By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
Coming into 2026, Baylor boasted a 4-1 record over Tarleton State. The Bears never had much issue taking care of the Texans.
Tarleton State flipped the script against Baylor in 2026.
After dropping the first meeting of this season in Stephenville, the Bears (16-12, 5-4 Big 12) fell to the Texans (20-8, 8-1 WAC) again on Tuesday night, 5-1, to finish the season series winless.
“They’re winning a lot of games,” head coach Mitch Thompson said. “It’s a good club and a well-coached team, and they’ve got good arms.”
Redshirt junior infielder Travis Sanders led off the game by belting a 436-foot home run over the left-field wall to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.
Tarleton State did not wait long to punch right back. Back-to-back walks and a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the second. Infielder Cage McCloud launched a towering shot over the batter’s eye to help the Texans jump ahead 3-1.
“They swung the bats better,” Thompson said. “On an offensive night where you’d hope to score some runs, we just didn’t get much going offensively.”
They tacked on another run with a solo shot from catcher Brady Englett in the top of the fifth.
Baylor’s bats remained quiet after Sanders’ leadoff bomb. The Bears did not send a runner into scoring position in six of the next eight frames. Their only threats came from a one-out triple from freshman outfielder Brady Janusek in the fourth and by loading the bases in the fifth. Baylor stranded all four runners, including on a Sanders double play with the bases loaded.
“Our guys are out there trying and competing, but their guys made the pitch,” Thompson said. “We needed to get a ball in play, and we weren’t able to get the ball in play.”
The Texans sent down the final 13 Baylor batters of the night.
“Their left-handers gave us fits for about six innings, which is frustrating,” Thompson said. “It’s disappointing, but we’ll bounce back.”
Tarleton State continued to add to its lead in the seventh. A leadoff double and a single put runners on the corners with no outs. Rayner Heinrich drove in the lead runner with a 6-4-3 double play to make it 5-1.
The Bears utilized eight pitchers on Tuesday night, tied for the season-high with their 16-7 victory over Incarnate Word last Tuesday. Freshman right-hander Caldwell McFaddin finished as the only Baylor pitcher to go over one inning, giving up one run across two frames.
The Bears will return to action for a weekend series against BYU (13-14, 4-5 Big 12) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Baylor Ballpark. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.
