BAYLOR BASEBALL JUMPS TO # 13 IN BASEBALL AMERICA TOP 25

WACO, TEXAS (February 25, 2008) Baylor baseball climbed two spots to No. 13 in the latest Baseball America Top 25, released Monday by publication. It is Baylor’s highest ranking since the Bears finished the 2005 season at No. 4 following a national semifinal appearance at the College World Series.

The Bears swept Purdue over the weekend, winning a trio of one-run games. Baylor was 4-5 in one-run games last season and did not win their third one-run game until the season’s 53rd contest – a 9-8 victory over Kansas State in the first game of the final regular-season series.

Arizona moved into the No. 1 spot after winning two of three at Georgia. Mississippi was second, followed by last week’s top-ranked team UCLA, which split two games in a rain-shortened series against Oklahoma. North Carolina, Missouri, Arizona State, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Miami, Fla., and South Carolina rounded out the top 10.

Texas (No. 14) and Oklahoma State (No. 21) join Missouri and Baylor to give the Big 12 Conference four schools in this week’s Top 25. Texas A&M, which was ranked 21st last week, dropped out of the ranking after splitting a four-game series against Northern Colorado.

The Bears also climbed four spots in this week’s Collegiate Baseball Top 30, moving to No. 24.

Baylor returns to action Tuesday, hosting Texas Southern for a 6:30 p.m. CST first pitch at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears send sophomore right-hander Wade Mackey (4-3, 3.18 ERA in 2007) to the mound for his first appearance of the season.