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Bears need repeat of 2007
The Baylor baseball team squeezed into the NCAA Tournament last season by sweeping its final regular season series against Kansas State and then winning three Big 12 Tournament games.
The Bears will likely need a similar late run this year. But it will be much more difficult since their final regular season series is in Lubbock where they’ve lost 11 of the last 12 games to Texas Tech.
With a 10-14 Big 12 record, the Bears can’t finish with a winning league record. But they’ve made the NCAA Tournament the last two years with losing conference records.
The only way the Bears can be assured of a berth is by winning four games to win the Big 12 Tournament for the league’s automatic berth. But putting together a string of wins will be challenging for a team that hasn’t shown much consistency all season.
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New Disch-Falk a beauty
For years, I was wondering when Texas was going to upgrade Disch-Falk Field.
A college baseball palace when it opened in 1975, the Longhorns’ ballpark was definitely showing its age.
But after undergoing massive renovations, the new UFCU Disch-Falk Field is a thing of beauty.
The $25.8 million renovation project features 6,756 chairback seats and a row of luxury boxes across the top. The old pressbox used to be cramped and uncomfortable, but now it’s plush and roomy. The ballpark looks as good as any new minor league baseball facility.
It’s remarkable that this facility was built on the old site, but Texas pulled it off in a big way.
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Tolleson delivers key win
Just when you think the Bears are about to drive themselves out of NCAA Tournament contention, they come through with an unexpected performance.
Last week, Willie Kempf pitched the Bears to an 8-3 win over Nebraska after the Cornhuskers swept Saturday’s doubleheader.
After an embarrassing 12-1 loss to Texas Friday night at Baylor Ballpark, the Bears came back with a 6-1 win Saturday at Disch-Falk Field.
Rocked in two straight Big 12 starts against Texas A&M and Nebraska, redshirt freshman Shawn Tolleson delivered a gutsy performance by limiting Texas to one run in 7 1/3 innings before Kempf finished it off.
A win over the Longhorns Sunday would go a long way toward helping the Bears reach regionals. They still have a lot of work to do since they have to go to Lubbock in two weeks, but at least they still have a prayer.
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Bears need a miracle
With all five remaining Big 12 games on the road, the Bears need a miracle now to make the NCAA Tournament.
With Friday’s 12-1 drubbing by the Longhorns, the Bears dropped to 9-13 in the Big 12 with two games coming up this weekend at Disch-Falk Field and three games coming up against Texas Tech May 16-18 in Lubbock.
The Bears have dropped 11 straight to the Longhorns and 11 of the last 12 to the Red Raiders in Lubbock. Those aren’t good odds for a Baylor team that hasn’t played consistently since opening the season with an 11-1 record.
The air went out of the Bears Friday night when starting pitcher Kendal Volz left after the third inning with a strained oblique. Texas only held a 1-0 lead at the point, but it quickly got worse as the Longhorns strummed Baylor’s relievers for 13 hits and 11 runs.
That’s the third Big 12 blowout for the Bears in as many weekends at Baylor Ballpark. The Aggies broke out for an 11-1 win and the Cornhuskers run-ruled the Bears, 14-1.
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Volz out with injury
Baylor starting pitcher Kendal Volz had to leave Friday’s series opener against Texas with a strained oblique.
Volz had allowed a run on three hits in three innings while striking out seven at Baylor Ballpark.
Volz was replaced by Randall Linebaugh, who gave up a run in the fourth inning to give the Longhorns a 2-0 lead.
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Volz deserves better
Baylor ace Kendal Volz hasn’t won a game since beating Mississippi State on March 9.
But it’s not because he hasn’t been pitching well.
Three weeks ago, Volz gave up just eight hits and three runs while striking out 12 in 7 2/3 innings, but got a no-decision against Kansas.
Two weeks ago, Volz allowed seven hits, two walks and two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings to get the loss against Kansas State.
