Test of Character: Out of postseason contention, Bears close out year against Knights (2024)

What is left to play for when the postseason is out of the question?

Pride. Character. The chance to play the game you love one final time.

Baylor baseball will close out the season with a three-game set against new Big 12 foe Central Florida, officially knocked out of the conference tournament after falling to outright conference champion Oklahoma this past weekend.

“It’s tough going into the last weekend with that on your mind,” said senior infielder Cole Posey, who will be among the players honored on Senior Day Saturday afternoon. “Of course, you’re playing for pride, and you always want to go out there and win, but also a lot of us kind of feel like we’re playing for something a little bit more than that.

“We want this series just as bad as anything. We want to kind of prove a point that just because it didn’t work out with the rankings and all that kind of stuff, we were still right in there until the very end. That’s kind of the chip on the shoulder we’re going into this weekend with.”

Tenth-place Texas Tech (30-22, 12-17) secured a spot in the Big 12 Tournament after finishing its league slate over the weekend. The Bears (21-29, 9-19) needed Oklahoma State to sweep the Red Raiders in order to still have a chance at securing the final spot in Arlington should they defeat the Knights, but the final game of the series between the Cowboys and Tech was canceled due to weather. According to the conference’s tiebreaker procedure, TTU’s .415 win percentage would still be higher than Baylor’s even with a win over UCF (31-17, 12-14).

The question could be asked of whether Tech and OSU should have played a double header on Saturday or not and it can’t be inferred that the Red Raiders would have won or lost the final game. Either way, Baylor heads into the final series on an 11-game Big 12 losing streak coming out of the sweep to Oklahoma. Bears head coach Mitch Thompson noted the green and gold had plenty of chances to win a few more games and take control of their own destiny.

“We’re going to play this weekend like it’s another weekend,” Thompson said. “For us, this is it. And we really have the option of either whimpering out of the season or coming in here and competing our tail off and playing through it and finishing strong.

“We have no gripe about not being in the tournament. We have to take ownership for the fact that we’ve won nine games — we needed to win more. And the only way we could possibly even have a gripe is if we played well this weekend and won all three. And if we do that, then okay, maybe you have a little gripe. But it won’t change the fact. But maybe it’ll give us a little chip.”

It will be a bittersweet series for the seniors on the team that have exhausted their eligibility. Posey will be joined by right-handed pitcher Jared Matheson, infielder Daniel Altman, left-hander Kobe Andrade, infielder Mason Greer, right-hander Grant Golomb, catcher Harrison Caley, outfielder Kade Fletcher and right-handed pitcher Gabe Craig in the senior ceremonies Saturday.

“I think it’s kind of surreal,” Matheson said of closing out his baseball career. “I haven’t taken all of it in yet. I think Saturday will definitely hit but it’ll be a fun one, to finish it here.”

While Baylor will be making the most of its final series, Central Florida is still battling for a postseason spot. The ninth-place Knights are hunting for a higher seed in Arlington and continue in the bubble discussion for an at-large bid, sitting at No. 41 in the RPI rankings.

UCF was ranked as high as 16th in the national polls in early April and took series wins over Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Houston. The Knights come to Waco after dropping two games to Texas in Orlando. Their lone win came on Saturday behind a 6.2 inning two-hit performance from Dom Stagliano on the mound.

For the Bears, the goal will simply be to close out the year with momentum for the offseason and to take away something to continue building.

“Again, it’s a character check is what it is,” Thompson said. “This isn’t a struggling team. This is a team that’s up there in RPI. This is a team that’s coming in here, Central Florida, they have a good club. So, it’s a challenge for us this weekend, no question. But I’m looking forward to watching us compete. I do think that how you finish matters. I think it says a lot. I think it says a lot about your heart and your character when all hope is gone but you still show up. I think it says something about you. And I think it’ll say something about what’s kind of the future.”

Pitching Matchups

Thursday: BU RHP Mason Marriott (3-6, 5.80) vs. UCF RHP Ben Vespi (3-3, 4.50)

Friday: BU LHP Ethan Calder (4-3, 3.33) vs. UCF RHP Dom Stagliano (3-3, 4.07)

Saturday: BU RHP Collin McKinney (3-5, 6.61) vs. TBD