Author: Nathan Keil

By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor The Baylor track and field team finished its season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore over the weekend. Junior Wil London, who qualified for the 400-meter final with a 44.98 to grab the final at-large spot Thursday, finished in eighth place with a time of 46. 20 seconds. Head coach Todd Harbour said that London battled the best he could especially considering the conditions of the track and weather elements that were additional factors he had to deal with. “It was a tough race out of lane one.…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor It took until day three, but two Baylor baseball stars heard their names called in the 2018 MLB draft. Senior closer Troy Montemayor was selected in the 25th round with the 753rd overall pick by the St. Louis Cardinals and sophomore third baseman Davis Wendzel was later selected in the 37th round with the 1,120th overall selection. Montemayor has been the stopper at the back of the Baylor bullpen for the last three years. In 2016, the San Antonio native appeared in 24 games and posted a 1-1 record with a 0.78 ERA with…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor baseball scored seven runs over the final two innings, taking advantage of five miscues by the Raiders and some friendly infield bounces as the Bears staved off elimination with an 11-5 win over Wright State. The Bears got four runs on seven hits off Wright State redshirt senior closer Derek Hendrixson (2-3) while inducing a pair of Raider errors in the frame to gain control over the Stanford regional’s No. 4 seed. After watching a 4-1 lead turn into a 4-4 tie heading into the eighth, Baylor sophomore catcher Shea Langeliers led the…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor In a battle of conference pitchers of the year, Cal-State Fullerton junior Colton Eastman got the best of Baylor sophomore Cody Bradford. Eastman (10-3) allowed two runs, but just one earned on four hits in seven innings while walking one and striking out eight. Bradford (7-6) allowed three runs on eight hits, did not allow a walk, but only struck out one in six innings. But it was Cal-State Fullerton that came up clutch at the plate, scoring all six runs with two outs as the Titans knocked off Baylor 6-2 to advance to…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor A few years ago, while growing up in San Clemente, Calif., just a 50-minute drive south of Cal-State Fullerton, Baylor sophomore third baseman Davis Wendzel had the Titans on his list of teams he wanted to play for. And now, Wendzel and the rest of the Bears will square off with the Titans in the Stanford Calif. regional in their NCAA Tournament opener on Friday. “Cal-State Fullerton was on my list for a long time. I ended up just wanted to get out of California and coming to Texas. Yea a lot of those…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor men’s golf had its season come to an end over the weekend after finishing 30th in the NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. The Bears finished 46 over par, shooting a 297, 298 and a final round of 315. Baylor head coach Mike McGraw said that despite the disappointing finish, his team accomplished a great deal this season. “Not the finish we wanted, but nonetheless a year to be proud of. The guys did a lot of good things this year, had a high ranking for most of the…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Less than 24 hours after its thrilling 11-inning 6-5 victory over TCU to claim its first ever Big 12 Tournament championship, Baylor baseball learned its postseason path to Omaha, Neb. is long and difficult. Baylor (36-19) earned the No. 2 seed in the Stanford regional, where it will meet the Cal-State Fullerton Titans (32-23), champions of the Big West Conference, who are making their 27th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez said that at this point in the season, the seeding holds no real relevance because every team in…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor It didn’t take long for Baylor men’s tennis to find its new head coach. Less than two weeks after 22-year Baylor veteran head coach Matt Knoll announced his resignation, the university announced his replacement—Brian Boland. The announcement came by Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mack Rhoades late Thursday evening. “Brian Boland is a four-time national champion and one of the most respected coaches in tennis. We are absolutely thrilled he is joining the Baylor family,” Rhoades said in a statement. “Brian is a man of tremendous integrity who shares our common values…

