By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
Baylor Baseball is zeroing in on opening day, and the team is looking to have a comeback season after finishing eighth out of nine teams in the Big 12 last year.
Head coach Mitch Thompson is entering his first year as Baylor’s skipper and has been fine-tuning his roster and getting the team ready for its first series. Thompson said he’s confident that the squad’s pitching ability will be the strong suit of the team.
“They’ve done a nice job so far,” Thompson said. “In the fall, they were throwing strikes and competing and getting the ball in the zone. And if you can do that and play defense behind them, you’re going to be in ballgames. And that’s been the key. I think the experience on our club is on the pitching staff.”
The Bears retained several pitchers that saw lots of action in 2022, including junior right-handed pitcher Cole Stasio, senior right-handed pitcher Blake Helton and sophomore right-handed pitcher Mason Marriott. With the group having some experience, Thompson and the Bears will look to have depth in order to match up with the rest of the conference.
“We’re definitely really deep as a pitching staff,” Stasio said. “We have guys that, no matter who gets thrown on the mound, they’re just going to fully compete and just really show out.”
In addition to the returning talent, Thompson was able to recruit several junior college transfers in addition to his freshmen class.
“We’re going to have several freshmen out there starting, no question in my mind. And we’ll have some young sophomores with very little experience that are transfer type guys or guys that are working their way into a lineup for the first time. So, there’s a lot of inexperience and we’re going to have to grow them up fast,” Thompson said.
Even though many of the recruits will be filling holes in the field, there are still several pitchers who are new to Baylor that might themselves in big game situations.
“[Freshman] Andrew Petrowski and [freshman] Jared Matheson are two incoming junior college guys that we’re expecting good things from,” Thompson said. “Blake Rogers as a freshman has shown well. We have another freshman, Danny Valadez, who was really kind of injured all fall but is now healthy. So, we’re anxious to see him. I think [they] have all shown that they’re going to be in the mix and [be] able to help us get outs and compete in innings.”
Petrowski played against Thompson last year when Thompson was the head coach at McLennan Community College. Meanwhile, Matheson was selected for First Team All-Conference as a relief pitcher last year while playing under Thompson at MCC. Thompson was impressed enough to get Petrowski to transfer to Baylor and he may have a large role in the Bears’ pitching being successful.
Matheson will also insert himself in the bullpen in some way after his strong JUCO season last year. Both Petrowski and Matheson lean on high velocity fastballs that can hit 98 mph. While it’s still unknown who will be in the starting rotation consistently or who will come out of the pen, Thompson has high expectations for the transfers.
“Not everybody’s had great careers up to this point, but I think guys are improving, guys are working hard,” Thompson said. “I think they like the culture, they love each other, so it’s going to be fun to watch them compete this year.”
The Bears open their season against Eastern Michigan University for a weekend series, starting at 3 p.m. on Friday at Baylor Ballpark.
