an 11-1 series edge, including a 6-0 series lead in Austin, Texas. After losing its first seven conference games, Texas has won four in a row to climb out of the bottom of the Big 12 standings.
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. Texas State: Baylor leads 24-12
Baylor vs. Texas: Texas leads 11-1
Waco, Texas: Texas leads 5-1
Austin, Texas: Texas leads 6-0
Neutral: Never met
Streak: Texas won 4
Last Meeting: Texas 4, Baylor 0 (4/16/2003)
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 152-81 (.661) in three-plus seasons at Baylor.
Moore has a career record of 291-123 (.708); he posted a 22-17 mark in his first year as a collegiate head coach at William Carey in Mississippi. Moore is 269-104 (.727) at the Division I level.
,b>SCOUTING TEXAS STATE AND TEXAS
Texas State enters the contest with the Lady Bears with a record of 36-15 on the season. TSU will be looking to avenge a loss to Baylor earlier in the season, when the team lost 7-0 to the Lady Bears in San Marcos, Texas.
The Bobcats are led by pitcher Nicole Neuerberg. So far this year, Neuerberg has compiled a record of 24-8 and leads the team with a 1.66 ERA. In 218.2 innings of work, she has amassed 242 strikeouts while walking only 24 batters.
At the plate, Texas State is led by speedster Kristen Zalenski. Zalenski has an impressive .423 average on the season and leads the team with 42 runs and 30 stolen bases.
After losing its first seven conference games, Texas has reeled off four wins in a row to move into seventh place in the Big 12 standings. The Longhorns lost number one pitcher Cat Osterman to Team USA and number two pitcher Amy Bradford to injury, however, Lizi Sowers has been able to fill the void.
Sowers has managed to compile an 8-5 record on the season and is second on the team with a 2.77 ERA. In 73.1 innings of work, Sowers has struck out 41 batters while walking 15.
Amber Hall leads the way for Texas at the plate as she leads the team with 46 hits and a .393 batting average. Wynter Turner provides the pop in the Texas order, as she leads the Longhorns with nine home runs and 34 RBI this season.
LAST TIME: BAYLOR SWEPT BY MISSOURI
Baylor dropped a pair of games to Missouri over the weekend, extending the Lady Bears season-long losing streak to three. With the losses, Baylor dropped to 37-12 overall and to 7-5 in the Big 12 Conference.
In game one, No. 20 Baylor and Missouri combined for only three hits on the day, however, a Tigers home run proved to be the difference as MU defeated the Lady Bears 1-0 in action at University Field.
Baylor's Cristin Vitek and Missouri's Erin Kalka shut both offenses down throughout as the game remained scoreless heading into the bottom of the fifth. On a 3-2 pitch from Vitek with one out, the Tigers' Alli Kennewell hit the game-winner, as her shot over the center-field fence accounted for the only run as MU held on for a 1-0 victory.
After allowing a single to Baylor's Harmony Schwethelm and a walk to Danelle Arnold, Kalka retired the next 20 batters in order for the complete game victory as she improved to 16-13 on the season.
Vitek (22-6) had another outstanding outing for Baylor, however, took the loss despite allowing only two hits and no walks in six innings of work.
Aided by four unearned runs, Missouri held off a furious Lady Bears rally and completed a weekend sweep over No. 20 Baylor with a 4-3 victory in game two.
Trailing 4-0 heading into the seventh, the Lady Bears rallied and had an opportunity to tie the game, however, fell one run short as Baylor fell to 0-5 on the road in conference play.
With one out, Chelsi Lake blasted her first career home run, a two-run blast over the left field fence, to cut the lead to 4-2. Schwethelm made it back-to-back home runs with an inside the park home run to left field to cut the lead to one at 4-3.
After Carrie Leerberg singled and advanced to second on a ground out by Kelly Osburn, Kelly Levesque hit a line drive to left field that was caught to end the game and the Baylor rally.
Lisa Ferguson saw her record drop to 14-4 on the season with the loss as Erin Kalka (17-3) picked up the victory for the Tigers.
BAYLOR IN THE BIG 12 RANKINGS
Off to a 7-5 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 .271 team batting average and leads the league with an ERA of 1.16 in 49 games this season.
In conference play, Baylor ranks seventh in the league with a .221 batting average and is third in league play with an ERA of 0.96.