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For the first time since 2010, Baylor baseball is going to play for a Big 12 Tournament championship. After enjoying a day off, the Bears scored the final seven runs of the game to break a 3-3 tie and eliminate Oklahoma with a 10-3 win to advance to Sunday’s championship game. Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez said he wants his team to go through and understand all of the emotions that come with going to a title game because they will experience similar emotions next week in the NCAA Tournament. “I want these guys to get these feelings and to…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor baseball continued its hot play Tuesday morning in the opening game of the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Bears got a dominating performance from Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, sophomore lefty Cody Bradford. Bradford, who missed his scheduled start against the Sooners back in March due to a hip flexor injury, made the most of his outing against fourth-seeded Oklahoma. Bradford (7-5) struck out a career-high 11 batters in 7 2/3 innings of work. Bradford allowed just four hits and two walks.…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor After playing some of its best softball of the season on Saturday, twice staving off elimination from the NCAA Tournament, Baylor hoped to keep riding the momentum from junior Gia Rodoni’s third career postseason no-hitter Sunday afternoon. However, Mother Nature had other plans. With rain and severe storms rolling through Central Texas and making their way through to College Station, the original first pitch time of 1:30 p.m. was pushed a full six hours, forcing both teams to return to their hotels and regroup later. When the two teams returned, Baylor would find its…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Once again with its season on the line, Baylor softball turned to junior Gia Rodoni to lead the Lady Bears on. Needing to survive McNeese State in order to earn a berth in Sunday’s regional final with Texas A&M, Rodoni summoned her postseason magic, tossing her second no-hitter of the season and third career NCAA Tournament no-hitter in a 6-0 win. Baylor head coach Glenn Moore said that Rodoni has more than earned her dominant postseason reputation. “That’s why I call her ‘postseason Gia.’ It is hard to throw a no-hitter anytime this season…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor softball bounced back to stave off elimination and keep its season alive Saturday afternoon at Davis Diamond in College Station. The Lady Bears scored in each of the first four innings and rode a solid performance from junior Regan Green in the circle, in eliminating Prairie View A&M with a 9-0 victory in five innings. Green, after not making it out of the first inning yesterday against McNeese State, was much sharper, scattering five hits over five innings, while not allowing a walk and striking out four. Offensively, Baylor got going earlier as…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor After dropping the opener Friday night, Baylor took the final two games of its weekend series at West Virginia. The Bears (32-19, 13-11) have now won four straight conference series, five overall and 19 of their last 22 games after taking Friday’s contest 4-1 and Saturday’s finale 6-2. On Friday, it was sophomore Hayden Kettler (7-4) who got the win for Baylor. Kettler tossed five innings, allowing one run on six hits, two walks and three strikeouts. The only run off Kettler came in the fourth inning, as junior catcher Ivan Gonzalez delivered an…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor It was a tale of two games for Baylor softball as it opened NCAA Regional play Friday afternoon at Davis Diamond in College Station. There was the first three innings where McNeese State was the far superior team—building an 8-0 lead, compiling timely hitting and capitalizing off Baylor defensive miscues. Then there was the last four innings where Baylor cut an 8-0 deficit to 8-6 and then a 10-6 deficit to 10-9. But a miscue in the field by sophomore Maddison Kettler at shortstop allowed the Cowgirls to score their 11th run of the…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor baseball dropped the series opener to West Virginia Thursday night in Morgantown, W. Va. The Bears stranded nine men on base and committed a costly error in the seventh inning as the Mountaineers squeaked out a narrow 2-1 win. Sophomore lefty Cody Bradford (6-5), who had won his last two starts for Baylor, delivered a solid performance for the Bears. Bradford allowed just four hits and two runs, but just one earned with two talks and five strikeouts over seven innings. Senior Joe Heineman replaced him in the bottom half of the eighth…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor men’s golf punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships Wednesday afternoon. The Bears shot a one under par final round of 287 to finish with a seven under par 857 for the three-day tournament. Baylor head coach Mike McGraw said he was pleased that his team played well enough to not really have to sweat out their qualifying status. “This week sort of feels like PGA Tour school. It really only has two results, two outcomes, and we got the good one,” McGraw said. “We played well, and it wasn’t even close as…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor track and field competed in the Big 12 Outdoor Championship over the weekend, claiming six event titles in all. The women’s team finished third overall, posting a total of 169 points while the men finished eighth with 63 points. The women, as they have done all