Leading up to Friday’s NCAA Baseball Regional at Alex Box Stadium, LSUsports.net will profile each of the visiting schools. Today, the spotlight is on No. 3 seed Baylor (29-24), of the Big 12 Conference.
Location: Waco, Texas
Enrollment: 14,541
Conference: Big 12
Head Coach: Steve Smith (15th season)
Record: 29-24
Conference Record/Finish: 10-16/8th
Preseason Pick: t3rd of 10 in Big 12
How They Qualified: Big 12 at-large selection
Top Three Hitters:
Jr. DH Dustin Dickerson (.381, 10 HR, 40 RBI)
Jr. SS Shaver Hansen (.333, 16 HR, 57 RBI)
Jr. RF Aaron Miller (.328, 12 HR, 47 RBI)
Top Three Pitchers:
Fr. RHP Logan Verrett (7-1, 5.23 ERA, 19 BB, 61 SO, 3 SV)
So. RHP Shawn Tolleson (1-2, 4.50 ERA, 27 BB, 39 SO)
Jr. RHP Kendall Volz (3-6, 4.54 ERA, 34 BB, 76 SO, 2 SV)
Notables:
Baylor is making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance and first in Baton Rouge since the 2003 Super Regional … LSU dropped the first game of that series (4-1) but rallied with two straight victories to advance to Omaha … After winning 6-5 on Saturday, the Tigers used an 11-run sixth inning highlighted by a Clay Harris grand slam to claim the rubber match 20-5 … The Bears closed the regular season with 10 straight losses but posted a 2-1 mark in pool play in the Big 12 Tournament with wins over No. 1 national seed Texas (14-9) and Kansas (8-4) … Baylor is coached by Steve Smith, who is in his 15th season with the program … Prior to his arrival at Baylor, Smith served as an assistant coach under Ron Polk at Mississippi State … Designated hitter Dustin Dickerson ranks second in the Big 12 in batting average (.381) and will carry a 13-game hitting streak into the Baton Rouge Regional.
They Said It:
“I want to commend what I truly believe may be the premiere crowd in all of college baseball. You’re hearing that from a guy that grew up in the state of Mississippi and spent five years at Mississippi State. I don’t want to make LSU’s media guide but that is a special, special, special crowd out there. It’s just flat out rare that anybody truly appreciates how absolutely amazing that (Intimidator) billboard is out there and how difficult it is to play this game at the level that so many people play it. I am just glad to have played in front of a crowd and I’m glad to have our players play in front of a crowd that I truly believe appreciated their performance”
– Baylor Head Coach Steve Smith following the 2003 NCAA Super Regional at the original Alex Box Stadium