Baylor earned a dramatic 5-4 walk-off win over Pepperdine on Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark. The win improves Baylor’s record to 3-5.

The game was scoreless through three innings with Baylor starting freshman left-handed pitcher Sterling Wynn. Then the Pepperdine offense gained momentum in the top of the fourth inning.

Pepperdine sparked the four-run inning with power hitting and speed around the bases. Baylor head coach Steve Smith was forced to go to the mound for a pitching change. Senior left-hander Max Garner walked the first batter he faced, and Pepperdine added another run to take a 4-0 lead.

Energy levels were high as the Baylor Acrobatics and Tumbling team won its first meet of the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association season against Azusa Pacific.

The first half of the meet featured three events, each with multiple heats.

The three events were compulsories, acro heat and pyramid heat. There were 10 total heats from all three events combined.

The Baylor men’s and women’s cross-country teams persevere not only through distance running but long hours of academic work as well.

On Monday, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced that both teams had received All-Academic honors.

Junior Ben Allen said he loves when cross-country gets awards because few of the team’s athletes go professional.

The Baylor Bears men’s basketball team makes its first conference road trip to Morgantown, W. Va., to take on the Mountaineers tonight. This 7 p.m. showdown will most likely help determine seeding for the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City.

The Bears (16-9, 7-7) lead West Virginia by only one game in the Big 12 standings. The Mountaineers are 13-14 overall and 6-8 in the conference. The Bears have lost six of their last eight games and are 3-6 on the road in conference games.

In Baylor’s last contest, Oklahoma defeated the Bears 90-76. With just four games remaining in the Big 12 schedule, the Bears must salvage the season and gain some momentum heading into the postseason.

Regal Entertainment Group, the nation’s largest theater chain, has purchased Waco’s Hollywood Jewel 16 and 42 other Hollywood Theaters across the country for $191 million.

Hollywood Jewel 16 is located at 7200 Woodway Drive.

Regal Entertainment, based out of Knoxville, Tenn., operates 6,880 screens across 38 states.

The study of Robert E. Browning, English poet and playwright, just got a little more contemporary.

Melinda Creech, a graduate assistant at the Armstrong Browning Library, has uncovered a connection in the library’s online digital archives between Browning and Highclere Castle, the set of the hit PBS show “Downton Abbey” — a British period drama which focuses on the fictional, aristocratic Crawley family in the early 20th century.

Before the start of the third season of Downton Abbey on Jan. 6, PBS aired a historical piece on the show, called “Secrets of Highclere Castle.” Creech, like many “Downton Abbey” fans, watched the piece to learn about the real history behind the show.

When is 13 a lucky number? When it’s the number of years it’s taken for the music industry to post its first yearly increase in global recorded music sales, which is what happened in 2012, according to new figures from the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry.

The group’s annual Digital Music Report, issued Tuesday in London, noted that overall music sales rose from $16.2 billion to $16.5 billion, or 0.3 percent, from 2011 to 2012, the first time in 13 years that worldwide sales didn’t decline.

1. Do you think those who have concealed carry licenses should be allowed to bring a concealed weapon on Baylor’s campus?

Yes: A person that has completed the required training and earned their Texas CHL has proven that he/she is a trusted and law-abiding citizen that has made a conscious decision not to be a victim and to potentially defend the defenseless.
Yes: Those who want to do harm will do harm regardless of a concealed handgun license. This would allow staff and students to protect themselves against this type of violence.

Online Survey Results
The survey closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Ninety-two people responded from across the community. Below are the results and some answers from our readers.

To see more answers submitted by readers, check www.baylorlariat.com under the Opinions tab. Tweet @bulariat to submit your own opinion. Tweets will be chosen at the editor’s discretion.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

This famous quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” actually belongs to minor character Marcellus, but this small line from a small character has come to resonate with all people seeking change in their governance.

Things aren’t as bad here as they were in Hamlet’s Denmark— but the issue of the new student regent doesn’t pass the smell test.

Construction workers will temporarily close Interstate 35 just south of Bruceville-Eddy on Tuesday night to demolish the Old Blevins Road overpass, the Texas Department of Transportation reported.

All I-35 main lanes will close at Exit 314 from 7 p.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Wednesday while workers destroy the bridge, forcing drivers to use frontage roads through the area. Workers closed the bridge Monday ahead of the work, TxDOT spokesman Ken Roberts said.

Baylor has added a home game against Wofford College to its 2013 football schedule after its game at SMU was canceled last week.

The Bears will open the season Aug. 31 against Wofford, a Football Championship Subdivision school from Spartanburg, S.C. The Terriers, a member of the Southern Conference, finished 9-4 last season.

he Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran and former Republican senator from Nebraska, as the 24th secretary of defense after a brutal confirmation process that saw members of his own party question his capacity to lead the Pentagon.

Just hours after a vote to end the first-ever filibuster of a defense nominee, Hagel was approved 58-41, by far the narrowest margin for a successful appointment going back to the Carter administration. Hagel could get to work at the Pentagon as soon as Wednesday.