Harmony Schwethelm is the highest ranking Lady Bear in the conference in batting average, as she currently ranks third in the league with a .386 average. She has also made an impact on the base paths for Baylor, as she is second in the league with 23 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 0.91 ERA while Ferguson currently stands at fourth in the conference with a 1.01 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. Vitek's selection marks the first time in school history a Baylor player has been selected as a finalist for the award.
The 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 November.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
Baylor remains in the national polls after entering the top 25 two weeks ago. The Lady Bears are currently ranked 20th in the latest NFCA poll and 21st in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings. The No. 19 ranking earlier in the season marks the highest ranking for the Lady Bears in school history, surpassing the 2002 version of the Lady Bears, who were ranked as high as 20th during the year.
Baylor began the 2003 season as the second team out of the NFCA Preseason Coaches Poll and eventually cracked the rankings at No. 25 for two weeks in March. The Lady Bears have been ranked nationally during each of the past three seasons.
BAYLOR ESTABLISHES NEW RECORD FOR MOST CONSECUTIVE WINS
Baylor won the opening six games at the Speedline Invitational to stretch the Lady Bears winning streak to 14 games earlier this season before falling to No. 22 USF in the championship game of the tournament. The 14 game winning streak established a new school record for Baylor as the last loss the Lady Bears suffered prior to the USF game was a 9-0 defeat to No. 1 UCLA at the Palm Springs Classic.
The loss to USF also snapped an impressive four-game winning streak against ranked opponents. Along the way, Baylor defeated No. 11 Tennessee twice, No. 20 Cal-State Fullerton and No. 22 Iowa.
Baylor dominated opponents during the winning streak, allowing the opposition to score more than two runs only once while the Lady Bears scored three or more runs nine times. In all, Baylor out-scored the competition 53-13 during the historic win streak.
Cristin Vitek THROWS CONSECUTIVE NO-HITTERS
Cristin Vitek became the first pitcher in Baylor history to throw back-to-back no-hitters after she no-hit Boston and Northern Illinois at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla. After walking the first batter against Boston, the Katy, Texas, lefty sat down the next 21 batters for her first complete-game no-hitter of her career. She followed with another no-hitter against Northern Illinois, retiring the first 12 batters of the game before walking the first batter of the fifth inning.
During the victory over the Huskies, Vitek struck out 13 batters, tying a career high and ranking third on Baylor's single game strikeout list. Vitek went 4-1 on the week with a save, with her only loss coming at the hands of No. 22 South Florida in the championship game of the Speedline Classic. Before the loss to South Florida, Vitek had won nine straight decisions.
For her performance, Vitek was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher.
LADY BEARS STIR UP DUST ON THE BASE PATHS
Last season, the Lady Bears established a new single-season record for stolen bases with 119. This season, Baylor is on pace to break the mark, as the Lady Bears have swiped 112 bases through the first 49 games of the year.
At the Getterman Classic, Baylor established a new Big 12 Conference record for most steals in a game, with 11 in an 8-4 victory over Wichita State. Kelly Osburn had three, April Luce had two as six others added a steal each. The 11 steals marked the 10th highest total in NCAA history.
Harmony Schwethelm currently leads the team in steals with 23 as 13 Lady Bears have stolen at least one base this season.
While Baylor has stolen 112 bases on 136 attempts this season, opponents have been much more timid. So far this season, opponents have only 14 steals on 26 attempts.
Kelly Levesque CLIMBING UP CAREER CHARTS
Senior center fielder Kelly Levesque continues her steady climb up the Baylor career charts. Levesque now ranks sixth in Baylor history for career hits (145), seventh in steals (40) and ranks seventh in total bases (197).
Levesque will continue to move-up in almost every major offensive category throughout the season, as she ranks near the top in every category except for sacrifice hits. She is currently Baylor's career leader in the hit by pitch category with 25.
She currently ranks sixth in career doubles (23), third in triples (7) and fifth in sacrifice flies (3). Levesque also ranks fifth in runs scored (85).
UP NEXT...
Baylor will return home to Iowa State for a weekend Big 12 Conference series. The series opens with a single game on Saturday, April 24, at 1:00 p.m. Senior Day for the Lady Bears will precede the series finale, with first pitch scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 25.
