April 27, 2004
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Baylor will look to extend a three-game winning streak when the Lady Bears face North Texas in a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 28, at Getterman Stadium. No. 22 Baylor enters the contest with a record of 40-12 overall, securing its 40th victory of the season in a 6-2 win over Iowa State in Big 12 Conference action last weekend.
North Texas enters the doubleheader at 16-50 overall. The Mean Green have struggled as of late and have lost 14 of their last 15 contests. UNT trails the all-time series with Baylor 14-3, as the Lady Bears have won five in a row in the series.
The teams met earlier in the season, with Baylor claiming a 3-0 win in the final game of the Getterman Classic.
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. North Texas: Baylor leads 14-3
Waco, Texas: Baylor leads 8-1
Denton, Texas: Baylor leads 4-2
Neutral: Baylor leads 2-0
Streak: Baylor won 5
Last Meeting: Baylor 3, North Texas 0 (2/8/2004)
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 155-81 (.661) in three-plus seasons at Baylor.
Moore has a career record of 294-123 (.708); he posted a 22-17 mark in his first year as a collegiate head coach at William Carey in Mississippi. Moore is 272-104 (.727) at the Division I level.
SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS
Like most first year programs, North Texas has struggled in its first year of reinstatement. North Texas enters the contest losers of 14 of 15 contests and have lost five in a row against Baylor, including a 3-0 loss at the Getterman Classic to start the season.
The Mean Green are full of freshman on the roster, including Katy Maxey, who has seen the most time on the mound for North Texas this season. In 260.1 innings of work, Maxey has compiled a record of 11-31 with a 4.01 ERA. She has struck out 89 batters on the season while allowing 70 walks.
North Texas has been aided by the mid-season addition of Raci Burnett. Burnett has appeared in 18 games on the mound since her arrival, and currently boasts an ERA of 3.53 with 22 strikeouts in 33.2 innings of work.
At the plate, North Texas is led by Heather Bostic. The freshman has compiled an average of .297 on the season to lead the team and is second on the team with 19 RBI.
Freshman Susan Waters provides the pop for the Mean Green, leading the team with seven home runs and 20 RBI.
LAST TIME: BAYLOR DEFEATS TEXAS AND IOWA STATE
No. 22 Baylor won a pair of key Big 12 conference games this past week, defeating Texas for the first time in school history at Austin and rolling past Iowa State 6-2 on 'Senior Day' at Getterman Stadium.
The win over Texas was keyed by a big first inning for Baylor, as the Lady Bears scored three runs on five hits in the frame. Harmony Schwethelm and Carrie Leerberg set the tone with back-to-back singles to open the game. Following a Kelly Osburn groundout, Chelsi Lake smashed a single to left field to plate Schwethelm and give Baylor a 1-0 lead.
Melissa Maler followed with another RBI single when her hit scored Leerberg to give Baylor a 2-0 lead. Kim Wilmoth extended the lead to three when she singled through the left side of the infield as Lake came around to score to give Baylor starter Cristin Vitek a three run cushion.
Vitek managed to hold the lead throughout, as Texas managed only single runs in the fourth and the seventh, to improve her record to 24-6 on the year. In the complete game victory, Vitek allowed only one earned run on four hits as she struck out six Longhorns.
Lake provided an insurance run for Baylor in the fifth with her double to right-center field to score Osburn as Baylor took a 4-1 lead.
With her single in the first inning, Schwethelm extended her hit streak to eight to establish a new career high.
In the next game, Baylor won its 40th game of the season with a 6-2 victory over Iowa State in action at Getterman Stadium.
The Lady Bears got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the bottom of the third. Amber Daniel and Danelle Arnold led off the inning with back-to-back singles and were moved over to second and third when Schwethelm laid down a sacrifice bunt. Leerberg made the sacrifice pay off when she singled up the middle, scoring both runners, to give Baylor an early 2-0 lead.
Baylor exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to put the game away. The key blow came when Osburn blasted a three-run homer, her seventh of the season, over the left-center field wall with two outs to put the Lady Bears up 6-1. Leerberg opened the scoring in the inning with her RBI single to right field to score Daniel.
Vitek moved her record to 25-6 on the season, as she allowed only one earned run on five hits in 6.2 innings of work and became the first pitcher in school history to record at least 200 strikeouts in a season.
Katie Decker forced Ashley Killeen to ground out to third with two runners on base to record her first save of the season. It was an emotional outing for Decker, as the senior made her first and only appearance of the year following a career-ending shoulder injury prior to the start of the season.
BAYLOR IN THE BIG 12 RANKINGS
Off to an 9-5 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 .273 team batting average and leads the league with an ERA of 1.15 in 52 games this season.
In conference play, Baylor ranks sixth in the league with a .237 batting average and is third in league play with an ERA of 0.97.
Harmony Schwethelm is the highest ranking Lady Bear in the conference in batting average, as she currently ranks third in the league with a .382 average. She has also made an impact on the base paths for Baylor, as she is second in the league with 25 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 0.90 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. 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 for the sixth consecutive week. The Lady Bears are currently ranked 22nd in the latest NFCA poll and 22nd 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.
UP NEXT...
Baylor will return to Big 12 Conference action when the Lady Bears travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a weekend series. First pitch against the Cowgirls is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 1.
