March 7, 2005
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#10 BAYLOR (21-3) vs. TEXAS-ARLINGTON (8-11)
March 8, 2005, 6:30 p.m.
Getterman Stadium • Waco, Texas
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. UT-Arlington: Baylor leads 44-26-1
Waco, Texas: Baylor leads 29-8
Arlington, Texas: Baylor leads 14-12-1
Neutral: Texas-Arlington leads 6-1
Streak: Baylor won 2
Last Meeting: Baylor 2, Texas-Arlington 1 (3/24/2004)
LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: None
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Television: None
No. 10 Baylor (21-3) returns to action this week when the Lady Bears host Texas-Arlington on Tuesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m.
Texas-Arlington (8-11) comes to Baylor after winning two of three from Nicholls State last weekend. The action will be the first for Baylor since an 18-3 win over Oklahoma Christian on March 2.
The Lady Bears own a 44-26-1 edge in the series and have won two straight in the series after a pair of wins over the Lady Mavs last season. Baylor owns a 29-8 edge in the series in games play in Waco, Texas.
SCOUTING TEXAS-ARLINGTON
Texas-Arlington enters the contest with the Lady Bears with an 8-11 record after taking two-of-three over Nicholls State this weekend. The Lady Mavs, who entered the season as one of the favorites to win the Southland Conference, have won four-of-seven after dropping two contests against Texas on March 2.
The Lady Mavs are led by pitcher Jill Garro who has posted a 3-6 record and 1.98 ERA in 11 appearances this season. In 60 innings of work, Garro has allowed 61 hits while striking out 41 batters on the year.
At the plate, Texas-Arlington features Katies Jones, who leads the team with a .289 batting average on the season. Dee Jay Nelson is also off to a fast start for Texas-Arlington as she leads the team with one home run and 11 RBI on the season while batting .288 for the Lady Mavs.
BAYLOR NEARS HOME RUN MILESTONE
Through only 24 games this season, this year's version of the Lady Bears have hit 23 home runs, surpassing last season's total of 20, and are only five home runs shy of establishing a new school record for home runs in a season. Chelsi Lake leads the team with six home runs on the season with Stephanie Pomes and Kelly Osburn one behind Lake with five round-trippers. Tessa Lynam has added four home runs for the Lady Bears as Baylor is only two behind Texas for the league lead in the category.
OSBURN SETS HOME RUN MARK
While the team is looking to shatter the school single-season home run record, Kelly Osburn established a new Baylor career home run mark with the 21st home run of her career in the 18-3 win over Oklahoma Christian. On a 1-2 pitch from Lindsey Lawson to lead-off the second inning, Osburn drove the ball over the left field wall for her fifth homer run of the season and 21st of her career, surpassing Ryan Stukel, who hit 20 from 2000-03, for most career home runs.
FERGUSON ONE SHY FROM CAREER SAVE MARK
After tossing three innings of relief in Baylor's 6-1 victory over Sam Houston State at the Compass Bank Invitational, Lisa Ferguson earned her first save of the season and ninth of her career, moving her within one of the Baylor career mark.
Former Baylor pitcher Joni Miller established the standard with 10 saves from 2000-2003. Ferguson is on pace to shatter the school record after finishing second in the NCAA with eight saves her freshman season.
800TH CAREER STRIKEOUT IN SIGHT FOR VITEK
Senior left-handed pitcher Cristin Vitek continues to climb up the career charts in several categories, including strikeouts where she entered the season as Baylor's career leader with 645. In fact, Vitek has a good shot at becoming Baylor's first-ever 800 strikeout performer as the lefty currently has 691 strikeouts and is now only 109 strikeouts shy of the milestone.
Last season, she became only the second player in school history to record 600 strikeouts in her career when she struck out Tina Boutelle of Texas in the sixth inning at the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
LYNAM NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tessa Lynam (Alpharetta, Ga.) has been selected as the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week for the week of February 15-20 the Amateur Softball Association announced. She led the No. 11 Lady Bears with a .571 batting average through seven games and was instrumental in the team's success at the Crowne Plaza Classic in Houston, Texas. For her performance, Lynam also earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Week honors.
