WACO, TX — The Bears return to the friendly confines of Baylor Ballpark after a road Tuesday game and will begin a five-game homestand beginning with a 6:35 p.m. contest on Friday, March 23. Game two is set for 3:05 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 24 and Game three is set for 12:05 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 25.
• The Bears enter the first Big 12 conference series after taking last weekend’s series vs. Cal Poly, 2-1, but fell in Tuesday’s midweek contest at Sam Houston State.
HOW TO WATCH AND STREAM
All three games will be televised live on the FOX Sports family of networks. All three games can also be found on the FOX Sports Go app. Friday’s game is just available on the app, with Saturday and Sunday also available on FOX Sports Southwest.
Projected Pitching Matchups
Friday, March 22 • 6:35 p.m. CT • LHP Paul Dickens (1-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. RHP Alek Manoah (3-1, 2.17 ERA)
Sat., March 23 • 3:05 p.m. CT • RHP Jimmy Winston (1-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. LHP Jackson Wolf (2-1, 3.71 ERA)
Sunday, March 24 • 12:05 p.m. CT • TBD vs. TBD
WAKING UP THE BATS
• In the series-clinching victory over Cal Poly on Sunday, the bats woke up, as the Bears tallied a season-best 22 hits, the most by a Baylor team since collecting 24 vs. Kansas State on April 27, 2018. The 22 hits at Baylor Ballpark were the most since having 23 on May 18, 2017 vs. Kansas State.
IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
• The Bears boast the 17th-highest batting average in the nation (.309). The Bears rank sixth with 2.58 doubles per game and are eighth with 49 total doubles on the year. The Bears’ on-base percentage of .396 is 41st-best in the nation, while the can do a lot of different things with the bat as the team’s slugging percentage (.492) ranks eighth. The Bears’ fielding percentage of 0.977 ranks 30th nationally. The team also ranks 10th with just 6.62 hits allowed per nine innings.
• Individually, Winston also ranks 28th nationally with a 0.93 ERA.
IN BIG 12 OPENERS
• In the first three seasons of Coach Rod’s tenure, the Bears are 4-5 in Big 12 opening series. Last year the Bears knocked off then-No. 8 Texas Tech in their conference-opening series, taking games one and two before dropping the third game. In 2017, the Bears also hosted West Virginia in their conference-opening series and dropped the first two games, 7-1 and 6-5, before salvaging the series with an 8-6 victory on Sunday.
