THE SERIES
Overall Record: Baylor leads 24-17-1
Waco: Baylor leads 15-4-1
Lincoln: Nebraska leads 8-6
Neutral Site: Nebraska leads 5-3
Since Start of Big 12: Baylor leads 16-13
Regular-Season Big 12: Baylor leads 14-8
Smith vs. Nebraska: 17-13
First Meeting: Baylor 9, Nebraska 7 [4/4/1938]
Last Meeting: Nebraska 1, Baylor 0 [5/29/2005]

COACHES
BAYLOR: Steve Smith
Alma Mater: Baylor, 1986
Career Record: 448-277-1 [12th season]
Record at Baylor: 448-277-1 [12th season]
NEBRASKA: Mike Anderson
Alma Mater: Northern Colorado, 1990
Career Record: 176-65 [4th season]
Record at NU: 176-65 [4th 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: www.BaylorBears.com

BAYLOR NATIONAL RANKINGS
Baseball America NR
Sports Weekly/ESPN/Coaches RV
NCBWA NR
Collegiate Baseball NR

SENIOR WEEKEND
Baylor's six 2006 seniors -- C Zach Dillon, LF Seth Fortenberry, RHP Ryan LaMotta, DH Mike Pankratz, 3B Kevin Russo and RF Kevin Sevigny -- will be honored prior to Saturday's game. Baylor also will recognize the 2006 Diamond Girls prior to Sunday's finale.

BALLPARK BASH SET FOR SATURDAY
The final Baylor Ballpark Bash of the 2006 season is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m. CDT in front of Baylor Ballpark. The event features inflatable games, live music, a mini home run derby and more, all free to the public.

RELIANT ENERGY HOSTS "POWERZONE NIGHT"
Reliant Energy, a long-time anchor sponsor of Baylor Athletics, will sponsor "PowerZone Night" at Friday's series opener. The first 100 fans holding their Reliant Energy statement will receive a pair of complimentary tickets to the Reliant PowerZone special seating area. In addition, all Reliant customers taking advantage of this offer will receive a free "Baylor PowerZone" T-shirt.

THE NEBRASKA SERIES
Baylor and Nebraska meet for the 43rd, 44th and 45th times this weekend. The Bears hold a 24-17-1 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to a 9-7 Baylor victory April 4, 1938, in Waco.
Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, the Bears hold a 16-13 advantage in the series. Baylor is 14-8 against the Huskers in regular-season Big 12 games, winning four of seven series and all three series in Waco. The 1998 series was rain-shortened to one game (a Baylor victory), while the 1999 series was completely lost to inclement weather.
Baylor swept the series in 1997, 2000 and 2004. Nebraska swept the series in 2001. The teams split the series with the home team winning two-of-three in 2002 (at Baylor Ballpark) and in 2003 (at Nebraska).
The Bears are 15-4-1 against Nebraska in games played in Waco, including a 9-1 mark against the Huskers at home since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997.

LAST TIME vs. NEBRASKA
NEBRASKA 1, BAYLOR 0 -- MAY 29, 2005 • OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.
Andy Gerch's sixth-inning bases-loaded sacrifice fly provided the game's lone run as Baylor dropped a 1-0 decision to Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference Tournament Championship Game at Bricktown Ballpark.
The game was a classic pitchers' duel as both teams were held to just three hits. It was the first 1-0 decision in the nine-year history of the Big 12 Tournament.
Baylor starter Mark McCormick, who left Baylor's first-round game against Kansas after sustaining a bruised thumb two outs into the first inning, tossed 6.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits and six walks with four strikeouts. Ryan LaMotta pitched the final 3.0 innings without allowing a run or a hit and striking out one.
However, Nebraska starter Brian Duensing was one step better. Duensing threw 7.2 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Brett Jensen recorded the game's final four outs, including a strikeout of Josh Ford to end the game.
Neither team had many scoring chances. Baylor got out of jams in the first and the second with inning-ending double plays. However, the Bears could not escape the sixth unscathed. After a Joe Simokaitis leadoff single, Alex Gordon beat out Paul Witt's throw to first on a potential double-play ball. That proved key as Curtis Ledbetter followed with a single to right and Ryan Bohanan walked to load the bases for Gerch.
Zach Dillon and Michael Griffin both had doubles for the Bears. Ford provided Baylor's only other hit of the day, a one-out single up the middle in the fourth; however, he was erased when Dillon hit into an inning-ending double play.

