Houston Regional Notes

WACO, Texas -- Baylor baseball begins the 2017 Houston Regional with a 2 p.m. CT game on ESPN 2 against Texas A&M on Friday at Schroeder Park in Houston, Texas. The winner of No. 2 seed BU vs. No. 3 seed TAMU will face the winner of No. 1 seed Houston vs. No. 4 seed Iowa and the losers of each game face each other all on Saturday.

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): June 2-5, 2017
Time(s): 2 P.M. CT | 2 P.M./7 P.M.
Location: Houston, Texas
Stadium: Schroeder Park (3,500)
TV: ESPN 2 (Fri.) / ESPNU
Talent: Lowell Galindo (pxp), Keith Moreland (color)
Radio: ESPN/KRZI 1660 AMÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬Ãƒ €¹Ã¢ ‚¬  (Waco)
Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Steve Johnigan (color)

SERIES HISTORY (TAMU | UH | UI)
OVR: BU 130-181-4 | BU 90-68 | BU 1-0
Streak: BU W1 | BU W1 | BU W1
Waco: BU 70-70 | BU 37-30 | BU 1-0
Road: BU 37-78-2 | BU 42-29 | N/A
Neutral Site: BU 7-7 | BU 8-4 | N/A
Rodriguez vs: 1-0 | 3-3 | N/A

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

BAYLOR BEARS
2017 Record: 34-21
2017 Big 12 Record: 12-12 (5th)
Head Coach: Steve Rodriguez
Career: 344-348 (14th season)
BU: 58-50 (2nd season)

2017 STAT LEADERS
AVG: Aaron Dodson (.335)
2B: Richard Cunningham (15)
HR: Dodson, Langeliers (10)
RBI: Dodson, Langeliers (38)
SB: T.J. Raguse (7)

HOUSTON COUGARS
BA 16 USA 20 CB 24 NCBWA 15 D1 15
2017 Record: 40-19
2017 AAC Record: 15-9 (2nd)
Head Coach: Todd Whitting
Career: 248-169-1 (7th season)
UH: 248-169-1 (7th season)

TEXAS A&M AGGIES
BA NR USA RV CB NR NCBWA RV D1 NR
2017 Record: 36-21
2017 SEC Record: 16-14 (4th W)
Head Coach: Rob Childress
Career: 494-259-2 (12th season)
TAMU: 494-259-2 (12th season)

IOWA HAWKEYES
BA NR USA RV CB 28 NCBWA RV D1 NR
2017 Record: 38-20
2017 Big Ten Record: 15-9 (4th)
Head Coach: Rick Heller
Career: 829-652-4 (30th season)
UI: 139-87 (4th season)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Back in "the dance" for the first time in five years, selected as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Houston Regional, the Baylor baseball team (34-21) is breaking out new boots instead of glass slippers.

"For me, I'm a big believer in creating memories," said second-year coach Steve Rodriguez, who took the team boot shopping the day before the Bears left for Houston. "I want these guys, whenever they wear these boots, they remember what they did to get them and the excitement we had when we were wearing them."

Rodriguez would like to see the Bears create a few more memories this weekend in what's already been a season to remember. Baylor faces third-seeded Texas A&M (36-21) at 2 p.m. Friday in the regional opener at Schroeder Park.

"With 19 new players, being able to experience a postseason run like this, I don't think people realize how important it is to understand what it feels like, what it's going to be like when they're out on that field," Rodriguez said. "Now, they're going to be able to talk to those kids we have coming in next year and let them understand, `No, you don't understand, we have to do this, because this is what you get in the end.' That, for me, is one of the biggest things, not to mention that this program deserves that."

Baylor struggled at the end of the season, getting swept by Kansas State in a doubleheader at home and then going two and out at the Big 12 Championship.

"I think you have to wipe it out," said junior pitcher Montana Parsons (5-3, 2.81 ERA), who will start Friday's game opposite A&M junior right-hander Brigham Hill (7-3, 2.96). "If you get too down, especially losing four in a row, I think it's just going to continue to go that way for you. If we continue to show up to the field with a positive attitude and be aggressive and show up and practice like you play every day, then it's going to end up being positive. I think we're going to play a lot differently this week than we have the past two."

Leaving on Wednesday, the team could not have been any looser, from the shiny new boots to senior infielder Steven McLean's handlebar moustache.