Volz turned in another strong performance last week as he allowed just six, two walks and one earned run in 7 1/3 innings. But he got the loss against Texas A&M.
On Saturday, Volz limited Nebraska to five hits, five walks and two runs in six innings but got a no-decision in Baylor’s 6-4 loss to Nebraska in 10 innings.
The biggest reason for Volz’s drought has been little run support from Baylor’s offense. The Bears have scored just 10 runs in their last four Big 12 series openers.
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OK, Mulk, try to top this one
Kim Mulkey’s playing a game of oneupmanship with herself. And depending on how you look at it, she’s either winning or losing. But no matter how you look at it, she keeps coming up with ways to top herself.
When lead assistant Bill Brock left after the 2005-06 season to join Kristy Curry at Texas Tech, Mulkey didn’t panic. She just smiled and went out and raided Texas coach Jody Conradt’s staff to lure away one of the top recruiters in the game in Karen Aston. At worst, it was a wash.
And then when Aston jumped ship after one year and took the head job at North Carolina-Charlotte, it took Mulkey all of 10 days to come up with an answer. She hired Richard Barron, who had six years experience as a head coach at Princeton and a reputation as a strong recruiter. Again, not a bad trade.
But what she pulled off on Friday was the kind of shock-the-world move rarely seen in the women’s game. And again, it took all of 10 days.
When assistant coach Jennifer Roberts had to leave for health reasons, Mulkey kind of hinted at the time that she might have a trick up her sleeve. “If I can pull it off, you’ll be shocked,” she said. The answer came Friday, when she named legendary Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore, her former mentor.
Now granted, the guy turns 64 in June. But he’s not going to be the head coach, and I suspect that he won’t have to carry the normal workload of a 60-hours-per-week, bust-your-hump assistant coach. I mean, here’s a guy that won 576 games in 20 seasons as the Lady Techsters’ head coach, taking them to the NCAA Tournament every year and the Final Four nine times. That’s right, nine times.
“That sucker can coach,” Mulkey said. “You’ve got a Hall of Fame coach that’s willing to come out of retirement to join our program and help us to continue to build an elite team.”
Barmore tried to retire in 2000, wanting Mulkey to follow him as the coach at Louisiana Tech. But when the president wouldn’t budge and give her a five-year contract, Mulkey bolted for Baylor, and Barmore came out of retirement. And then when he retired again in 2002, he was inducted the next year into the Naismith Memorial and Women’s Basketball halls of fame.
How many programs have ever been able to boast of two Hall of Fame coaches, each with a national championship to their credit?
With Mulkey, I’ve learned never to say never. But I can’t imagine her being able to top this one. I wonder if that Pat Summitt gal would be interested?
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Baylor’s hitters inconsistent
One good thing came out of Baylor’s 13-12 loss to Texas A&M Sunday at Baylor Ballpark.
The Bears collected a season-high 22 hits.
But Baylor’s hitting didn’t carry over to Tuesday’s rare nonconference game against Texas. Kenn Kasparek and Stayton Thomas combined for a four-hitter in the Longhorns’ 8-2 win.
Baylor’s only hits came from Dustin Dickerson, Adam Hornung, Landis Ware and Aaron Miller. Three of those hits contributed to runs, but it just wasn’t enough.
The Bears are still striking out way too much — they had 12 against Texas. There’s still time to pick it up, but the Bears can’t wait much longer if they want to make the NCAA Tournament.
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Bears need to win now
After collapsing against Texas A&M Sunday afternoon, the Bears hope the devastating loss doesn’t have long-term repercussions.
Leading 12-6 heading into the ninth, the Bears gave up six runs and eventually dropped a 13-12 loss as the Aggies completed a three-game sweep.
The Bears are still tied for fifth in the Big 12 at 8-10 with another struggling team — the Texas Longhorns. Ironically, Baylor and Texas play a rare nonconference game Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.
