Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

BAYLOR BASEBALL UPDATE: No. 20 Bears bounce back with big win over Houston Baptist after three-game skid, improve to 14-7 overall

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – After a trio of games saw the Baylor baseball team scratch across just two runs while dropping all three games against Big 12 rival Missouri, the No. 20 Bears bounced back against Houston Baptist University on Tuesday night, March 25 in Waco.

Baylor (14-7) reestablished their offensive groove against HBU on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, knocking in run after run en route to a 12-4 victory while the Bears’ Tim Matthews picked up his first win of the season after relieving BU starter Craig Fritsch after 3.1 innings of play.

“I wanted to split the game up between [Tim Matthews] and Craig [Fritsch],” Baylor Head Coach Steve Smith said. “I wanted to give Craig an opportunity to start a game and to get his feet wet like that, but I’ve seen him better.

“He wasn’t as good tonight as what we’ve seen. That experience and that extended look out there will help him. Tim has a lot of experience and has done everything. He did a good job.”

After Smith’s duo of pitchers handled the first seven innings of work, the Bears handed the ball to Baylor’s bullpen beast, Nick Cassavechia – who pitched two innings of one-hit baseball after BU’s weekend collapse against the Tigers.

“He [Cassavechia] looked a lot better,” Smith said. “His stuff was better, his velocity was better, and he was sharper. That’s a good feeling for him. All of this stuff is just about confidence, and you can’t do anything without it.

“Some of the things that have gone against him and some of the bad games he’s had, obviously they’ve taken a toll on him mentally. From a hitter’s perspective, the whole weekend took a toll on us, so tonight was a good opportunity to get well in terms of confidence.”

Leading the offensive charge for the Bears was a trio of talent, as Beamer Weems, Adam Hornung and Aaron Miller picked up three hits apiece.

“It [bouncing back with a win] was definitely big,” sophomore Baylor outfielder Weems said. “We take nothing away from the Missouri staff because they threw us really well, and that’s a place where you don’t want to go when you’re not on your A-game.

“After the weekend we had, to come out here and jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, you could see it in the dugout that everybody’s shoulders dropped a little bit, and everybody relaxed and started having more fun.”

The more fun the Bears had, the more their lead extended over HBU – as Miller posted back-to-back homers after going 0-for-12 prior to Tuesday’s match-up in Waco.

“I just let them come to me,” Weems said. “The whole problem I’ve had has been pitch selection. In the last couple of weekend I haven’t been swinging the bat too well, and I’d been going out of the zone and trying to make something happen instead of just letting it happen. I told myself today that I was just going to make them throw strikes before I started swinging, and I got a few I could handle.”

Count Coach Smith as one to echo his star outfielder’s comments – as the BU skipper was the first to let the media know that Weems would probably be sleeping a bit better in the nights to come.

“He squared the ball up pretty well,” Smith said. “He’s just got some pop, and when he gets the ball up in the air like he does, it can blow out of the park on a night like tonight. It was good to see him swing the bat better after the weekend he had. He’ll sleep a little better tonight.”

Baylor junior first baseman Hornung also had a major impact in the Bears 12-run outburst against HBU – helping to break BU’s three-game skid.

“It was definitely a big improvement from the weekend; it was good to see us start driving some balls again and putting up runs,” Hornung said. “In the first inning we put up four runs, so it was good to see that early.

“At Missouri we had the chance to score early twice and we didn’t, so it’s good to see us get on the board and keep getting on the board. It definitely helped us relax a little more once we put up four in the first, and then we scored in every inning except for two, so it was good to see.”

Matthews, who pitched 3.2 innings of two-hit, no-run baseball, picked up his first win of the season on Tuesday night against HBU – improving his overall ERA to 1.62.

“Lately I’ve just been attacking guys with fastballs,” Matthews said. “That’s pretty much my thing, throwing the sinker and just going right after guys without trying to be too fine. It’s been working out.”

Working out is exactly right, and despite an evening with high winds, the senior pitcher accomplished the task at hand – successfully taking the mound and attacking the HBU batters.

“I’m pretty much a groundball pitcher, and throwing a two-seamer down in the zone is usually pretty good on a night like this,” Matthews said. “Keeping the ball out of the air is always good, and usually I do a pretty good job of keeping the ball out of the air. Nights like this don’t worry me too much, but if you do get it up, it’s one of those nights that can be dangerous. If you just try to keep it down and induce groundballs, it usually works out.”

Fortunately, skipper Smith and his young and talented BU baseball team have bounced back after dropping a trio of games in Missouri – and even with extensive winds blowing out of Baylor Ballpark Tuesday night, the Bears picked up a much-needed W.

