THE SERIES
Overall Record: Baylor leads 83-58
Waco: Baylor leads 34-27
Houston: Baylor leads 39-25
Neutral Site: Baylor leads 6-2
Unknown Sites: Tied 4-4
Smith vs. UH: 17-13
First Meeting: Houston 5, Baylor 3 [1951]
Last Meeting: Houston 9, at Baylor 3 [4/5/2005]

COACHES
BAYLOR: Steve Smith
Alma Mater: Baylor, 1986
Career Record: 430-262-1 [12th season]
Record at Baylor: 430-262-1 [12th season]
HOUSTON: Raynor Noble
Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
Career Record: 401-292 [12th season]
Record at UH: 401-292 [12th season]

BAYLOR/ISP SPORTS NETWORK
1660 ESPN RADIO (Waco)
Tom Barfield, play-by-play
Lark Smith, color

INTERNET FEEDS
GameTracker: www.BaylorBears.com
Audio: www.BaylorBears.com
Video: none

BAYLOR NATIONAL RANKINGS
Baseball America 22nd
Sports Weekly/ESPN/Coaches 18th
NCBWA t-24th
Collegiate Baseball 18th

THE HOUSTON SERIES
Baylor and Houston meet for the 142nd time Tuesday with the Bears holding an 83-58 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1951 season. The Bears are 17-13 against the Cougars during head coach Steve Smith's tenure.
The Bears are 39-25 all-time at Houston. This is Baylor's first visit to Cougar Field since a 10-4 loss March 2, 2004. That game was the 11th of the season for Baylor; in that game, OF Mike Heldoorn hit the Bears' first home run of the season. It also was LHP Cory VanAllen's second career start; he was touched for six runs, five unearned, in 3.0 innings.
The Baylor-Houston series is the sixth-most played rivalry in Baylor baseball history behind Texas (318 meetings), Texas A&M (252), TCU (230), Rice (207) and SMU (168).

BAYLOR vs. CONFERENCE-USA
Baylor is 218-144-1 all-time against teams currently playing in Conference USA, including a 37-31 mark under head coach Steve Smith. The majority of those 363 games have been against Rice (207) and Houston (141). This is Baylor's first game against a current CUSA member since defeating Tulane 8-7 at the 2005 College World Series.

BAYLOR STARTER
RHP Randall Linebaugh makes his fourth career start Tuesday at Texas-Arlington; each of his previous three starts came this season, and Baylor is 3-0 in those games. He leads Baylor with seven appearances this season.

NUMBERS WATCH
• C Zach Dillon needs five hits to reach 150 career hits and 11 RBI to reach 100 career RBI.
• CF Chase Gerdes needs 12 hits to reach 100 career at bats and four RBI to reach 50 career RBI.
• RHP Ryan LaMotta needs 13 strikeouts to move into a 10th-place tie on Baylor's career strikeouts list.
• RHP Jeff Mandel needs two saves to move into a tie for eighth place on Baylor's career saves list. He also would move into a tie for seventh on Baylor's single-season saves list. Mandel needs six strikeouts to reach 50 career strikeouts.
• 2B Kevin Russo needs 10 hits to reach 100 career hits and three RBI to reach 50 career RBI.

BAYLOR STAVES OFF LOSING STREAKS
Baylor has not dropped three consecutive games since being swept at Texas Tech in the 2004 regular season's final series. That works out to a span of 85 consecutive games without a losing streak of at least three games and only six occasions of consecutive losses. Last season was the first time since 1978 that Baylor did not have a losing streak of at least three games for an entire season.

LaMOTTA REACHES 100 APPEARANCE PLATEAU
RHP Ryan LaMotta made his 100th career appearance last Friday with his start against Pacific. Of his previous 99 appearances, 92 were in relief. The senior drew three starts as a freshman in 2003, including the championship game of the NCAA Hattiesburgh Regional. In that game, he held Southern Mississippi to a pair of runs on six hits over 8.1 innings.
LaMotta is just the second pitcher in Baylor history to appear in at least 100 games. Zane Carlson appeared in 111 games from 2000 to 2004, a mark that ranks first in Big 12 history and 20th in NCAA Division I history.
If LaMotta appears in 15 games this season, Baylor would join Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.) and North Carolina as the only schools in NCAA Division I history to have two pitchers appear in at least 110 career games. LaMotta and Carlson, who played together in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, would be the first Division I teammates to both reach the milestone.
Florida closer Darren O'Day entered the season with entered the season with 84 career appearances. Should O'Day reach 26 appearances this season prior to LaMotta's 15th appearance, Florida would be the first school with teammates to both reach 110 career appearances (Florida's Connor Falkenbach appeared in 124 games from 2002 to 2005). O'Day has appeared in 10 games this season through games of March 12.