When they return to Big 12 action, the Bears still have to play a strong Nebraska team this weekend in Waco before a split series against Texas and a season-ending road series at Texas Tech. It doesn’t matter how the Red Raiders are doing, Lubbock is always a tough place to play for the Bears.
The Bears are currently No. 47 in the national RPI, according to Boyd’s World, which uses the NCAA’s formula. That may not be good enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament, but they’d probably move up with a good late season run against tough Big 12 competition.
If the NCAA Tournament only takes five Big 12 teams this year, it could come down to Baylor and Texas. So the upcoming four games between the two teams will be very important.
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Another Beamer gem
Baylor junior shortstop Beamer Weems has struggled at the plate this year, but his defense is always worth the price of admission.
Weems showed his defensive brilliance again Sunday in the fifth inning against Texas A&M by fielding Kevin Gonzalez’s grounder deep in the hole toward the third base bag, making a jumping throw to first and nailing the baserunner with a perfect strike just in time for the out.
Very few college shortstops could have made that play Ozzie Smith would have been proud.
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Baylor’s on WNBA’s map
I still remember the 2002 WNBA draft, when Baylor’s Sheila Lambert and Danielle Crockrom were both taken in the first 11 picks. Despite a knee injury in an all-star game, Lambert went to Charlotte with the seventh pick overall, while Crockrom was taken by Utah with pick No. 11.
Three years passed before the next Baylor player was drafted: Steffanie Blackmon went in the third round with the next-to-last pick in ‘05. The WNBA’s Miss Irrelevant (I guess that’s what she would be called) that year was Texas guard/forward Heather Schreiber.
But since then, the WNBA has made Baylor one of its destination points for scouting. Sophia Young was drafted in the first round by San Antonio in 2006 and has become one of the league’s rising superstars, and then Bernice Mosby was taken by Washington with the sixth pick overall last year.
And then on Wednesday, little 5-7 point guard Angela Tisdale was taken in the third round by the Chicago Sky with the 33rd pick overall. That’s a clear sign that Baylor is definitely on the WNBA’s map. Here’s a player that coach Kim Mulkey stole from Texas State five years ago. That’s the only other school that even recruited her. And she gets plucked in the WNBA draft as one of the top 43 seniors in the country.
I thought Tisdale’s size might hurt her chances, but apparently she had a good enough showing at the pre-draft camp for the Sky and other teams to be interested. Tisdale thought she was going to be taken by either Washington or San Antonio, based on talks at the camp. But new Chicago coach and GM Steven Key liked what he saw from Tisdale and seems to think she’s got a good shot to be the Sky’s backup point guard this year.
Now that’s a success story worth writing.
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Great day for Hall of Fame
It was a great day for the Texas Sports Hall of Fame with 85 coaches, players and administrators coming to Waco for the groundbreaking for the new Southwest Conference addition.
Several coaches I talked to mentioned they got their first exposure to the SWC from legendary radio broadcaster Kern Tipps, who did the play-by-play for the game of the week.
“Kern Tipps could really paint a picture with his words, and I thought Southwest Conference football was the biggest thing in the world,” said former Baylor coach Grant Teaff. “That was very special to me as a boy growing up in Snyder. I decided then that I wanted to be a head coach at an SWC school someday.”
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Sweep huge for Bears
SLIDE SHOW
- gallery: Photos from the series sweep
It’s too early to say Baylor had to sweep Kansas to be a force in the Big 12 race.
But I’ll say it anyway — the Bears had to sweep to even think about winning the Big 12 title.
After starting conference play with a 3-6 record, the Bears have at least put themselves in position for a strong finish. With a 6-6 record, they can’t afford any more stumbles in the last five Big 12 series.
After facing Kansas State on the road next week, the Bears will play three straight crucial series against the cream of the league — Texas A&M, Nebraska and Texas. It would be nice for the Bears to build a little cushion before ending the regular season at Texas Tech which is always a tough place to play.