“This would’ve been a tough night had we come out here and had the wind blowing in our faces after this weekend,” Smith said. “The hitters needed a night that at the least didn’t work against them, and this one definitely worked for them. We had some guys that took some good at bats, and we made some good contact.”

The Bears return to the diamond on Wednesday, March 26 in a one-game match-up with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Baylor Ballpark at 4 p.m. CT before opening a three-game series at Oklahoma on Friday, March 28 at 6 p.m. CT.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

No. 11 Baylor baseball team splits two-game series with Louisiana Tech

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – With the Bears leading the Bulldogs 6-4 heading into the ninth inning on Tuesday, March 4 at Baylor Ballpark, it was almost assumed that the BU baseball team would be improving to 8-0.

Unfortunately for the Baylor Bears (8-1), the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7-4) rallied – scoring five runs in the top of the frame to snap BU’s impressive undefeated start, walking away with a 9-6 victory.

“They got the timely hit in the ninth inning, and that’s the name of the game,” Baylor Head Coach Steve Smith said. “I don’t think that either one of us played the game particularly well.  I imagine that ball was fair by inches (Louisiana Tech’s go-ahead double in the ninth inning), and that sometimes will be the difference in a game.”

After falling behind 1-0 after the top half of the first inning, the Bears crossed home plate four times in the bottom of the first to take a three-run lead into the second inning.

“They helped us; we got a couple of hits in the first inning, but we weren’t driving the ball,” Smith said. “I don’t know if we even had an extra-base hit in this game [all eight hits were singles], but I give their guy credit. Their guy [Alan Knotts] kind of gathered himself and really pitched well. Then they gave us a left-handed look [with Landon Braud] and he did a nice job, and then the [Bulldogs] closer [Aaron Lorio] has obviously got plenty of ammunition at the end.”

With Baylor’s Tim Matthews pitching the first 3.2 innings of work, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits, Craig Fritsch entered the picture for the Bears – pitching four innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just two hits and striking out four.

“[Craig] Fritsch was every bit the equal of anybody that threw tonight, and we needed it,” Smith said. “We weren’t scoring and they weren’t scoring.”

With the Bears and Bulldogs deadlocked at 4-4 midway through the seventh inning, Baylor tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh – with home base being stolen by Beamer Weems to break the tie – and added another in the eighth to take a 6-4 lead heading into the top of the ninth inning.

“It was just a timing play and we timed it perfectly,” Weems said. “We caught them off-guard and it worked. It was actually cool [to steal home], but it would’ve been a lot better if we would’ve won.”

Despite the two-run cushion, the Bulldogs scored five times in the ninth before holding the Bears scoreless in the bottom of the frame to end Baylor’s superb start to the season.

“They take some hacks, but they were not any different than what we expected,” Smith said in regards to Louisiana Tech’s offense. “They’ll be a good offensive club.”

Things began on shaky ground when Baylor closer Nick Cassavechia led off the ninth inning with a walk – and before anyone knew it, Louisiana Tech had scratched across five runs to take a 9-6 lead.

“The biggest thing about being a closer is coming out and throwing strikes, and especially with a righty up there,” Cassavechia said. “Coming out and walking the first guy is how you dig yourself into holes.

“I still don’t feel like my slider is there yet, but that’s no excuse. I have other pitches and I do other things besides throw a slider. It’s not on, but it’s a long season and I’ll have plenty more chances to bounce back.”

The Bears did just that the following day, holding on in another wild finish – this time resulting in a 7-6 Baylor victory.

“We’re just playing games and trying to find ways to win them,” Smith said. “We’re having to find ways to win right now because we’re not doing the job on the mound, in terms of throwing strikes, and we’re really not swinging the bats with a whole lot of authority up and down the lineup. For the most part our defense has been very good. We’ve got way better arms than what we have shown in terms of throwing strikes.”

Baylor, just as they had the night before, had a four-run inning against the Bulldogs, breaking out of a 1-1 tie and taking a 5-1 lead heading into the third inning.

After an off night at the plate, Aaron Miller reestablished his dominance – crushing his fourth homer of the season against the Bulldogs on Wednesday evening in Waco.

“The difference you can feel between two days is crazy,” Miller said. “Yesterday I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, and today was just one of those days when I felt good and felt dialed-in. He gave me a pitch that I could handle, and I took care of it.”

With the Bears holding a 7-4 lead through eight innings of play, Baylor turned to Erik Forestiere – who had just worked a scoreless eighth – to finish things off.

