blog kayezone 10march html
Week Six Rewind Baylor baseball split its four games during the season's sixth week. While the Bears won a pair of one-run games, they also dropped a one-run game and dropped the pivotal series finale to Kansas in 14 innings. It wasn't a great week, but it wasn't a bad one either. If Baylor had somehow managed to win the 14-inning marathon, we'd be talking about what an awesome week the Bears had. Taking two out of three against the team picked to finish second in the Big 12 Conference would've been impressive. However, it didn't happen, and now the Bears are stuck with a conference record (1-3) that doesn't reflect how well they've played. Baylor could easily be 5-0 in conference play right now. One bad inning cost the Bears in the opener at Oklahoma and one bad rainstorm cost them in the second game against the Sooners. Another bad inning cost them in the opener against the Jayhawks, and one inning of bad breaks cost them in the finale. It's easy to point to the top of the 14th in Sunday's game as the reason the Bears lost, but what might go unnoticed is that Baylor had a 6-4 lead after five innings. Kansas got the sixth inning started with an infield single, then got another runner on with a tapper that found its way past Joey Hainsfurther at third base. Still, Jon Ringenberg almost escaped the inning, but Robby Price tied the game with a two-out, two-run single. Baseball can be a cruel game. Ringenberg pitched well in the sixth inning, but the two hits that got the inning started weren't well hit and would've been outs if they hadn't found just the right spots on the infield. The Bears will get their share of breaks over the course of the season, but that doesn't make this loss hurt any less. Through six weeks, our Bears are 13-9. According to Boyd's World, Baylor's RPI is 64. While 64 teams make it into the NCAA tournament field, automatic bids make it tough to earn a spot with a 64 RPI. Baylor will probably need to improve that number, and the Bears will have plenty of opportunities with the upcoming schedule. Baylor still has three games against each of the following teams with RPIs that are currently better than its own: Texas Agricultural & Mechanical (13), Texas (14), Kansas State (26), Nebraska (47) and Texas Tech (55). The Bears also have two games each against TCU (32) and Texas State (38). With 29 games remaining on the regular season schedule, 19 of those games are against teams with top-55 RPIs. The Bears have played just seven games against teams in the top 55 to this point in the season, so obviously what they do over the last 29 games will be much more important to their tournament resume than what's been done in the first 22 games. If the Bears can get things going with a series win at Missouri this weekend, that could go a long way toward finishing the season strong and earning another regional berth. PLAYER OF THE WEEK Max Muncy, Freshman, First Baseman, Keller, Texas (Keller HS) Others who were considered: Joey Hainsfurther - extended his hitting streak to a career-long 10 games with hits in all four games during the week ... Hit .412 (7-for-17) with a six RBI and three runs scored during the week ... Started at third base and hit third in the order in all four games ... Went 2-for-3 with one RBI against UTSA ... Walked, singled, scored a run and drove in a run in series opener against Kansas ... Had one-out single in ninth inning that cut deficit to one as Bears attempted to rally, but was stranded at first base ... Went 3-for-4 with a double, one run and two RBI in Saturday's win against Kansas ... Delivered game-winning sacrifice fly in eighth inning of that game ... Knocked a two-run single in third inning of series finale against Jayhawks. PITCHER OF THE WEEK Others who were considered: Here's what local print media outlets had to say throughout the week: From the Waco Tribune-Herald: From The Baylor Lariat: That's all for now, but don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. More on Logan Vick and a Pair of Former Bears If you don't know about Logan Vick by now, you've probably been too busy watching March Madness. We don't want to discourage that. However, as you prepare for tonight's Sweet 16 game, we suggest you take a timeout to read up on what you've been missing. John Turner of the Kerrville Daily Times wrote a feature on Vick that was published today. Click here to see the front-page layout. Here are some notes on what Vick has accomplished in his first 19 games wearing the green and gold: That's a pretty solid start to a collegiate career. He's also a big part of the reason the Bears have opened some eyes this season. William Knox at The College Baseball Blog predicts that Baylor will take two of three from Kansas this weekend. Kansas was picked to finish second in the league by the Big 12 coaches, so taking two of three would be a very nice weekend. For the first time this season, the Bears have made their way into Kendall Rogers' (Rivals.com/Yahoo! Sports NCAA Baseball) NCAA Regional Projections. According to Rogers' projections, the Bears would be a No. 3 seed in the Louisville, Ky. Regional, where they would get a rematch with No. 2 seed Western Kentucky in the first