season, continued to show their strength in the sprint and relay events. Junior Taylor Bennett claimed the 200-meter title with a final time of 22.87 seconds. Bennett also took third in the 100-meter final with a time of 11.29 seconds. Her teammate, junior Kiana Horton posted a…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor With aspirations of hosting for a second straight year in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, Baylor softball walked away from Sunday night’s Selection Show disappointed. However, the Lady Bears are not too upset because they will not have to travel far, landing in the College Station regional hosted by the No. 15 national seed Texas A&M Aggies. Senior outfielder Jessie Scroggins said that the outcome pretty much matched up with the expectation coming into the Selection Show. “That’s exciting. I think a lot of people were anticipating that and a lot of…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor After 22 years, Baylor men’s tennis head coach Matt Knoll has resigned from the program. Knoll made the announcement on Sunday, just a day after the Bears’ season ended with a 4-1 loss to No. 5 Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament second round. Knoll said that he has treasured his time at Baylor, but is seeking a new adventure. “After 22 years leading the Baylor tennis program, I’ve decided to step down to pursue a new challenge,” Knoll said. “Working with world class student-athletes, coaches and administrators has been the joy of my…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor baseball split the final two games of its weekend series against No. 20 Oklahoma State. On Saturday, the Bears saw their nation best 13-game winning streak come to an end as the Cowboys tagged the Baylor pitching staff for 11 runs, including seven home runs in an 11-6 win. Baylor responded to capture the rubber match Sunday afternoon in the Bears’ final home game of the 2018 season. Baylor climbed above. 500 in Big 12 play for the first time since it took two of three against Texas Tech in its opening series,…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor women’s tennis saw its season come to an end Saturday evening against No. 12 UCLA in Los Angeles. The Lady Bears competed, but were unable to make much ground against the Bruins, falling 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament second round. Baylor head coach Joey Scrivano said that his team has shown great growth over the course of the season and despite the loss, is poised for a great future. “I am proud of this team and their effort all season. Today was disappointing, but they’ve shown great resilience this season and have improved…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports EditorBaylor softball may have won its first Big 12 Tournament championship if not for Oklahoma senior outfielder Nicole Pendley. Pendley hit a two-run double in the first, a three-run home run in the third and was responsible for driving in five of Oklahoma’s six runs, as the Sooners knocked off the Lady Bears 6-4 to win the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament. Oklahoma needed the offensive help from Pendley Sunday afternoon as Baylor was able to get to senior Paige Lowary, who entered the contest having only allowed eight earned runs in 70 innings…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor men’s tennis saw its season come to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon in College Station. The Bears fell behind early and were never able to recover, falling 4-1 to the fifth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. Texas A&M claimed the doubles point to open the match, taking victories on courts one and two. Baylor duo junior Johannes Schretter and freshman Akos Kotorman fell to Texas A&M duo of freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar and senior Jordi Arconada 6-3 on court one. The freshmen duo of Sven Lah and Roy…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor baseball continues to strengthen its postseason resume. The Bears pounded out 17 hits and 13 runs while snapping Big 12 leading Oklahoma State’s seven-game conference winning record in taking game one from the Cowboys 13-5 Friday night at Baylor Ballpark. With the win, Baylor extends its own conference winning streak to seven straight and 13 games overall. The Bears’ last loss came back on April 14 at Memphis. Sophomore lefty Cody Bradford (6-4) put together another solid performance on the bump for head coach Steve Rodriguez and the Bears. Bradford won his third…

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By Nathan Keil | Sports Editor Baylor softball split its pool play Friday at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Lady Bears opened with a superb performance, avenging their sweep earlier in the season with a 7-1 win over Oklahoma State. Baylor then faltered in its second game of the day, failing to hold on to a late lead in dropping a 6-5 game to Texas Tech. All three teams on Baylor’s side of the bracket finished pool play 1-1, but the Lady Bears won the tiebreaker as they allowed the fewest runs of the…

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