BEARS TOUGH IN NINTH WITH LEAD
Baylor is now 131-6 when leading after eight innings since the beginning of the 2002 season. In fact, the Bears have won 25 straight and 60 of their last 61 such games. The lone loss in that span was at TCU last season when the Horned Frogs tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth and later won 2-1 in 11 innings. Baylor has not lost when leading by more than one run after eight since Feb. 4, 2003, against Texas State when the Bobcats scored seven runs to overcome a 5-2 Baylor lead.

MANDEL CONTINUES HOT HAND
RHP Jeff Mandel has not allowed a run in any of his six outings this season and currently has a 22.0-inning scoreless streak dating back to last season. Mandel has not allowed a run in nine consecutive appearances.
Since March 9, 2005, Mandel has made 21 relief appearances. Eighteen of those 21 outings were scoreless efforts. He has not allowed an earned run in 20 of those 21 outings, yielding only two earned runs in 5.0 innings in the series opener against Texas A&M last season. Mandel is 2-0 with five saves and a 0.41 ERA in those 21 appearances, allowing only four runs, two earned, over 44.1 innings.

TRIPLE YOUR PLEASURE
Baylor has 12 triples through its first 16 games of the 2006 season. The Bears had only 21 three-baggers in 70 games last season. LF Seth Fortenberry leads the Big 12 Conference with five triples, one more than his career total entering the 2006 season and matching CF Chase Gerdes' team-leading total last season. SS Beamer Weems has two triples, while C Zach Dillon, Gerdes, DH/RHP Jeff Mandel, RF Kevin Sevigny and DH/C Matt Sodolak and have the other five triples.

BEARS PRODUCE WITH TWO OUTS
Baylor hits .313 (57-for-182) with two outs this season, significantly higher than with less than two outs (.252, 81-for-321). The Bears have produced 52 of their 93 RBI with two outs (55.9 percent).
C Zach Dillon and 2B Kevin Russo lead the team with nine two-out RBI each. Dillon also leads the team with 11 two-out hits, 68.8 percent of his overall total (16). He is hitting .440 (11-for-25) with two outs.

BAYLOR STRONG IN LATEST APR REPORT
Baylor's baseball team scored a 961 in the latest Academic Progress Rate (APR), released earlier this month by the NCAA. That score was the best among the eight Big 12 schools whose scores were released; scores for Kansas and Texas A&M have not yet been released. Baylor was the only Big 12 baseball team that scored above the national male student-athlete average (943). The Bears joined Missouri as the only Big 12 baseball teams to score above the national baseball average (931).
961 - BAYLOR
941 - Missouri
924 - Nebraska
906 - Oklahoma
903 - Kansas State
888 - Texas
812 - Oklaohma State
778 - Texas Tech
n/a - Kansas
n/a - Texas A&M

LaMOTTA JOINS 200 CLUB
RHP Ryan LaMotta became the 15th pitcher in Baylor history to record at least 200 strikeouts with his first strikeout of the 2006 season. He has 205 career strikeouts in 232.2 innings pitched. Here are the Baylor pitchers who have amassed at least 200 career strikeouts:
Jason Jennings - 377
Steven White - 320
Kris Lambert - 292
Kip Wells - 288
Josh Scott - 285
Trey Taylor - 253
Justin Taylor - 229
Glenn Nevill - 225
Zane Carlson - 225
Brett Bergman - 224
Mark McCormick - 223
Chad Hawkins - 214
Ryan LaMotta - 211
Frank Foltyn - 209
Jared Theodorakos - 205

SCHEDULE AMONG NATION'S TOUGHEST
Baylor's 2006 schedule was ranked as the nation's 10th toughest in preseason rankings at www.BoydsWorld.com. The Bears and ninth-ranked Georgia were the lone non-California schools in the top 10.
Last season, Baylor's schedule was ranked seventh at season's end as the only non-California school in the top 10. The Bears' strength of schedule has ranked 11th or better nationally in each of the past five seasons, ranking 11th in 2004, fifth in 2003, seventh in 2002 and 10th in 2001.