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BU offense starting to deliver
The Bears knew their hitting woes couldn’t last forever. They’ve got too much talent up and down their lineup.
After coming into the Kansas series hitting .207 in Big 12 play, the Bears have collected 25 hits in the first two games. In Saturday’s 12-6 win, the Bears finished with 14 hits while Shaver Hansen and Gregg Glime had three RBIs apiece.
The Bears got great production from the bottom of their order as Raynor Campbell, Ben Booker, Landis Ware and Glime went a combined 9-for-15 with five RBIs.
The Bears can finish off a three-game sweep with a win at 1 p.m. today.
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Volz domination much needed
To be successful in the Big 12, winning on Friday nights is a must.
In the last two series, Baylor ace Kendal Volz didn’t get out of the fifth inning. Last weekend against Oklahoma, Volz allowed nine hits and nine runs in 2 1/3 innings.
But Volz regained his form against Kansas as he struck out a season-high 12 batters. After dominating the Jayhawks for seven innings, he gave up a two-run homer to Ryne Price with two outs in the eighth. But the performance was still a good sign for Volz and the Bears.
The Bears rallied in the ninth to pull out a 4-3 win. Now 4-6 in the Big 12, the Bears need to sweep the next two games to even their Big 12 record.
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Mistakes too much to overcome
This was too even a matchup for Baylor not to bring its ‘A’ game. Even in the first half, when the Lady Bears led by as many as six and took a two-point lead on Pitt into the break, I didn’t think they were playing all that well.
But the difference in the game were critical mistakes. With the chance to extend the lead late in the first half, Baylor turned it over twice and let the Panthers score four unanswered points in a run that stretched to 10-0 in the first three minutes of the second half.
And then late in the game, when Baylor had all the momentum and Pitt’s starting center on the bench, the Lady Bears didn’t take advantage of a huge size advantage and just pound it inside with 6-3 posts Danielle Wilson and Jessika Bradley and 6-1 Rachel Allison. Instead, they settled for 3-pointers, trying to get it back in bunches rather than take what Pitt was giving them.
Another critical, momentum-changing mistake was Bradley’s three-shot foul on Shavonte Zellous right after the Lady Bears had closed to within two, 53-51. “That was a huge, critical moment in the game to make that kind of call with one second on the shot clock,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “I didn’t see the girl fall. I didn’t see anything.” But apparently, the referee did. Whether it was a foul or not, I think it was a mistake for Bradley to be close enough for the ref to make that call. I thought she actually fouled her after the shot, but they’re always going to call that a shooting foul.
When Pitt’s Marcedes Walker fouled out at the 5:28 mark, I really thought it was Baylor’s game to win. Instead, it was the Lady Bears’ game to lose, 67-59. While the Panthers were making plays down the stretch, Baylor was making too many mistakes to overcome.
I have to tip my hat to a team that won 25 games and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with only a seven-player rotation. And it’s good to know that all but one player is coming back. But instead of packing up the equipment for the year, this is a team that should have been packing its bags for the Spokane Regional.
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Lady Bears have edge at 3 spots
Here’s the humble opinions of one observer, looking at today’s head-to-head matchups:
Center: Baylor coach Kim Mulkey compared Pitt senior center Marcedes Walker to Oklahoma all-American Courtney Paris. I really don’t believe she’s in that elite category, but she’s a huge presence in the paint and averages 13.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. She got winded on Saturday despite playing just 26 minutes, so look for Baylor to make her run up and down the court. Baylor sophomore Danielle Wilson doesn’t have to win this battle, she just can’t be dominated. Edge: Pitt
Forward: With Fresno focused on boxing her out, Rachel Allison only got four rebounds in the Lady Bears’ 88-67, opening-round win. But no one on the floor works any harder, and she’s become a much better offensive threat. Starter Xenia Stewart and freshman backup Chelsea Cole will have a hard time keeping her off the glass and defending everywhere from the 3-point arc and in. Edge: Baylor
Forward/guard: Baylor’s media guide lists 6-0 junior Jessica Morrow as a forward, but I still look at her as a third guard. Morrow certainly has the ability to go off, as she did in last year’s postseason run, when she had 25 in a Big 12 Tournament game against Oklahoma and 13 in both NCAA games. The key for her is not to go to sleep on defense and don’t feel like you have to carry the team. Sophronia Sallard hit her first six shots and scored 15 in Pitt’s win over Wyoming, but it was just her second double-digit outing of the year.