game. Six Big 12 teams are projected to make the tournament field, with three of them hosting regionals. It's nice to see the league getting some respect despite the fact that many thought it would be a down year for the Big 12. In news regarding former Bears, check out this story in the Southeast Missourian on Dr. Ross Bennett (BU 2000-03). Look for a similar story on Shawn Tolleson about 15 years down the road. There was also a story in the March 13 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on how former Bear David Murphy (BU 2001-03) is biding his time on the Texas Rangers' bench. We hope you had the pleasure of meeting David at the Meet the Team Dinner. After seeing so many negative stories about athletes, it's refreshing to see a quote like this: "Ever since I've gotten a taste of major league baseball, it's been evident that winning is more fun and important than individual success. I trust in my ability. But I also have faith in everything. Everything happens for a reason, and being with the Rangers is the best case for me." Late addition: Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com/Yahoo! Sports NCAA Baseball ranks the Bears fourth in the Big 12 in his latest Calling All Conferences. He also says this weekend's series between Baylor and Kansas is the best in the conference because we'll learn a lot about both teams. Like Knox of The College Baseball Blog, Rogers predicts the Bears will take two of three from KU. That's all for now, but don't forget to head out to the Ballpark early today. First pitch is at 3 p.m., and that will leave plenty of time to get home and watch the Bears advance to their first-ever Elite 8. Don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. Week Five Rewind Baylor baseball had a rough week, to say the least. It's not often that you can outscore your opponent 11-7 and still go home with an 0-1 record. That's what the Bears did this week. OK, officially, the Bears were outscored 7-6. Since forecasters in Norman were predicting as much as 10 inches of snow on Saturday (it didn't get anywhere close to that), the teams agreed to try to play two games on Friday. Oklahoma took advantage of a costly error to plate five unearned runs against the Bears, and though Baylor battled back, it was just a little too late, as OU escaped with the potential tying run on second base. Still, the Bears bounced back and were leading 5-0 in the bottom of the third in the second game. Logan Verrett was dealing and had four strikeouts through his first 2.0 innings pitched. That's when the Bears' luck got even worse. The skies opened up, and the rain wouldn't stop for nearly an hour. After a delay that lasted right about an hour, the field was deemed unplayable. The worst break of all was that the outfield at L. Dale Mitchell Park has no semblance of a drainage system. We're guessing if this game had been at Baylor Ballpark, it would've been finished. However, the lake that was forming in left field was too much. The teams were going to try to resume the game at 1 p.m. on Sunday, but it looked unlikely. When the team headed to the park Sunday morning, it was obvious no games would be played. The tarp was covered in snow and ice was all over the concourse. It sure didn't look like a place where anyone would want to play baseball. So with that, the Bears went home feeling unsatisfied. Now, if the Bears and Sooners finish tied in the standings, OU will have the better spot because they won the only game against Baylor, despite what we witnessed - Baylor outscored the Sooners 11-7. This weekend's series against Kansas can't get here soon enough. There were some positives to take from the weekend. A Baylor offense that was supposedly a question mark entering the season produced 11 runs in 12 innings. The Baylor pitching staff was extremely good, holding the Sooners to two earned runs in 11 innings. Those numbers won't often equate to 0-1 weekends. Since the Bears played only one game during the week, there will not be a Player or Pitcher of the Week.Here's what local print media outlets had to say throughout the week: From the Waco Tribune-Herald: That's all for now, but don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. Week Four Rewind Baylor posted a perfect 4-0 record in week four, extending its winning streak to seven games and continuing the momentum it built after winning the final three games last week. With Sunday's win, the Bears improved their record to 11-6 overall. The seven-game winning streak is also the team's longest since opening the 2008 season with seven straight victories. The last time the Bears had an eight-game win streak was April 26-May 13, 2003. The Bears open conference play this weekend at Oklahoma. Here's how the Bears entered conference play, as well as their winning/losing streaks, in each of the last 10 seasons: What does that tell us? Well, Baylor is on its longest winning streak entering conference play since the Bears won seven in a row entering the 2009 Big 12 season. Here are some notes from the fourth week: PLAYER OF THE WEEK Joey Hainsfurther, Sophomore, Infielder, Dallas, Texas (Highland Park HS) Others who were considered: Brooks Pinckard - it seems like his name is