Texas Notes

WACO, Texas -- Baylor baseball hosts Texas for a three-game Big 12 series this weekend at Baylor Ballpark. Games are slated for 6:35 p.m. CT Thursday on FOX Sports Southwest, 6:35 p.m. Friday on FOX Sports Plus and 3:05 p.m. Saturday on FSSW.

All Baylor baseball games are broadcast live on Waco's 1660 ESPN Central Texas (1330 AM/100.9 FM in Temple, Belton and Killeen). Derek Smith provides the play-by-play with Steve Johnigan adding color commentary. Live streaming audio, video and GameTracker also are available for all Baylor baseball home games online at BaylorBears.com.

SERIESà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € INFO
Date(s): April 13-15, 2017
Time(s): 6:35 PM | 6:35 PM | 3 PM CT
Location: Waco, Texas
Stadium: Baylor Ballpark (5,000)
TV: FSSW | FS+ | FSSW
Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Combs (color)
Radio: ESPN/KRZI 1660 AMà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (Waco)
Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Steve Johnigan (color)

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: UT leads 240-108-4
Streak: UT has won 2
Waco: UT leads 92-61-3
Austin: UT leads 135-43-1
Neutral Site: UT leads 9-8
Rodriguez vs: 2-2
First Meeting: April 4, 1903
Last Meeting: May 26, 2016

SERIES MULTIMEDIA
Live Stats: BaylorBears.com
Audio: BaylorBears.com
Video: BaylorBears.com
Twitter Updates: @BaylorBaseball

BAYLOR BEARS
2017 Record: 20-13
2017 Big 12 Record: 3-6
Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez
Career: 330-340 (14th season)
BU: 44-42 (2nd season)

2017 STAT LEADERS
AVG: Shea Langeliers (.293)
2B: Tucker Cascadden (8)
HR: Dodson, Langeliers (5)
RBI: Cascadden, Esthay (20)
SB: T.J. Raguse (2)

TEXAS LONGHORNS
2017 Record: 23-13
2017 Big 12 Record: 6-6
Head Coach: David Pierce
Career: 220-122 (6th season)
UT: 23-13 (1st season)

2017 STAT LEADERS
AVG: Michael McCann (.359)
2B: Kacy Clemens (11)
HR: Kacy Clemens (6)
RBI: Kacy Clemens (28)
SB: Travis Jones (11)

Looking to reverse a trend that has seen the Baylor baseball team lose its last four three-game series, the Bears (20-13, 3-6) will host Texas (23-13, 6-6) in a series that begins with a 6:35 p.m. game Thursday at Baylor Ballpark.

Since a program best-tying 15-2 start, the Bears have lost 11 of their last 16 games and series against Oklahoma, West Virginia, Washington and Texas Tech.

"They know they have what it takes, it's just a matter of stringing it together like we were doing at the beginning of the season," coach Steve Rodriguez said. "Getting good, quality pitching, timely hitting, two-out hits and playing good defense. . . . I think the biggest thing is our guys are kind of restless, trying to make sure we put good baseball on the field like we did at the beginning of the season."

On the verge of getting swept by sixth-ranked Texas Tech last weekend in Lubbock, Baylor scored six runs in the ninth inning of Sunday's series finale and walked away with a 10-9 victory over the Red Raiders.

"When you see guys like Aaron Dodson and Kameron Esthay have really good weekends, that for me is a really good sign," Rodriguez said. "And then when you have some other guys like Richie Cunningham who's getting back into the swing of things, that is a really good sign for us - that we have some guys who are strong, meat-of-the-order guys for us who are getting really good at-bats and making solid contact - it really does help."

The Bears will have to be locked and loaded at the plate facing a Texas pitching staff that boasts the second-best ERA in the league (2.91). Sophomore Nolan Kingham (5-2, 1.23) and redshirt junior Morgan Cooper (4-2, 1.79) were recently named to the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award that honors the nation's best amateur players.

Kingham will start Thursday's game opposite Baylor senior right-hander Nick Lewis (3-3, 4.00), with Cooper getting the start for Friday's 6:35 p.m. game and facing junior righty Montana Parsons (2-2, 3.02). Sunday's 3:05 p.m. series finale will feature a matchup of Baylor freshman left-hander Cody Bradford (4-2, 4.32) versus Texas junior righty Kyle Johnston (2-1, 3.35).

"They're very talented on the mound, we know that," Rodriguez said. "We're just hoping we can come out, and to be honest, pitch well and have timely hitting and play good defense. That's the biggest thing, it doesn't matter who we're playing against. Texas is going to be good competition for us. But, the biggest thing is we just need to play well."

While Baylor ranks third in the league in batting average for conference-only games (.253), the Bears are tied for the worst ERA (5.70), nearly three runs higher than the Longhorns' 2.80 ERA.

"Walking guys and making some errors on defense is usually the cause of some of those issues," Rodriguez said. "We're getting behind in counts, we're walking just a few too many guys. And just like everything else, that doesn't really lead to great amounts of success."

One adjustment for the pitchers on both sides is dealing with one less day's rest. Because of the Easter weekend, the schedule was adjusted to a Thursday-Friday series instead of the usual Friday-Sunday.

"We kind of prepare for it," Rodriguez said. "Starting as soon as they finish their start the previous week, we alter their throwing and weight-lifting and stuff like that for that. What's amazing is the major league pitchers go every five days . . . and they get used to it. That's the thing, your body gets used to it. Going every seven days (in college), they get used to it. But being only one time, it shouldn't be that big of a difference."

All three games this weekend will be televised by FOX Sports Southwest, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris calling the action and former Baylor pitcher Pat Combs providing analysis.

Baylor will close out a five-game home stand with a non-conference matchup against Stephen F. Austin next Tuesday night before traveling to face third-ranked and league-leading TCU (27-5, 8-1) on April 21-23 in Fort Worth.

*Baylor's 15-2 start through 17 games was tied for its best in program history (started 15-2 in 1990 and 1961).

*Baylor has lost its last 4 3-game series after winning 3 straight with 2 sweeps to begin 2017 campaign.

*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (12-8 in 2017) in all 18 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 409-190 all-time at the park.

*Baylor had 5 pitching shutouts in its first 23 games since 1995 (5) and has 5 for 1st time in a season since 2013 (5) -- 3 shutouts have come against ranked foes.

*Jr. preseason All-American and NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List member closer Troy Montemayor has 8 saves (15th in NCAA, 1st in Big 12) this season. He converted his 1st 8 career save attempts last season, and after blowing a save in his 9th attempt, had converted 12 straight and now 13 of last 14. He's 22-for-24 in converting save attempts in his career. He ranks 3rd on Baylor's career saves list (22).