Dylan Fink | Sports Writer
The Bears are headed back to the diamond this weekend as the Baylor Fall Tournament returns to Waco.
Following an eighth-place finish in the Big 12 in 2024, the team opens the year with a more relaxed tournament field this weekend, consisting of all junior college teams.
“It gives them an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of a four-year school like us,” head coach Glenn Moore said at the Baylor Coaches Show Wednesday. “It’s very relaxed, it’s fun. You get a lot of work in and it’s something different than inner-squadding and playing against yourself.”
The Bears will be joined by McLennan Community College, Southwest Mississippi Community College, University of Arkansas Rich Mountain and Temple College.
Baylor kicked off its fall play against McLennan Monday in a 10-inning exhibition.
“They have one of the top junior college teams in the country, so it was a really good opportunity,” Moore said. “I thought we looked pretty good for only having four to five pitch practices so far.”
This weekend, the Bears are more concerned with development than beating their junior college opponents.
“You can sit around and watch some good softball,” Moore said. “The weather has turned; it’s a little cooler, so it should be a good weekend.”
The Bears begin the weekend with a double-header Friday, beginning at 3 p.m. against Southwest Mississippi and followed by a 5:30 p.m. matchup against McLennan.
Saturday sees another double header for the Bears. They’ll play Arkansas Rich Mountain at 12:30 p.m. and Temple at 3 p.m. Baylor will close out its weekend with another game against Arkansas Rich Mountain at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
“It’s all just a great opportunity to see where our team is at,” Moore said. “We’ll have a couple things we need to work out.”
The Bears are coming into the tournament weekend with a focus on finding depth on the mound.
“We’ve never had too much pitching that I can remember,” Moore said.
The team has five pitchers listed on the roster, with graduate student Kaci West being the only one with more than one year of experience with the team.
“The key, really, is to have all of pitching healthy,” Moore said. “We have five arms, and most of them are fairly young. We’re just trying to groom a couple of these kids that we didn’t have for the fall last year … we’re hoping this more time in the fall will help us develop.”
Moore is looking to the weekend tournament as an opportunity to prove his hopes for a better season for the Bears. Three new transfers, as well as seven incoming freshmen, make up a young team for Moore to work with this weekend.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ll grow through the season a bit,” Moore said. “What I like the most about this group is we have competitors, and this weekend we’ll get to show that.”
Baylor has three weeks left in its five-week fall practice schedule. In the remaining weeks, the Bears will face off against Tarleton State and Texas A&M in 10-inning exhibitions. The fall season will close with the Green & Gold World Series, the Bears’ charity intrasquad tournament.