2005 SEASON HIGHLIGHT DVD ON SALE
"Experience the Dogpile," a comprehensive season highlight DVD that chronicles Baylor's 2005 season, is on sale at the Baylor baseball office. The one-hour, 47-minute piece features highlights, interviews and commentary on the program's most successful season. To order, call 254.710.3029.

BAYLOR/ISP SPORTS NETWORK
Catch every inning of Baylor baseball in 2006 on the flagship station for Baylor athletics, 1660 ESPN Radio.
Popular on-air personality Tom Barfield enters his fourth season as the primary play-by-play man for Baylor baseball. Barfield, the operations manager for KRZI/KRZX and KLRK-FM in Waco, is best known as co-host of the afternoon "You Make the Call" call-in show. Barfield also serves as host for the "Countdown to Kickoff" and "The Baylor Fifth Quarter Show" during football season. He has previously served as the radio voice for Tarleton State, McLennan Community College, Mary Hardin-Baylor and several high schools across the state.
Barfield is joined by Lark Smith in the booth. Smith, whose attachment to Baylor baseball dates back to the days of coach Dutch Schroeder, was sports director for the Baylor campus radio station in the late 1970s and served as play-by-play voice for the Bears' 1977 and 1978 College World Series teams. After nearly two decades in broadcasting, Smith now works for the Heart O' Texas Federal Credit Union in Waco.
Live audio for all Baylor baseball games also are available online at www.BaylorBears.com.

BAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the CSTV Network, which currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, including four Big 12 schools.

BEARCASTS AVAILABLE FOR SELECT GAMES
Live streaming video is available for select games during the 2006 season. A total of 24 games will be available online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor athletics and a member of the CSTV Network. Thirteen of the 24 webcasts will be against Big 12 Conference opponents, including the Bears' three-game league sets against Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Nebraska, as well as the home game of the Texas series.

INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Net Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on FSN Southwest.

HEAD COACH Steve Smith
Steve Smith is in his 12th season as head coach of Baylor's baseball program in 2006. In his first 11 years, Smith guided the program to unprecedented heights, including the most successful eight-year run in the program's 100-year history and a College World Series appearance in 2005.
Smith has compiled a 430-262-1 career record, all at Baylor. He holds the best winning percentage of any coach in Baylor baseball history, and he ranks second among the program's 18 head coaches in career victories. Smith has led Baylor to seven NCAA Regional appearances, three NCAA Super Regional appearances, one College World Series appearance and two Big 12 Conference titles. He also has coached 12 All-America selections and seven USA Baseball National Team members while at Baylor.
The 2005 USA Baseball National Team head coach, 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 for Mark Johnson at Texas A&M from 1987 to 1989.
A former standout pitcher at Baylor in 1982-1983, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA as a junior. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1983 Major League draft by the San Francisco Giants and played four years of pro ball before moving into the coaching ranks.
Smith has tutored seven pitchers in the last 13 years who were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. He also has coached at least one all-conference pitcher in each of the last 13 years.

BEARS POSSESS BIG 12'S MOST TENURED STAFF
With 38 years of combined service at Baylor, the Bears' on-field staff is the Big 12 Conference's most tenured. Head coach Steve Smith joins Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson as the league's second-most tenured head coaches, both in their 12th season in 2006 and trailing only Texas Tech's Larry Hays (20th season).
Assistant coach Mitch Thompson (12th year) joined the Baylor staff in Smith's first season, while assistant coach Steve Johnigan (11th year) joined the following season. Volunteer assistant coach Chris Berry (7th year) joined the staff prior to the 2000 season and assumed pitching coach duties this season.
Thompson and Johnigan are the second- and third-most tenured assistant coaches in the Big 12 behind only Texas' Tommy Harmon (16 seasons). In fact, Harmon, Thompson, Johnigan and Missouri's Evan Pratte are the only assistant coaches with more tenure at their respective schools than Berry.

UP NEXT ...
Baylor begins Big 12 Conference play this weekend, hosting No. 25 Kansas for a three-game series at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears and the Jayhawks meet Friday at 7 p.m. CST, Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Baylor swept Kansas at Lawrence last season and has won seven straight in the series dating back to the 2003 season.