Browsing: Enzo Apodaca

After dropping the Friday and Saturday affairs of the first two Big 12 series against Kansas and Kansas State, Baylor salvaged both, scoring a combined 28 runs on Sunday’s series finale. In comparison, the Bears have been outscored 45-14 in the first two games of conference series’.

When junior outfielder Caleb Bergman stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning as a pinch hitter, the last thing on his mind was leaving the yard. But as fate would have it, on a full count pitch Bergman put a charge into a 376-foot solo home run — his first longball in a real game in four years.

On the first pitch of the top of the seventh inning, Baylor baseball freshman third baseman Pearson Riebock smashed a fly ball to right-center field. Primed to trot around the bases for the first time in his career, No. 8 Oregon State junior right fielder Easton Talt had other plans.

On Feb. 23, 2024, just five games into the Baylor baseball season, senior left fielder Hunter Simmons crashed into the wall and suffered a season-ending injury, leaving a group of three transfer outfielders to lead the team. Enzo Apodaca, Ty Johnson and Wesley Jordan did not just meet expectations but excelled and are ready for one last run together.

Baylor baseball is no stranger to success, and assistant coach Zach Dillon has been in the middle of it from both sides. Dillon was the starting designated hitter during the 2005 College World Series and acted as an assistant coach when the “Feed the Beaver” craze in 2012 propelled the squad to a Big 12 championship.

With a brand new season comes a brand new style of fall ball for Thompson’s Bears. The green and gold will have three free and open-to-the-public scrimmages each week during the fall to showcase the team’s talent as each athlete competes for a starting position.

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.

“My coaches tell me that my walk-up song is ‘I want it all and I want it now,’” head coach Mitch Thompson quipped. “That’s just the way it is, and that’s probably true. I’m a really impatient guy, and I do want it all, and I want it now, so give it to me now and let’s do it.”