Guard: Walker gets all the pub, but Pitt’s best player is 5-11 junior guard Shavonte Zellous, who’s averaging 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Morrow will probably draw this defensive assignment, and it won’t be easy. But for the sake of this matchup, I’ve got Kelli Griffin against Zellous. And it’s not close. Edge: Pitt
Guard: Mallorie Winn is a solid point guard and playmaker for the Panthers, but Baylor senior Angela Tisdale might be the best player at this eight-team site. She could struggle with her shot against Pitt’s taller, longer perimeter players, but I believe Tisdale’s going to be able to drive, penetrate and either dish or get fouled. Edge: Baylor
Overall, I think Baylor’s going to be able to score in transition and try to run the Panthers to death. The one troubling thing for Baylor is if the officials call this physical battle too tight. The Lady Bears obviously don’t have the depth to handle too much foul trouble.
Prediction: I’ve got Baylor picked in a tight game that will likely go down to the wire, 68-64.
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I missed the boat on Big 12
Sometimes, information is a bad thing. When I filled out my women’s bracket and made my picks, I went against Nebraska and Oklahoma because they were struggling late and picked against Kansas State because of the injury to Kimberly Dietz.
That’s what I get for thinking. The Big 12 went a perfect 8-0 in the first round, which is the first time in the history of the tournament. Since Texas and Nebraska are playing top seeds UConn and Maryland, respectively, I’m guessing the conference won’t remain undefeated through the next two days. But that doesn’t take away from what the league did in the first two days of the tournament. Thanks, Big 12, you killed my bracket.
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My church away from home
For the second time in four years, I found myself away from my home church for Easter.
It’s funny, because there’s a term called “Holiday Christians,” that refers to people that only seem to show up at church on Christmas and Easter. And on a day when people around the world were flocking to churches, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, here I was stuck in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
But just like three years ago, when I was in Tempe, Ariz., for an NCAA regional, Baylor came through with a special Easter service for the team, support staff and others associated with the Lady Bear program. And both times I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited.
Then-president Dr. Robert Sloan led the devotional in Tempe three years ago. And, of course, as a pastor by trade, he did an amazing job.
But I have to say that I was equally, if not more, impressed with today’s service at the team hotel. Providing the devotionals were women’s basketball trainer Alex Olson and former Lady Bear favorite Jessika Stratton.
Stratton (now Caldwell), the head coach at Division II University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, talked about leadership and the example that Jesus gives us to follow. And the former Baylor guard challenged the current players to use the platform they have as part of one of the top basketball programs in the country.
Alex, though, had the best line of the day: “I’m not a preacher, but I did stay at a Hyatt Regency last night.” And he also delivered a wonderful message about how God gives us a chance to turn air balls into slam dunks. Nice timing.
It’s good to know that even when I’m away from my home church for Easter, I have a place to go and worship. As a public-school student from kindergarten through college graduation, it always amazes me how Baylor has the freedom to do things like this.
In addition to the Good News, I heard some great news this morning when women’s basketball SID Julie Bennett told me the tipoff time for Monday’s game against Pitt had been moved from 9:30 p.m. CDT back to 6. What an awesome Easter gift! This truly was a good day.
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Game time changed to 6 p.m.