coming up every week. In addition to notching his fifth save in as many tries, Pinckard had another strong week at the plate. He hit .438 (7-for-16), scored seven runs, doubled twice and stole his 15th consecutive base without being caught. His 11-game hitting streak was snapped on Sunday, but it remains the longest by a Bear this season. PITCHER OF THE WEEK This one very nearly went to Shawn Tolleson for the third consecutive week, but Logan Verrett's performance was so important to the Bears' season that he takes this week's honor. Others who were considered: Logan Verrett - picked up second win of the season with a strong 6.0-inning outing in Saturday's win over Illinois-Chicago. Struck out eight and held the Flames scoreless over his last five innings. Verrett has gone 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA, 19 strikeouts, five walks and 11 hits allowed over 13.0 innings in his last two starts. Here's what local print media outlets had to say throughout the week: From the Waco Tribune-Herald: That's all for now, but hopefully you're already making plans to head to either New Orleans or Norman this weekend. Don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. Taking Stock at the Quarter Pole The Baylor baseball team has played 14 games so far in 2010. The Bears have 53 games on the schedule. Assuming, for argument's sake, that the Bears finish the year as one of the eight teams to qualify for the Big 12 tournament (they've never been left out), that would guarantee them three more games. That makes the schedule 56 games. Of course we hope the season goes longer than 56 games with the Big 12 title game, regionals, super regionals and the last College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium, but we're going to assume 56 games for this blog. Why? Because the math works. If the season is 56 games, we're exactly one-quarter of the way through the season. Before we jump in too far, we should note that Kendall Rogers of Yahoo! Sports listed the Bears fifth in the Big 12 Conference in his latest "Calling Conferences: Team Power Rankings" column. Rogers says, "The Bears finally seem to have things headed the right direction. Their offense has been a surprise." Baylor was listed eighth last week, so the Bears' current four-game winning streak has definitely been noticed. In other news, Raynor Campbell picked up two more national awards for his performance last week. Campbell was named to the College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup on Wednesday morning, and later in the day he picked up his fourth weekly award when CollegeBaseballInsider.com named him its National Player of the Week. Campbell had previously been named Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week and "Louisville Slugger" National Player of the Week, as presented by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Seven different Baylor players had earned national weekly awards in the past, but Campbell became the first to earn more than one, and the first Baylor infielder to EVER earn a national player of the week award. The others were: Jon Topolski (1998), Kyle Evans (2000), Jared Theodorakos (2002), Cory VanAllen (2004), Josh Ford (2004), Mark McCormick (2005) and Mike Pankratz (2006). Pretty impressive. Now let's get back to the original point of this blog - taking stock at the quarter pole. We realize it's unrealistic to expect everyone on the team to keep pace with what they've done through the first 14 games. Campbell probably won't continue to hit .442, but not too many people expected the Baylor men's basketball team to beat Texas four consecutive times, including 15-point and 19-point victories. Anything is possible. By the same token, we don't expect Logan Verrett to lose two out of three decisions the rest of the year. He's turned in the Bears' three longest starts of the season, and his last start was absolutely dominant. Without further ado, here are some things that would happen if the Bears stayed on this exact same pace for the remainder of the season: First pitch against Illinois-Chicago is less than seven hours away, so here's your to-do list: Sport your green and gold with pride ... Smile every time you walk by a co-worker who is a Texas fan ... Set your DVR ... Head out to Baylor Ballpark. The second quarter of the season starts today. Don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter.Sic em. Week Three Rewind Week three started off with three consecutive tough losses, extending the Bears' losing streak to five-games - tied for the longest home losing streak in Baylor Ballpark history. Losing Friday night's game against Oral Roberts, when only one of the runs Shawn Tolleson allowed was earned, was especially difficult. However, the Bears finished the weekend incredibly strong, taking both games of Saturday's doubleheader before rallying from five and three runs down to win the series on Sunday. PLAYER OF THE WEEK Raynor Campbell, Senior, Third Baseman, Katy, Texas (Taylor HS) Others who were considered: Brooks Pinckard - in addition to notching his fourth save of the season, Pinckard also had a strong week at the plate. He hit .400 (8-for-20), scored eight runs, collected five