The Hot Seat series brought together Wacoans and Texas officials to discuss the 83rd legislative session last Saturday.

The forum let any topic be brought to the table, but much of the discussion with state officials revolved around the heated topic of education.

The series was presented by the Texas Tribune and hosted in the Stone Room of the Ferrell Center.

The talk of concealed carry on college campuses has sparked a debate among Baylor professors.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell submitted Senate Bill 182 on Jan. 17, which would allow concealed carry on college campuses. Private universities will have the option to opt out.

Dr. Earl Grinols, Distinguished Professor of Economics at Baylor, said he agrees with the bill Birdwell proposed.

Students have engaged in a verbal gunfight that has resulted from the proposal of The Campus Personal Protection Act, introduced by Texas State Sen. Brian Birdwell in early January.

The bill has already resulted in a petition by Baylor professors. Now, students are going vocal.

“I think everyone should have the right to carry a concealed handgun anywhere they want,” Brownsville senior Ruben Pizana said. “But there are restrictions for a reason. I think the concealed carry process should be at least five times harder.”

The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears defeated Oklahoma 86-64 Monday, extending the nation’s largest winning streak to 25 games. Baylor finished the game with six players in double digits as it found its rhythm in the second half and began widening the gap.

Senior center Brittney Griner’s impact on the team was cemented in this game as Baylor struggled when Griner was on the bench due to foul trouble. She recorded another double-double with 15 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks and five assists. Griner also moved up to the fourth highest scorer in NCAA history with 3,045 career points.

Baylor’s 90-76 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday puts the team in a tough situation. The loss brings the Bears’ record to 16-11 overall and 7-7 in the Big 12 Conference. This places the team at No. 6 in the Big 12.

Losing to the Sooners decreased the Bears’ chances of being selected for the NCAA Tournament.

With just a .500 record in conference, Baylor has a daunting challenge ahead for the remainder of the season if they want to pull off a coveted NCAA Tournament bid.

Oscar Pistorius on Monday informed South African authorities that he wants to resume athletic training while on bail for the murder case against him, a government official said.

A spokeswoman for the Olympic runner, however, denied that he was making immediate plans to return to the track while awaiting trial for the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

“Absolutely not,” spokeswoman Janine Hills said. “He is currently in mourning and his focus is not on his sports.”

All-University Sing audiences were surprised when judges announced a tie for first place.

During Saturday’s Sing finale, both Kappa Sigma and Kappa Omega Tau won first place.

Woodway senior Stephen Harrison, Sing chair for Kappa Sigma, said he was practically shaking while pumping a trophy in the air.

Tonight Baylor Jazz Ensemble concert will include everything from Count Basie to Radiohead.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building and is free and open to the public.

“This is a concert where there will be literally something for almost everybody,” said Alex Parker, senior lecturer and director of jazz studies.

I had the pleasure of seeing the last performance of McLennan Community College Theater’s production of “Hairspray” on Sunday afternoon in the Ball Performing Arts Center on the MCC campus.

The play was directed by MCC theater director and choreographer Jerry MacLauchlin.

It is no secret that this play is probably one of the most well known since Adam Shankman remade the film, which came out in 2007. “Hairspray,” set in 1962 Baltimore, Md., is about a plump girl (Tracy Turnblad) who makes it on to a local dance show and becomes an instant celebrity. She soon makes it her mission to integrate the show and win the show’s pageant contest. The musical is a social commentary on race relations during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

For one night, it’s students versus students versus faculty in an outright, full-scale pursuit — of trivia.

The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core will host the Third Annual BIC Bowl at 6 p.m. Thursday in 100 Morrison Hall.

The BIC Bowl is a trivia tournament with questions ranging from topics on pop culture to world culture.

BP put profits ahead of safety and bears most of the blame for the disastrous 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a U.S. Justice Department attorney charged Monday at the opening of a trial that could result in the oil company and its partners being forced to pay tens of billions of dollars more in damages.

The London-based oil giant acknowledged it made “errors in judgment” before the deadly blowout, but it also cast blame on the owner of the drilling rig and the contractor involved in cementing the well. It denied it was grossly negligent, as the government contended.

Italy faced political paralysis Monday as near-complete results in crucial national elections showed no clear winner and raised the possibility of a hung parliament.

The uncertainty bodes ill for the nation’s efforts to pass the tough reforms it needs to snuff out its economic crisis and prevent a new round of global financial turmoil.

The chaotic election scenes in the eurozone’s third-biggest economy quickly snaked around globe — sending the Dow Jones index plunging more than 200 points in its sharpest drop since November and causing Tokyo’s red-hot benchmark index to sink nearly 2 percent at open.

A concealed carry bill has caused controversy and spurred reactions from Baylor and others in the community.

Senate Bill 182, proposed on Jan. 17, would allow students who have a concealed handgun license to carry concealed weapons on campus.

“My number one responsibility is to protect your right, even if you disagree or don’t express the opportunity to use it,” said State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Waco.

Locations you may carry:

On the person’s own premises
Inside a person’s motor vehicle or watercraft
Any other place that is not specifically stated against in the Texas Concealed Handgun Law pamphlet.