Baylor
Utah
BSB Rounds Out Regular Season with Road Trip to Utah
5/13/2026 5:15:00 PM | Baseball
Bears making first trip to Salt Lake City in program history
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BAYLOR BEARS (26-25, 12-15 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Mitch Thompson (Fort Hays St., 1988) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (26-25, 12-15) at UTAH (25-22, 11-16) May 14, 2026 • 7:00 p.m. CT May 15, 2026 • 7:00 p.m. CT May 16, 2026 • 2:00 p.m. CT Salt Lake City, Utah • Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark (3,000) LIVE STATS: BaylorBears.com/Stats WATCH: ESPN+ LISTEN: ESPN Central Texas 1660 AM/92.3 FM Talent: Derek Smith, Tom Barfield Baylor Social Media:    |
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UTAH UTES (25-22, 11-16 Big 12) Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Gary Henderson (San Diego State, 1984) Roster | Stats |
STORYLINES
LEADING OFF
• Baylor Baseball heads out west to Utah for its final regular-season series of the 2026 campaign.
• The Bears are coming off an exciting 8-7 victory over UCF in their home finale on Sunday, having erased a 4-0 deficit to claim their 12th come-from-behind win of the season.
• BU hit a season-high four home runs on Sunday, including a pair of historic blasts as Tyce Armstrong broke the school's single-season record with his 22nd homer of the year and Brady Janusek matched Max Muncy's program freshman standard with his 11th round-tripper of 2026.
• Baylor enters the final weekend of the regular season in ninth place in the Big 12 standings, trailing BYU by one game for eighth place with a head-to-head tiebreaker in hand. BU is also one game ahead of Utah, who sits 10th.
• The top 12 teams in the conference will qualify for the Big 12 Tournament and top eight seeds will get at least one bye in the single elimination bracket. BU has already mathematically secured a spot in the top-12, but could finish anywhere from 7th to 12th depending on this weekend's results.
SERIES HISTORY VS UTAH
• Baylor is 2-2 all-time against Utah, having won the first-ever series between the two sides last season in Waco.
• In their first meeting on March 5, 2011, Utah won a 4-3 contest at a neutral-site tournament (Astros College Classic).
• BU bounced back from dropping last year's series opener, 13-1, to take the final two games of the weekend, 4-3 and 9-0. The middle game featured all four runs driven in by Tyriq Kemp, who finished a double shy of the cycle and hit two home runs. The finale featured a two-hit shutout and a grand slam by Will Pendergrass.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
• Thurs. May 14 • 7:00 p.m. CT • RHP Lucas Davenport (5-3, 4.79 ERA) vs. RHP Colter McAnelly (2-7, 6.64 ERA)
• Fri. May 15 • 7:00 p.m. CT • RHP Zack Wallace (4-5, 5.74 ERA) vs. RHP Payton Riske (4-3, 5.98 ERA)
• Sat. May 16 • 2:00 p.m. CT • TBD vs. TBD
SWIPING RIGHT (ON THE BASES)
• Through 51 games, the Bears have stolen 91 bases, the most by a BU team at this point in a season since at least 2003.
• 91 stolen bases is also the most in a single season since the Bears stole 96 in 2012.
• Baylor has stolen five or more bases six times in 2026, and have stolen multiple bases in 24 games this year.
• 2026 is the first season since 2013 that BU has had three or more players reach double figures in stolen bases (Sanders, 24; Janusek, 17; Riebock, 12).
• Travis Sanders' 24 bags are the most by a Bear since Brooks Pinckard swiped 36 in 2011.
• Baylor ranks second in the Big 12 with 91 stolen bases, trailing only Cincinnati's 111 on the year. The Bears are two behind West Virginia for the league lead in conference play with 47 bags.
THE NEW HOME RUN KING OF WACO
• Redshirt senior 1B Tyce Armstrong broke Baylor's single-season home run record with his 22nd blast of the year, a record that was previously held by Charley Carter (1998).
• Armstrong has hit eight home runs in his last nine games and had homered in five-consecutive games, becoming the first Bear in the program's recorded history to do so.
• Armstrong has five multi-home run games in 2026.
• Armstrong ranks fourth in the Big 12 and eighth nationally with 22 home runs as one of just 18 players in the country with 20 or more homers this year.
• He picked up Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Week honors last week after batting .563 (9-for-16) with all nine of his hits going for extra bases (four doubles, five home runs) against UTA and Texas Tech.
• Armstrong is the first player in BU history and first Big 12 player since OSU's Nolan Schubart in 2023 to win Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors three times in a single season.
YOU SHALL NOT [FREE] PASS
• All three of Baylor's weekend starters rank inside the Big 12's top-10 in walks allowed per nine innings: Calder (5th, 2.00); Wallace (6th, 2.03); Davenport (9th, 2.24).
• As a team, the Bears rank fourth in the league with 3.81 BB/9.
• Lucas Davenport's 4.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks fifth in the Big 12 and 42nd nationally.
DIALING UP THE STRIKES
• Senior LHP Ethan Calder saw his 16-inning streak without allowing a walk snapped in Sunday's finale at Cincinnati.
• Of his 31 career starts, Calder has never walked more than three batters, and has allowed two walks or less 27 times. Calder has made 18 career starts with just one walk allowed or less.
• Calder worked his 14th career start of at least five innings with three or fewer earned runs allowed, and sixth such start of 2026, tying his career high with seven innings pitched against Texas Tech last week.
• Calder has racked up four starts with five or more strikeouts in 2026.
• His 2.00 walks per nine innings ranks fifth in the Big 12.
• Over his last seven starts (41 innings), Calder has allowed just six walks.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
• Through 51 games, 46% of Baylor's total plate appearances have been taken by players with less than 55 career PA's entering the 2026 season. True or redshirt freshmen account for 36% of the team's total plate appearances.
• That group also accounts for 43% of the team's hits, including 35% from true or redshirt freshmen.
• 48% of Baylor's hits have come from players who have previously redshirted in their careers.
• 42% of Baylor's IP this season have been thrown by players who had thrown less than five career innings at the Div. I level.
• Baylor has nine true freshmen on its 2026 roster and an additional four redshirt freshmen.
• This year, 19 Bears have made their Baylor debuts (9 hitters, 10 pitchers), including 10 true or redshirt freshmen.
A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE METRICS
• Through 51 games, Baylor own's the nations No. 16 Strength of Schedule (WarrenNolan.com)
• BU has faced eight ranked opponents for a total of 12 games, and six of the top-25 RPI teams at this point in the year (No. 4 Texas, No. 9 Southern Miss, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 17 Oregon State, No. 18 West Virginia and No. 21 Cincinnati).
• Baylor currently sits at No. 63 in the RPI entering the weekend series at Utah.
• Baylor will play a combined 22 games against 11 NCAA Tournament teams in 2026, including three conference champions from a year ago.
• 14 30-game winners headline the 2026 campaign, including six teams that won 40 or more games last season.
• 52% of this year's schedule features opponents that finished 2025 with a top-75 RPI.
To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.
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