With a year under his belt, head coach Mitch Thompson enters year two with a new motto: “To be the best, you have to beat the best.” And the Bears will get a chance to do just that as the first month of their season features the most difficult schedule in Division I, based on last year’s win percentage and RPI.

Baseball is a game of streaks — losing streaks and hitting streaks, slumps on the mound or at the plate, maybe even an unusually high number of consecutive wins. Baylor baseball has learned a thing or two about that when looking back on the 2012 season and a craze that stormed through Waco: “Feed the beaver.”

Baylor baseball was plagued with question marks heading into the 2023, but the infield appears to have answered the call.

“Part of that’s [being] a young team, part of that’s [being] a new team,” Posey said. “But we’re really coming together, getting to know one another, trusting the coaches, and trusting each other. We’re really starting to believe that we can go out there, compete and be successful.”

“I used to play baseball [because] I love it,” Will said. “I still love it, but it’s almost to the point now where I don’t want to hang it up because so many people have invested so much time, energy and effort into getting me back on the field. I kind of feel like if I didn’t go out and keep playing, I’d let them down. That’s my big reason why I play, to make everybody’s time and effort worth it.”