Because of a scheduling conflict that would have resulted in Baylor, Texas A&M and UTEP all playing at the same time, Baylor’s second-round game on Monday against Pittsburgh has been moved from 9:30 p.m. CDT (or 30 minutes after the end of the West Virginia-Vanderbilt game) to 6 p.m.
If the schedule had remained the same, the Baylor-Pitt game would have been shown on ESPN2 in just the Waco market. Everywhere else would have had Texas A&M-Hartford or Stanford-UTEP. So this way, the Baylor-Pitt game should get a much wider coverage, at least in Texas.
Besides, it’s a much better tipoff time for a certain deadline-challenged sportswriter that I know.
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This team looks Sweet (16)
Not to get ahead of myself, but Baylor definitely had a Sweet 16 look in Saturday’s 88-67 first-round victory over Fresno State at The Pit.
And I will say this, even though the Lady Bears dominated the game, I thought Fresno State was better than a 14 seed. Senior guard Tierre Wilson had some highlight-reel plays that could have easily made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day. She was a little bit cocky, but she’s the best one-on-one guard I’ve seen this year other than maybe Oklahoma State’s Andrea Riley.
What I saw from Baylor, though, was a team that I haven’t seen in more than a month. Overall, when you factor in offense and defense, this was the Lady Bears’ best game since a 20-point blowout of Oklahoma on Feb. 17.
When the posts were struggling to finish early, senior guard Angela Tisdale carried the team with her outside shooting and drives to the basket. But in the second half, they had everything working. If it wasn’t Rachel Allison or Danielle Wilson powering it up, freshman guard Melissa Jones was getting a putback off another offensive rebound or Jessica Morrow was stroking it from outside.
Not that it was a perfect game. They still turned it over too much (13 times), made just 3-of-11 from beyond the arc and gave up 21 offensive rebounds. But the Lady Bears were a near-perfect 21-of-25 from the line, scored 29 second-chance points and 44 in the paint.
I was particularly impressed with Jones. A freshman playing in her first tournament game, she had her first double-double with career highs for points (14) and rebounds (14). And for good measure, she added three steals, two assists and two blocks — matching her career highs for all those categories. As Allison said, “She didn’t play like a freshman at all.”
When Baylor can get production from all five spots on the floor and play defense the way the Lady Bears did on Saturday, I really believe they can play with anybody. Including Stanford and even Maryland. But a tougher test will come Monday night against a very physical Pittsburgh team from the Big East.
Game time is still up in the air. But with fourth-seeded Vandy pounding Montana, 45-22, at halftime of the late game, I’m going to go way out on the limb and predict that the Lady Bears will tip off at 9:30 p.m. CDT Monday. With no teams from the West left, the schedule will likely be Vandy vs. West Virginia at 7 p.m., followed by Baylor and Pitt at approximately 9:30.
Yikes! I’ve got a 6 a.m. flight out on Tuesday, I just hope I’m done writing by then.
Latest comments
I used to enjoy reading some of the comments in the blog. But for the last month or so the majority of the posts have been sad to read. It ought to be an embarrassment to both the bloggers and the Trib. Here’s hoping it becomes of interest again with
... read the full comment by Jay | Comment on Bears need repeat of 2007 Read Bears need repeat of 2007
Fred,
I’ve been worried sick about you. Finally you show back on the blogs.
Not much going around here anyway, except for the Lilly vs. Profs at BU.
The last Bear Blog was Sunday May 4th. I think bigpapabear grrr finally
... read the full comment by Little Scruffy Bear | Comment on Bears need repeat of 2007 Read Bears need repeat of 2007
Carton Dotson shot and killed Patrick Dennehy in the summer of 2003. Yes, It was very bad. Google “Patrick Dennehy” for details including his official bio from Baylor.
... read the full comment by mikey | Comment on Volz deserves better Read Volz deserves better
So when did a Baylor Basketball player murder a Baylor Basketball player? If that happened, it would be really be bad.
... read the full comment by Brazosdog | Comment on Volz deserves better Read Volz deserves better