"You know what, those things are fun," Rodriguez said. "There's only a certain amount of time in your life where you can do that and get away with it and it's still kind of cool. College is one of those times. So, you know what, good for him."

The Bears are hitting .296 as a team with 49 homers, getting 10 each from senior first baseman Aaron Dodson (.335) and freshman catcher Shea Langeliers (.324). It's a tough lineup to work around, too, with junior outfielder Kameron Esthay hitting .283 with nine homers and freshman third baseman Davis Wendzel coming in at .290 with eight dingers.

Senior DH Matt Menard, who came back for a fifth season, has also been a consistent threat in the middle of the lineup with a .307 average, 10 doubles, two homers and 26 RBI.

"I think it's just a culmination of so much hard work, so much passion, so much desire," said Menard, who enrolled at Baylor after the Bears' last NCAA Tournament appearance, when they lost to Arkansas in a Super Regional at Baylor Ballpark. "Things finally fell into place, and we get to play in the postseason."

A&M has had some struggles of its own, losing its last three SEC series and eight of its last 10 games. The Aggies are hitting just .277 as a team, but second baseman Braden Shewmake is hitting .343 with 10 homers and 65 RBI and was the only freshman named to Collegiate Baseball's All-America first team.

Other than Iowa (38-20), which plays top-seeded Houston (41-20) at 7 p.m. Friday after getting in as the Big Ten tournament champion, this is an all-Texas regional and features three former Southwest Conference rivals in Baylor, Houston and A&M.

"It's an absolute loaded regional," said Rodriguez, who made one Super Regional and eight regional appearances in 12 years at Pepperdine and also played on the Waves' College World Series champions in 1992. "Being from California, I'm kind of used to it. We'd be either at Long Beach, Fullerton, Stanford or UCLA, so you kind of get used to those same standards where you're going to have two or three teams from the area and then one team from out of the area.

"I actually don't mind it. We've played both teams, they've played us. Now, it's just a matter of who's going to play the best baseball. And to be honest, that's what it should be about, the best baseball teams playing against each other. You're not going to get to Omaha (for the World Series) on an easy route."

Baylor took two of three from Houston in a series at Baylor Ballpark in March and beat A&M, 6-3, on Tucker Cascadden's walk-off grand slam in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

"That's the guy we want, it's Tucker Cascadden, bottom of the ninth against A&M, that's for sure," Menard said.

Friday's Baylor-Texas A&M game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Lowell Galindo and former University of Texas All-American Keith Moreland calling the action.

The double-elimination continues on Saturday, with losers playing at 2 p.m. and winners at 7. After another elimination game at 3 p.m. Sunday, the first championship game is set for 8 p.m. Sunday, with the if-necessary game at 6 p.m. Monday.

*Baylor finished fourth in Big 12 play in 2017, marking its best league finish since winning the title in 2012.

*Baylor is one of three Power Five schools to earn a bowl game/NCAA postseason appearance in football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball and softball (Florida State, Kentucky).

*Baylor has already played Texas A&M once this year and won 6-3 on a Tucker Cascadden walk-off grand slam on March 5 at Minute Maid Park. BU also took two of three from Houston in Waco on March 10-12. BU has played Iowa once: won 12-7 in Waco on March 21, 1995. BU has only played one of the three teams in postseason, topping Houston 7-1 in the opening game of the 2001 Houston Regional.

*Baylor and Oklahoma are the only two teams to have qualified for all 21 Big 12 Championships.

*Baylor has won 15 of its last 24 games and 10 of its last 15 after going through a stretch of losing eight of 10 games from March 24-April 8.

*Baylor is 14-10 away from Baylor Ballpark this season (12-7 on road, 2-3 in neutral sites).

*Baylor has hit 35 home runs in its last 28 games after hitting 14 homers in its first 26 games.

*Baylor has 49 home runs this season through 55 games, which are 15 more than its season output of 34 in 53 games in 2016. BU has 40 or more homers for the first time since 2012 (46) and 45 or more for the first time since 2010 (57).

*Baylor is 7-8 against ranked teams in 2017. BU is 5-7 in 2017 and 8-11 under Steve Rodriguez against Baseball America ranked teams and 202-299-1 all-time, including a 37-47 mark since 2011. BU is 2-5 this season (lost to No. 4 LSU, 2-1 at No. 6 Texas Tech, 2-1 at No. 6 TCU) and 92-152 all-time against Baseball America top 10 teams.