BAYLOR STARTERS
Baylor uses the same rotation from the Missouri and Texas A&M series for this weekend's set against Nebraska, sending RHP Ryan LaMotta to the mound Friday, LHP Cory VanAllen to the mound Saturday and RHP Jeff Mandel to the hill for Sunday's finale.
Friday will be the 108th career appearance and 16th career start for LaMotta, who makes his first career start against Nebraska. Baylor is 9-6 in LaMotta's previous 15 starts; he is 6-5 with four no-decisions.
VanAllen makes his 35th career start Saturday. Baylor is 21-13 in his previous 34 starts; VanAllen is 16-10 with eight no-decisions.
Sunday will be career start No. 8 for Mandel and his fourth this season. Baylor is 3-4 in his previous seven starts, including a 1-2 mark this season. Mandel is 1-1 in his seven career starts with five no-decisions.

DILLON NAMED SEMIFINALIST FOR BENCH AWARD
C Zach Dillon was named a semifinalist for the 2006 Coleman Johnny Bench Award, the Greater Wichita [Kan.] Area Sports Commission announced Thursday. Dillon was the only catcher from the Big 12 Conference selected to 10-man list.
Dillon is the third Baylor catcher to reach semifinalist status for the Bench Award. Josh Ford was a semifinalist in 2003, and Kelly Shoppach won the inaugural Bench Award in 2001.
Other catchers named semifinalists were J.P. Arencibia of Tennessee, Ryan Bono of Central Florida, Jeff Kunkel of Michigan, Matt McBride of Lehigh, Michael McKenry of Middle Tennessee State, Jordan Newton of Western Kentucky, Eddy Rodriguez of Miami, Fla., Jake Smith of East Carolina and Chad Tracy of Pepperdine. The list will be pared to three finalists June 1 with the winner named June 28 at the Ninth-Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet.
Dillon, a senior co-captain from Urbandale, Iowa, is 10th in the Big 12 with a .371 batting average. He also leads the conference in walks (44), on base percentage (.512), free passes (50) and times reached base (109). Dillon ranks 14th nationally, averaging 0.90 walks per game and is on pace to break Baylor's singe-season records for walks and on base percentage.
The Bench Award is selected by a committee comprised of sportswriters, sportscasters, Division I coaches and scouts.

DILLON, MANDEL NAMED CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT VI
C Zach Dillon and RHP/1B Jeff Mandel were named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI teams, announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Dillon was named first team, while Mandel earned second-team honors.
At least one Baylor baseball student-athlete has earned academic all-district honors every year since 1998. In that time, 13 Bears have been so honored 19 times. This is Dillon's second consecutive season to earn all-district honors, while Mandel is honored for the first time.
A fifth-year senior catcher from Urbandale, Iowa, Dillon completed undergraduate studies at Baylor in December, 2005, and recently completed his first semester of graduate school in pursuit of Master of Science degree in sport management.
Dillon joins former Bears Ross Bennett (2002, 2003), Michael Griffin (2003, 2004, 2005), Jason Jennings (1998, 1999) and Jon Topolski (1998, 1999) as the only Baylor baseball student-athletes to earn academic all-district honors multiple times.
Mandel, a junior pitcher and first baseman from Houston, Texas, currently is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. He is 1-2 this season on the mound with a team-best seven saves, tied for the seventh-best single-season total in school history.
In order to be eligible for academic all-district honors, a student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20 on a 4.00 scale and participate in at least 50 percent of his team's games. Freshmen and first-year transfers are not eligible. Those selected all-district are automatically nominated for Academic All-America honors.

BEARS HAPPY TO BE HOME DOWN THE STRETCH
The Nebraska series features the fourth, fifth and sixth games of a seven-game home stand for Baylor; the Bears are 3-0 thus far on the home stand. The 2006 Bears are markedly more successful at home, posting a 23-7 mark at Baylor Ballpark and a 7-12 record in away games. The Bears are 7-2 in Big 12 play at home and 3-9 in road games.
Individually, C Zach Dillon is the only Baylor player with a minimum of 20 at bats in both scenarios hitting above .300 in road games (.375, 24-for-64). Dillon and C/DH Matt Sodolak are the only players hitting better in road games than in home games. Dillon leads the team in batting on the road and at home, hitting .368 (35-for-95) at Baylor Ballpark.