“There’s a little bit of uncertainty at the end of the game with who’s going to do what and when,” Smith said. “There is no dialing-up three strikeouts. I would’ve been just fine with [Erik] Forestiere finishing the game. He should have; [Mace] Thurman should have. That didn’t happen, so we moved on to the next guy.”

Unfortunately, Forestiere allowed Louisiana Tech to score twice before being replaced by Miller – who worked to two batters before handing things over to BU closer Cassavechia.

“Nick’s [Cassavechia] not Nick right now, and I don’t think that’s a secret, but he’s still pretty good,” Smith said. “He’s got big-time heart, he’s got big-time guts and composure, and I would not have put him out there if I didn’t think that he was the guy to get the job done. I’ve seen him win some games in some pretty unbelievable situations that were much more unbelievable than tonight.”

Cassavechia did a great job bouncing back after a shaky outing the day before, facing four batters and allowing no runs on one hit to preserve the Baylor victory while garnering his fourth save of the season.

“No matter who is on the mound it’s not really too calm when it’s the top of the ninth and the bases are loaded with a couple of outs,” Miller said. “There’s not really anybody else that we’d rather have out there than Nick [Cassavechia]. Nick’s proven himself day in and day out.”

With the split of the two-game series with Louisiana Tech, Baylor improves to 8-1 on the season and will return to the diamond – this time on the road – for a three-game series with Mississippi State beginning Friday, March 7 at 4 p.m. and concluding on Sunday, March 9 at 1:30 p.m.

After the stop in Mississippi, Baylor hits the road for Tulsa for a two-game series with Oral Roberts on March 11-12, with both games slated to begin at 3 p.m.

Baylor returns home to host Oklahoma State in a three-game weekend series as Big 12 action begins on Friday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

Baylor sweeps opening series against Purdue, takes trio of one-run victories

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – The Baylor Bears, ranked No. 15 nationally by Baseball America, have begun the 2008 baseball season exactly the way they wanted – and head coach Steve Smith couldn’t be happier about his young team’s successful start.

After taking game one in a decisive 2-1 victory, the Bears battled back in the second game – falling behind early before tacking on the tying runs in the bottom of the seventh and eight innings to send the game into extra frames, eventually winning the contest 11-10 in 11 innings.

“On a day like today, being down early is not as concerning as when we got down the second time,” Smith said following Saturday’s come-from-behind victory. “We got behind two with only three innings to play, and they’ve got some pretty good arms left down there. That was more concerning than being down five early.

“I feel like we’re going to hit, and there’s a lot of game left to play, but somebody’s got to hold it down. Mace [Thurman] did a nice job coming in, particularly for his first time ever here. He was really, really good. We didn’t play defense behind [Tim] Matthews, and we gave up the lead because of that, but then we got a couple of really good innings out of Nick [Cassavechia]. I was hopeful that we would get from Erik [Forestiere] what we did. It’s really encouraging to see him go out and pitch because he had to go through the best guys they’ve got.”

The rubber game of the series showcased another spectacular mound match-up, as both pitchers tossed deep into the opening round finale – with Baylor (3-0) winning a wild one, 2-1, in a three-game sweep over Purdue (0-3).

“I didn’t think we had a very good day offensively,” Smith said after the Bears 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon. “Give their guy some credit, he pitched us pretty well, but it’s early in the year. The pitching on both sides controlled the offenses of both teams this weekend.

“The thing that happened yesterday [Saturday, Feb. 23] was that neither side threw strikes, but the pitchers for both teams were ahead of both sides when it came to offense, which is probably why the games were as close as they were.”

Baylor’s Smith was quick to defend his decision to call Aaron Miller to the mound in the later innings of the series against Purdue, despite left-handed opponents’ success against the Bears relief pitcher.

“It hasn’t worked against the left-handed hitters,” Smith said. “They’re 3-for-3 against him right now, but he did show a lot of poise. If I would’ve had to go get him [Miller] after the first two guys got on, it would’ve created a real situation; [Baylor closer Nick] Cassavechia would’ve had to hit in somebody’s spot right in the middle of the order, and I just wasn’t willing to do that right then.

“I gave him a chance to get out of it and he made me look good on it. That’s obviously going to be a risk that we take when we’re where we were in the order, and that’s one reason why I was so long in making the decision.”

Obviously, as mentioned, Smith’s decision was a wise one – with the Bears capping off the series with another one-run win on Sunday.

“It was not an incredibly well-managed game, but the thing that was impressive was the couple of times where there were some pretty interesting jams against some good hitters, and we got out [of it],” Smith said. “That certainly didn’t go like it was scripted, but this early in the year I don’t know that there is a script. We’re very happy to get the win, and hopefully we all realize that we’re pretty fortunate to get it.”

