KSU Notes

WACO, Texas -- Baylor baseball finishes regular season play with a three-game Big 12 series vs. Kansas State at Baylor Ballpark this weekend. Games are scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT Thursday on FOX Sports Plus, 6:35 p.m. Friday on FS-Plus and 2:35 p.m. Saturday on FOX Sports Southwest.

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.

SERIESÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ €¹Ã¢ ‚¬  INFO
Date(s): May 18-20, 2017
Time(s): 6:35 PM | 6:35 PM | 2:35 PM CT
Location: Waco, Texas
Stadium: Baylor Ballpark (5,000)
TV: FS+ (Thu.-Fri.) | FSSW (Sat.)
Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Combs (color)
Radio: ESPN/KRZI 1660 AMÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ €¹Ã¢ ‚¬  (Waco)
Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Steve Johnigan (color)

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: BU leads 44-25
Streak: KSU has won 2
Waco: BU leads 26-6
Manhattan: Tied 15-15
Neutral Site: KSU leads 4-3
Rodriguez vs: 1-2
First Meeting: March 28, 1966
Last Meeting: April 24, 2016

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

BAYLOR BEARS
2017 Record: 33-17
2017 Big 12 Record: 11-10
Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez
Career: 343-344 (14th season)
BU: 57-46 (2nd season)

2017 STAT LEADERS
AVG: Aaron Dodson (.327)
2B: Richard Cunningham (12)
HR: Aaron Dodson (9)
RBI: Aaron Dodson (34)
SB: T.J. Raguse (5)

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
2017 Record: 27-25
2017 Big 12 Record: 6-15
Head Coach: Brad Hill
Career: 443-359-3 (14th season)
KSU: 443-359-3 (14th season)

2017 STAT LEADERS
AVG: Will Brennan (.355)
2B: Quintin Crandall (12)
HR: Jake Scudder (13)
RBI: Jake Scudder (58)
SB: Jake Wodtke (12)

Five years after riding "beaver fever" to a school-record 24-game winning streak and a Big 12 championship, Baylor baseball is using a different kind of adopted mascot in winning a more-modest six games in a row.

"Gordo," a rather large dove that camped out in Baylor's dugout at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium for the Bears' first-ever sweep at Oklahoma State, has become a player favorite. A blow-up poster of the dove is now displayed on the back wall of the Baylor Ballpark home dugout and even made the trip to San Antonio on Tuesday when the Bears shut out UTSA, 10-0.

Freshman catcher/pinch-hitter Andy Thomas, who hit his first career home run in the win over the Roadrunners, says "Gordo" is "kind of giving that late fight for us."

Junior infielder Steven McLean, who named the dove, said senior DH Matt Menard tried to grab "Gordo," but the dove "didn't want anyone touching him," even flexing a little bit when the photo was taken.

"So, we said, `We can't take you, but we're going to get a picture, because you definitely belong with this team,''' McLean said.

Ranked 27th in two national polls, and 10th in the latest RPI rankings, the Bears (33-17, 11-10) are hoping to keep the "Gordo" momentum going when they host last-place Kansas State (27-25, 6-15) in a three-game series. The series includes games at 6:35 p.m. Thursday and Friday and wraps up with a 2:05 p.m. game Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.

"Gordo's magic is definitely riding with us," McLean said.

With a late-season surge that has seen the Bears win nine of their last 10 games, 14 of 19 and back-to-back conference road series for the first time since the 2012 "beaver fever," they have moved up to a tie for fourth in the Big 12 standings and 10th in the NCAA RPI.

"I think our guys have an understanding that the better we can play this weekend and can continue to play, the better seeding we'll get in the Big 12 tournament and hopefully later on in (the NCAA tournament)," coach Steve Rodriguez said. "Right now, my job is to make sure they stay loose, they stay comfortable, we focus on the things that we have to do to make sure we're prepared for games, and then just let them play."

That's certainly been working of late. In the six-game winning streak, the Bears have outscored their opponents, 63-15.

Senior first baseman Aaron Dodson, one of the six graduates who will be recognized before Thursday's series opener, leads the Bears in all three triple crown categories with a .327 batting average, nine home runs and 34 RBI.

As a former player himself, Rodriguez says it's not hard for him to keep his nose out of it when players like Dodson are on a roll.

"I just remember when I was 400 at-bats into a season, and a coach goes, `Hey, let's start working on this, let's try that.' And I'm like, `Man, I`ve just got 80 more at-bats and I'm done for the year,''' Rodriguez said. "It's not like we're going to have any revolutionary changes coming up in the next week. There are certain things every one of them needs to work on, and they're doing that. But, I'm not constantly bringing things up, just because I feel like I have to do something."

While the Bears are playing for seeding in their 21st consecutive Big 12 Baseball Championship and possibly playing their way into hosting a regional, Kansas State is battling Oklahoma State (24-25, 6-15) for the eighth and final spot in the eight-team bracket.

The Wildcats are hitting .272 as a team with 47 home runs, but they rank last in Big 12 pitching with a 4.70 ERA. Baylor is second in the league in hitting with a .293 average and 41 homers and third in pitching with a 3.81 ERA.

"They're fighting for stuff, just like we are," Rodriguez said. "They're going to come out, they're going to be aggressive. They do a lot of action on the bases. They have really good starting pitching. We know we're not going to do anything they haven't seen yet. And the same thing kind of goes for us. They're really not going to do anything we haven't seen. The team that plays the best defense, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is probably going to be the team that's successful."

Baylor's other graduates are Kameron Esthay, Steven McLean, Kyle Ott, Alex Phillips and senior right-hander Nick Lewis (6-4, 4.21), who will start Thursday's series opener opposite KSU righty Justin Heskett (5-3, 4.11).

All three games will be broadcast on the FOX family of networks, with the Thursday and Friday games on FOX Sports Plus and Saturday's series finale on FOX Sports Southwest, with John Morris and former Baylor pitcher Pat Combs calling the action.

*Baylor has won 33 or more games for 1st time since 2012 (49-17) and 12th time in the last 20 seasons.

*Baylor's 33-17 record through 50 games is its best since a 39-11 start in 2012.

*Baylor had its 6th shutout of the season at UTSA, marking 1st time have 6+ shutouts in a season since 2000 (6).

*Baylor has hit 27 home runs in its last 23 games after hitting 14 homers in its 1st 26 games of the season.

*Baylor has 41 homers this season in 50 games, which are 7 more than its season output of 34 in 53 games in 2016. BU has 40 or more homers for 1st time since 2012 (46).

*Baylor qualified for the 2017 Big 12 Championship for the 21st straight season (since conference started in 1996) and only BU and Oklahoma have done so each year.

*Baylor led league with 15 Academic All-Big 12 choices.

*BU's won 6 of its 11 3-game series in 2017 & 3 of last 4.

*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (18-9 in 2017) in all 18 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 415-191 all-time at the park.