RBI, doubled twice, tripled, walked eight times and went 4-for-4 stealing bases. His performance would've been worthy of Player of the Week honors in nearly any other week, but it's tough to match what Campbell did. PITCHER OF THE WEEK This one very nearly went to Shawn Tolleson for the third consecutive week, but Logan Verrett's performance was so important to the Bears' season that he takes this week's honor. Others who were considered: Shawn Tolleson - he pitched well enough to win on almost any other night. Though Tolleson would've liked to pitch more than 5.1 innings, he gave the Bears a dominating performance while he was on the mound. The junior struck out 10 against just three walks, but four errors led to five unearned runs that led to him taking a tough-luck loss. Here's what local print media outlets had to say throughout the week: From the Waco Tribune-Herald: From The Baylor Lariat: That's all for now, but we're less than an hour away from first pitch in a rematch with Louisiana Tech. Baylor welcomes Illinois-Chicago for a three-game set this weekend in its final tune-up before opening conference play on the road at Oklahoma the following weekend. Don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. Raynor Campbell's To-Do List from Last Week To say that Raynor Campbell had a good week would be like saying the Baylor men's basketball team beating Texas for the third consecutive time was sweet. They're both ridiculous understatements. Here's Campbell's to do list from last week: Not a bad seven days. Here's where Campbell ranks in Big 12 offensive categories: Batting Average - eighth (.442) Did we mention that Campbell hadn't hit in the clean-up spot since his fourth collegiate game on Feb. 13, 2007? He played in 156 games without hitting in the fourth spot before moving back there on Saturday. We would go on, but we need to leave a few things for Campbell to shoot for this week. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Week Three Rewind, and don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. Week Two Rewind Going into the fifth-annual QTI Baylor Classic, we knew the weekend would be a tough one with four regional teams from 2009. A 2-1 record would've been a strong weekend, and while 1-2 isn't ideal, it still leaves the Bears in good shape. Western Kentucky is a very strong team. The Hilltoppers won all three games this weekend by outscoring opponents 15-6. They may not get the respect of schools from the big six conferences, but there's a reason they came within a game of winning the NCAA Oxford, Miss. Regional last season. While losing the Texas Agricultural & Mechanical isn't ever fun to see, it shouldn't be viewed any differently than any other non-conference game. The Bears lost because they couldn't hit John Stilson. He threw 4.0 innings of hitless relief, thanks mostly to a fastball that touched the upper 90s. Seeing Stilson for four innings in a non-conference game could be huge for the Baylor lineup when the Bears and Ags meet in April. Let's not forget Friday's win over Texas State. That's a team that won 41 games last season and was fresh off a three-game sweep at Houston. Coming from one run down to win that game 3-2 was big for the Bears. PLAYER OF THE WEEK Raynor Campbell, Senior, Third Baseman, Katy, Texas (Taylor HS) Others who were considered: Dan Evatt - turned in the Bears' first three-hit game of the season and drove in both of Baylor's runs with a two-run single against Western Kentucky. PITCHER OF THE WEEK Another tough call. This one could've gone to almost anyone who stepped on the mound for the Bears this weekend, but Shawn Tolleson takes it because of how he turned what could have been a bad start into a really solid one. Others who were considered: Kolt Browder - he looked nothing like a redshirt freshman making his first collegiate appearance. Browder held the Hilltoppers to just one hit over 3.0 innings of shutout relief on Sunday. Though the Bears were unable to mount a rally, Browder did his job by keeping WKU from adding to its lead. Brooks Pinckard - its tough to be considered when you only pitched one inning during the week, but Pinckard's inning was huge. Holding just a one-run lead against Texas State, he worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his third save in as many games. No Baylor pitcher had saved three consecutive games since Nick Cassavechia did so in the 2007 Big 12 tournament. While the conditions weren't ideal, and Pinckard needed 10 pitches to retire the first batter he faced, he got the job done. Here's what local print media outlets had to say throughout the weekend: From the Waco Tribune-Herald: The staff report from Sunday has a well-timed photo from Rod Aydelotte that shows Raynor Campbell taking a throw on the chin. From The Baylor Lariat: That's all for now, but we're about seven hours away from beginning a stretch of six games in six days. Baylor takes on BYU tonight at 6:30, then plays Louisiana Tech at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, and finishes the week with a four-game set against Oral Roberts this weekend. Don't forget to follow The Kaye Zone on Twitter. Sic em. |
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