March 12, 2012

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Baylor (11-6) at UT Arlington (10-7) March 13, 2012 | 6:30 p.m. CST Arlington, Texas | Clay Gould Ballpark (1,600) PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (2012 STATISTICS) Baylor: RHP Austin Stone, Fr. (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 0 K) UTA: LHP Adam Boydston, Sr. (0-0, 3.60 ERA, 10.0 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 5 K)

Listen | | Game Notes

Baylor baseball heads back out on the road to take on UT Arlington at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Bears' final game before Big 12 Conference play begins.

The Bears are playing their second of four consecutive Tuesday road games in the month of March, but Baylor plays at home in all five weekends this month. BU opens Big 12 Conference play with three consecutive series at home, including this weekend's three-game set against Texas Tech beginning at 6:35 p.m. Friday.

All Baylor baseball games are broadcast live on Waco's 1660 ESPN Radio. Live streaming audio and GameTracker are available for all Baylor baseball games online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the CBS College Sports Network.

Live streaming video is available for weekend games at Baylor Ballpark. Tuesday's game will not be streamed live, but all three games of this weekend's home series against Texas Tech will have live video on BaylorBears.com.

SERIES INFORMATION

UT ARLINGTON MAVERICKS
Overall: Baylor leads 78-29
Waco: Baylor leads 47-12
Arlington: Baylor leads 31-17
Neutral Site: Never Met

Steve Smith vs. UTA: 32-9
Streak: Baylor has won five straight

COACHES

BAYLOR: Steve Smith

Alma Mater: Baylor, 1986

Career Record: 630-421-1 (18th season)

Record at Baylor: 630-421-1 (18th season)

UT ARLINGTON: Darin Thomas

Career Record: 122-124 (5th season)

Record at UTA: 122-124 (5th season)

BAYLOR-IMG COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK

Online at www.BaylorBears.com

Tom Barfield (pxp) and Lark Smith (color)

BAYLOR VS. UT ARLINGTON SERIES HISTORY
Baylor is 78-29 all-time against UT Arlington. The Bears are 31-17 against UTA in games played in Arlington, including last season's 9-4 win in 10 innings.

Baylor's last two games at Clay Gould Park have ended with the Bears winning in 10 innings. Gregg Glime's sacrifice fly gave the Bears a 5-4 win in 2010, and back-to-back triples by Max Muncy and Josh Ludy leading off the 10th provided the winning run in last season's meeting, though the Bears added on four more runs in the inning, including a three-run homer from Dan €ˆEvatt.

BAYLOR VS. SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
Baylor is 309-137-1 all-time against teams currently playing in the Southland Conference. The Bears have played 10 different Southland teams: Lamar (41-31-1), McNeese State (8-7), Nicholls State (7-2), Northwestern State (11-7), Sam Houston State (58-39), Stephen F. Austin (27-0), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-0), Texas State (46-18), UT €ˆArlington (78-29) and UTSA €ˆ(28-4).

Tuesday's game with be the fifth of 13 games against Southland Conference teams in 2012. Baylor plays at home and on the road against four different Southland teams: Sam Houston State, UT €ˆArlington, UTSA and Texas State. The Bears host TAMU-Corpus Christi for two midweek games in April and Lamar played Baylor twice as part of the QTI Baylor Classic. Baylor is 2-2 so far this season against Southland teams, knocking off Texas State on Feb. 22 at The Dell Diamond in Round Rock, defeating Sam Houston State at Baylor Ballpark on Feb. 28 and dropping both games to Lamar in the QTI €ˆBaylor Classic March 3-4.

BLANK-ING OPPONENTS
Baylor senior RHP €ˆTrent Blank leads the Big 12 Conference with five wins this season - more victories than 76 Division I €ˆteams have through Sunday's games.

Combined with 28 teams currently sitting on five wins, Blank has as many victories as 104 Division I teams, including Vanderbilt (5), Long Beach State (5), Utah €ˆ(4), New Mexico (5) and St. John's (5). He has one less win than Texas (6), Clemson (6), TCU €ˆ(6) and Alabama (6).

Blank's success can be attributed to a drop in his arm slot, which was done during a bullpen session at the recommendation of pitching coach Trevor Mote. Blank's first outing with the lower arm slot was May 10, 2011 at TCU, when he went 3.1 scoreless innings.

With the lower arm slot, Blank has combined to go 7-0 with a 2.68 ERA over 43.2 innings pitched. If one bad outing in the 2011 Houston €ˆRegional against California is removed from the record, he's gone 7-0 with a 1.67 ERA €ˆover 43.0 innings of work. Prior to changing his arm slot, Blank had gone 6-4 with a 6.15 ERA €ˆover 98.0 innings in his first two-and-a-half seasons at Baylor. Here's a before and after comparison of his numbers:

