Baylor
UT Arlington
SB Heads West For Third-Straight Ranked Series
3/26/2026 8:00:00 AM | Softball
 |
RV/RV BAYLOR BEARS (21-9, 5-1 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Glenn Moore (Northwestern St., 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
RV/RV BAYLOR (21-9, 5-1) vs. 13/16 ARIZONA (24-8) — March 27 • 8 p.m. RV/RV BAYLOR (21-9, 5-1) vs. 13/16 ARIZONA (24-8) — March 28 • 5 p.m. RV/RV BAYLOR (21-9, 5-1) vs. 13/16 ARIZONA (24-8) — March 29 • 2 p.m. Tucson, Ariz. • Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium (2,956) LIVE STATS: BaylorBears.com/stats WATCH: ESPN+ Chris Harris (pxp), Kenzie Fowler (analyst) LISTEN: Cool 101.3 FM Talent: Jeffrey Cohen Baylor Social Media:    |
 |
13/16 Arizona Wildcats (24-8, 6-3 Big 12) Location: Tucson, Ariz. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Caitlin Lowe (Arizona, 2007) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
Story lines
• Baylor continues its toughest stretch of the season with a three-game set against No. 13/16 Arizona. All three games will be available on ESPN+
• The Bears look to build on a 5-1 start in conference play, its best Big 12 mark through six games since 2017
• The trip to T-Town will close a stretch for Baylor where it plays eight of its nine games against rankled teams
• BU's last similar stretch came when it played nine-straight ranked team en route to the 2014 College World Series final, and the last time it happened in the regular season was 2011
• As they head out West, Baylor aims to close the gap with the Wildcats who lead the all-time series 16-9, while UofA holds a 7-4 advantage in the friendly confines.
• These teams have had some epic battles in the postseason, meeting in the College World Series twice in 2007, before the Bears won the Tucson Super Regional to punch a ticket to the 2017 College World Series
• After the Wildcats won the first eight meetings between these two programs, The Bears have won seven of 10, the last coming in that 2017 Super Regional in Tucson
• BU enters the weekend on the heels of an 8-0 run-rule victory over UTA on Tuesday night, snapping a mini two-game slide with its first win over the Mavericks since 2023
• Freshman walk-on Ella Brown delivered the final blow in the victory, collecting her first-career hit and first-career RBI in her first-career at bat
• With a 12-3 win over UCF on March 14th, Glenn Moore surpassed 1,100 career wins, the ninth-most among active D1 coaches and the sixth-most among active power-conference head coaches
• Moore is in his 30th season as a head coach, making him the fifth-longest tenured power-conference head coach
• Ranked 21st in the RPI to open the week, the Bears have been as high as 16th this season
• Baylor put together a conference-opening sweep over ISU, BU's first conference-opening series win since sweeping Texas Tech in 2021 and its first sweep of Iowa State since 2018
• Baylor's rise has been buoyed by its pitching staff spearheaded by a couple of Texas natives who transferred back to their home state in Georgetown's Cambree Creager (Arizona St.) and Lake Jackson's Peyton Tanner (Tennessee)
• Creager entered this week seventh in the conference in innings (70.0) and eighth in strikeouts (50)
• Tanner is also in the top-10 in the league in strikeouts (46), joining BU with Tech and ASU as the only three schools in the Big 12 to have multiple pitchers in the top-10 in strikeouts
• Sadie Ross has established herself as a reliable third option, tying a career-high with five wins, boasting a staff-best 2.80 ERA, which is good enough for 11th in the league
• Lexie Warncke has shown a great ability to miss bats ranking eighth in the Big 12 in opponent batting average (.217)
• A balanced lineup is spearheaded by senior Brooklyn Carter, who is batting .376 with a .443 OBP, creating chaos on the bases with 12 stolen bases, which is fifth-most in the league
• Karynton Dawson possesses a true speed and power threat leading the team in extra-base hits with 13, including three homeruns and three triples, which is tied for the Big 12 lead
• Senior and Arizona Transfer Amber Toven is pacing the team with 26 RBIs on the strength of a career-best five homeruns, entering Friday riding an 11-game on-base streak
• Toven (Arizona, 2022), Carter (Washington, 2023) and Tanner (Tennessee, 2025) all boast Women's College World Series experience at their former stops
• Picked eighth in the Preseason Big 12 Coaches Poll, Baylor has met or outperformed its preseason expectations in 17 of Moore's 25 previous seasons at Baylor
• The Bears have 17 matchups against teams featured in the ESPN/USA Softball Preseason Top 25 including dates with both of the Preseason No. 1 teams (Texas Tech and Texas)
• BU has remaining home dates with No. 15 Texas A&M (4/15) and No. 21 Oklahoma State (4/24-26), with road contests scheduled at No. 3 Texas (3/20) and at No. 2 Texas Tech (4/30-5/2)
• BUs Freshman trio of Kaygen Marshall, Olivia Buettner and Gianna Gusman have worked themselves into being lineup regulars, with Marshall already tallying five homeruns, the most by a freshman since 2020
• Buettner has seen action in 23 games, with four of her 10 hits going for extra bases, while boasting a .472 OBP
• Gusman has played a strong right field, contributing a .279 average with four extra-base hits, including a grand slam at UCF
• Marshall (Robinson), Harper Haas (Midway) Savanna Pogue (Crawford) all played their high school ball within 25 miles of Getterman Stadium, with Haas and Marshall playing less than 10 miles away from their college home
• Baylor has a 497-198 mark all-time at Getterman Stadium and, BU has had a winning record in all but one full season of competition since its doors were opened in 1999
• Haas (2025), Marshall (2025) and Pogue (2022) all led their teams to UIL Texas State Championships