Fortune, script, whatever you want to call it – the Bears will take it.

“It’s good that we were able to hold them down today on a day when we weren’t as productive offensively,” Sunday’s sophomore starting pitcher Willie Kempf said. “It was good to see Craig [Fritsch] come in and throw a couple of good innings, and Aaron [Miller] got in a jam and got out of it.

“I threw a lot of fastballs. Most of their hitters are on top of the plate, so they were hitting some balls away, and so once we started throwing in, we got a lot of jams. We just had to mix it up a little bit because they were a pretty solid hitting team, and it seemed like if we made mistakes they were hitting them pretty well.”

For the Bears, solid defense was a key to the series sweep against the Boilermakers – as starter Kempf can attest.

“[I had] great defense; that last inning [top of the fifth] when I walked the first two guys and we got that ground ball, that was huge for us to get that good feed and good turn, and we got that, so I just had to get the next guy,” Kempf said. “Luckily we did when Landis [Ware] came and got that ground ball that was weakly hit, and he made a good play to first base. It’s quite a luxury pitching with that defense behind you; they pick you up.”

No matter how you slice it, the 2008 Baylor baseball team never gives up – especially after falling behind twice on Saturday before finally walking away with an 11-inning victory over Purdue.

“That just kind of shows our team,” Bears sophomore infielder Shaver Hansen, Saturday’s grand slam hero, said. “We have all the talent in the world on this team to go far, kind of show what we can do, never give up – especially after going back and forth and switching leads. We saw several arms, but we still adjusted well, and that’s a good sign for our team.”

Landis Ware’s two-run shot in the series opener – in addition to a BU clinic on how to play solid defense – proved to be the deciding factor in Baylor beginning the season with a one-run victory.

“That’s the story right there,” Smith said in regards to Ware’s performance on Friday evening against Purdue. “The defense was every bit as important. The play he made in the ninth inning was a heck of a play, and if he doesn’t make that play, now you’re first and second with nobody out. Bunt them over, and it could be a whole different ball game. Getting that out was a heck of a play.”

As far as Ware’s homerun, the Baylor freshman infielder told reporters that he wanted to be patient at the plate after swinging early in his prior at-bats.

“I wanted to take some pitches,” Ware said following Friday’s season-opener victory. “On my other two at bats I swung at the first pitch and didn’t get to see all of his stuff. So I took a strike, then got to 1-1, and ended up getting [to] 2-2 after taking the pitch so Paul Miles could steal second. He threw me a fastball inside and I got the barrel through, and it worked out for us.”

Pitching – a coach Smith specialty over the years with the Baylor manager at the helm – proved to be the difference maker in all three victories, including the Bears season-opener 2-1 victory over the Boilermakers.

“Kendal [Volz] threw extremely well; a lot of strikes, and the pitch count was what kept him out there as long as he did,” Smith said following the BU victory on Friday. “I didn’t dream that I would be contemplating, on opening night, letting a guy go back out for the ninth inning, but I actually contemplated it.

“I’m pretty sure he had enough gas left in the tank to do it, but it was a little early in the year to be doing that. He was at 99 pitches, which was amazing. Our starters have gotten into the 80-pitch limit in intrasquads, so he wasn’t in unchartered territory when I let him go back out there for the eighth, but he would’ve been if I would’ve let him go back out there for the ninth, but I wasn’t going to let him do it.”

Instead, Smith decided to go to his bullpen on Friday evening with the game on the line – calling on young reliever Miller.

“It gave me an opportunity to put Aaron [Miller] out there in a matchup situation and get his feet wet,” Smith said. “Fortunately that walk didn’t jump up and bite us.”

Three games deep into the 2008 season, Baylor’s Ware leads the team in batting – with the young infielder’s average hovering at .500, with four runs batted in (RBI), one double and a homerun.

In the pitching department, BU closer Cassavechia has two saves on the season – having allowed just one hit and no runs through four innings of relief.

Following a one-day break in live game action, the Bears return to the diamond on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Baylor Ballpark – a match-up with Texas Southern slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. – before hosting the QTI Baylor Classic beginning Friday, Feb. 29, and running through Sunday, March 2.

Teams invited to this year’s annual Baylor tournament include Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Stephen F. Austin.

Baylor’s game against Texas Southern on Tuesday, as well as all BU baseball games this season, will be broadcast live on Waco’s 1660 AM, ESPN Radio.

In addition, live streaming audio and stats (via GameTracker) are available for all Baylor baseball games online at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com