QUICK HITS
• SERIES: Baylor leads the all-time series 78-29, including a 31-17 mark in Arlington and a 32-9 record in the Steve Smith era. The Bears have won five straight against UTA dating back to April 15, 2009.
• Baylor is 309-137-1 all-time against teams currently playing as members of the Southland Conference.
• Baylor is 8th among teams receiving votes (No. 33) in the latest USATODAY/ESPN Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
• Baylor has been ranked in at least one in-season Baseball €ˆAmerica Top 25 poll in 14 of the last 16 seasons.
• Baylor leads the Big 12 Conference in doubles (28) and ranks 2nd in on-base percentage (.397), walks (86) and fielding percentage (.981). The Bears rank 3rd in the league in batting average (.279), triples (6) and opponents' batting average (.236).
• Baylor's staff ERA €ˆof 3.61 ranks 4th in the Big 12, while its .236 opponents' batting average ranks 3rd.
• Tuesday's game is the second of Baylor's four consecutive Tuesday road games. The Bears play at home in all five weekends in March, but the Bears are on the road for all four Tuesday games.
• Baylor's 2-1 win on Sunday was its first victory with 3 hits or less since March 15, 2005 against TCU.
• 16 Baylor relievers have combined for 55 strikeouts, 53 hits and a .213 opponents' batting average over 70.0 IP.
• Baylor went 6-2 in its first 8 games of the season - all against 2011 NCAA €ˆTournament teams.
• Baylor's 8-2 start tied the second-best 10-game start of the 18-year Steve Smith era (9-1 in 2008).
• Baylor's bullpen went 18.0 innings before allowing its first run this season (9th inning vs. TCU).
• Seven Baylor starters have on-base percentages of .403 or higher.
• Baylor tied an NCAA €ˆrecord with 10 batters hit by pitch on March 6 at TCU. The teams combined to hit 13 batters in the game, breaking the previous NCAA €ˆrecord of 12 combined hit batsmen.
• Baylor has 4 of the top 10 players in the Big 12 in walks drawn: Max Muncy (12), Logan Vick (12) and Michael Howard (12) are tied for 5th, and Cal €ˆTowey (11) ranks 10th.
• Baylor is 9-3 at home in 2012, and the Bears are 47-21 in their last 68 home games (28-9 in non-conference).
• Baylor opens Big 12 play by hosting Texas Tech this weekend. For the first time in Big 12 history, Baylor plays its first nine Big 12 games at home. The Bears' previous long league-opening homestand was 7 games in 2003.
• According to WarrenNolan.com, Baylor has played the nation's 38th-toughest schedule to this point, which ranks No. 1 in the Big 12. Texas (No. 47) is the only other Big 12 team in the top 90 toughest schedules.
• Baylor has played two doubleheaders this season and has won both games both times.
• Baylor is 3-3 this season when scoring three or fewer runs. The Bears were 3-22 in such games last season.
• Senior RHP €ˆTrent Blank leads the Big 12 with 5 wins - more victories than 76 Division I €ˆteams.
• Blank leads the Big 12 in wins (5), ranks 4th in innings pitched (29.0), 6th in opponents' batting average (.175) and 7th in ERA €ˆ(1.55).
• Junior 1B Max Muncy is expected to start at 1B for the 100th consecutive game on €ˆTuesday. He has missed one start in 136 team games since joining the Baylor program.
• In 42 total plate appearances, freshman Michael Howard has 9 hits and 12 walks for a .500 on-base percentage.
• Baylor is currently 17th nationally in total home attendance (29,598) and 21st in average (2,690).
• Baylor has ranked in the nation's top 25 in attendance in all 13 years since Baylor Ballpark opened in 1999.
• Baylor's 2012 schedule is rated the 13th-toughest nationally (No. 1 in Big 12) by Boyd's World.
• Baylor's 56-game 2012 schedule features 28 games against 2011 NCAA €ˆTournament teams.
• Baylor's 3-game sweep of Oral €ˆRoberts was its first series sweep since May 21-23, 2010.
• Since the start of the 2003 season, Baylor is 25-16 in extra-inning games.
• Baylor returned 20 of 25 letterwinners from last season's 31-28 Houston Regional runner-up team.
• The Bears were picked fourth in the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, behind Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma.
• Eight players on Baylor's roster have been selected in previous MLB €ˆDrafts.
• Baylor is 1 of 14 programs nationally to play in 12+ NCAA Tournaments since 1998.
• Baylor snapped a 13-game homerless drought with three home runs in the first three innings of the series finale at UCLA (Feb. 26), but since then the Bears have gone 289 at-bats without a homer, including 9 straight games.
• Three Baylor pitchers combined to carry a no-hitter through 7.2 IP in a 7-1 win vs. No. 15 TCU on Feb. 21.

UP NEXT
Baylor returns home for to open Big 12 Conference play with a three-game series against Texas Tech this weekend. €ˆThe Bears and Red Raiders meet at 6:35 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Baylor's series against Texas €ˆTech is its first of three consecutive home series to open Big 12 play. The Bears also host Kansas (March 23-25) and Oklahoma State (March 30-April 1) at Baylor Ballpark. Baylor plays at home in all five weekends in the month of March, but the Bears go on the road for all four Tuesday games, including a trip to Huntsville, €ˆTexas to play €ˆSam Houston State at 6:30 p.m. on March 20.