BAYLOR'S REIGN AS ALL-TIME BIG 12 LEADER ENDS
With a three-game sweep of Kansas at home over the weekend and Baylor idle, Texas moved into first place on the all-time Big 12 Conference standings chart. The Longhorns (170-104, .620) are just ahead of the Bears (166-102, .619).
This marks the first time a team other than Baylor has been atop the all-time standings since the week of March 10-16, 2003, the first weekend of Big 12 play that season. Baylor trailed Texas Tech entering the weekend, took two of three from the Red Raiders at Baylor Ballpark, passed Tech by percentage points in the standings and have been the conference's winningest program ever since.
Since the league's inception in 1997, Baylor leads all Big 12 schools in total first- and second-team All-Big 12 selections (42), first-team Academic All-Big 12 selections (45), NCAA appearances (seven) and Major League Baseball draft selections (51).
Baylor is the only Big 12 school to have never suffered a sub-.500 season in conference play. The Bears join Oklahoma and Oklahoma State as the only programs to have qualified for every Big 12 Tournament.

BEARS TOUGH WITH LEAD IN NINTH
Baylor's April 11 loss to No. 2 Rice snapped a streak of 34 consecutive wins for Baylor when leading after eight innings. It was the first such loss for the Bears at home since Feb. 4, 2003, against Texas State. Baylor is 147-7 when leading after eight innings since the beginning of the 2002 season.
Baylor has not lost when leading by more than one run after eight since the 2003 game against Texas State when the Bobcats scored seven runs in the ninth to overcome a 5-2 Baylor lead.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
• C Zach Dillon is seven runs shy of No. 100, 12 hits shy of No. 22, two doubles shy of No. 40 and three extra-base hits shy of No. 50.
• LF Seth Fortenberry is three hits shy of No. 100 and four walks shy of No. 50.
• CF Chase Gerdes' next start will be the 100th of his career. He also is one walk shy of No. 50.
• RHP Ryan LaMotta is 10 strikeouts shy of sixth place on Baylor's career strikeouts list. ... LaMotta is 7.0 innings shy of a seventh-place tie all-time at Baylor and one win shy of No. 20. ... LaMotta is four appearances shy of Zane Carlson's school record of 111. ... LaMotta is 8.2 innings shy of 300 and seven strikeouts shy of 250.
• DH Mike Pankratz is 12 hits shy of No. 100.
• RF Kevin Sevigny is 19 at bats shy of No. 500, one run shy of No. 100, six extra-base hits shy of No. 50 and four walks shy of No. 50.
• LHP Cory VanAllen is seven strikeouts shy of No. 150.

LaMOTTA CLIMBS STRIKEOUTS LIST
RHP Ryan LaMotta moved into seventh place on Baylor's career strikeouts earliers this season. He needs 10 strikeouts to match Trey Taylor for sixth all-time at Baylor. LaMotta currently has 243 career strikeouts in 291.1 innings pitched.
1. Jason Jennings - 377
2. Steven White - 320
3. Kris Lambert - 292
4. Kip Wells - 288
5. Josh Scott - 285
6. Trey Taylor - 253
7. Ryan LaMotta - 243
8. Justin Taylor - 229
9. Glenn Nevill - 225
10. Zane Carlson - 225

TRIPLE YOUR PLEASURE
Baylor has 27 triples through 49 games this season. The Bears had only 21 three-baggers in 70 games last season. LF Seth Fortenberry leads the Big 12 Conference and is tied for the national lead with nine triples, more than twice his career total entering the 2006 season (four) and four more than CF Chase Gerdes' team-leading total of five last season.

BAYLOR STRONG IN LATEST APR REPORT
Baylor's baseball team scored a 961 in the latest Academic Progress Rate (APR), released Wednesday 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

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.

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.

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.

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 448-277-1 career record, all at Baylor. He holds the best winning percentage (.618) 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.

BAYLOR: 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 plays its final home game of the 2006 regular season Tuesday, May 16, hosting Dallas Baptist for a 6 p.m. CDT first pitch at Baylor Ballpark.