Over the course of the week, Lynam went 12-of-21 and led the Lady Bears with a .571 batting average over seven games. She led the team in several categories, including hits (12), doubles (4), home runs (2), RBI (13), total bases (22), slugging percentage (1.048) and on-base percentage (.615). She ranked second on the team with eight runs scored and four walks.
In the 16-2 win over Texas State, Lynam went 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double, two runs score and six RBI. The 10 total bases for Lynam in the contest established a new single-game school record, eclipsing the previous record of nine held by three different players.
Her six RBI performance against the Bobcats was the most for a Baylor player since Kelly Osburn drove in six in a win against Tennessee on Feb. 27, 2004. Lynam recorded an RBI in five of six games this week and went 2-for-3 with a double, run scored and three RBI in the 11-1 win over North Carolina to clinch the Crowne Plaza Classic title. The junior also recorded a hit in every game, including multiple hits in four of seven contests, this past week as she pushed her hit streak to 10 games.
Lynam also contributed to the Lady Bears success while in the circle. The right-hander pitched a 3-0 shutout victory against the Wildcats to open the Crowne Plaza Classic. In seven innings of work, she allowed only two hits while striking out six to move to 4-0 on the season.
With her selection as Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, Lynam became the third consecutive Lady Bears player to be selected for the honor. Kim Wilmoth won the season's inaugural award as Chelsi Lake won the honor last season. It marked the first career honor for Lynam and is the first time in school history three Baylor players have been selected for the award in a single season.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
The Lady Bears entered the season ranked in both of the national polls and have climbed into the top 10 for the first time in school history as Baylor is currently No. 10 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 and No. 10 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25.
After posting a 3-1 record this past week at the Compass Bank Invitational, the Baylor softball team climbed one spot to No. 10 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.
The Arizona Wildcats sit atop this week's poll at No. 1 as the Wildcats claimed the Compass Bank Invitational title after defeating Baylor 1-0.
Baylor is one of six Big 12 Conference teams in this week's rankings as Texas (No. 5), Texas A&M (No. 11), Oklahoma (No. 12), Nebraska (No. 16), and Missouri (No. 22) join Baylor in this week's poll.
Baylor's No. 10 ranking in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 is the highest ranking for the Lady Bears in the NFCA poll in school history.
Arizona, with 18 first-place votes, is ranked No. 1 in the poll released by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Texas (No. 9), Oklahoma (No. 11), Texas A&M (No. 15), Nebraska (No. 17) and Missouri (No. 22) join the Lady Bears in the NFCA rankings as Oklahoma State also earned votes in this week's poll.
The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 poll is voted on by 30 NCAA Division I coaches, representing each conference. The first regular season poll will be released on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll is voted on by NCAA Division I coaches representing 15 different ASA regions and 11 different collegiate conferences. The poll is also voted on by selected softball media members. First-place votes are in parentheses.
GETTERMAN STADIUM KIND TO LADY BEARS
With a win over Louisiana-Monroe to open the season, Baylor claimed its 100th win at Getterman Stadium as the Lady Bears now own a 109-39 career mark on their home field, opened in 1999. The Lady Bears had their best year ever at Getterman Stadium last season as Baylor went 27-4 at home on the year.
Baylor went undefeated in conference play at home last season as the Lady Bears swept season series with Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas Tech and Iowa State. Prior to the NCAA Softball Championships the Lady Bears were 27-2 at Getterman Stadium on the year.
Baylor has lost less than 10 games at home four of the five years the stadium has been open and has never posted a losing record in a season at home.
Arizona's 1-0 win over Baylor at the Compass Bank Invitational was the first loss for Baylor at home since a 3-2 setback to Oklahoma Christian on April 1, 2004, a span of 15 games.
UP NEXT...
Baylor will return to action on Thursday, March 10, when Baylor opens play at the Speedline Classic in Tampa, Fla., against Temple at 3:00 p.m.
