Around the Big 12 in Baseball: One More Week

Another weekend, another series win for the TCU Horned Frogs, which is not something that we can take for granted this season.

TCU’s wins over Kansas this weekend were special, however, considering both came on walk-off home runs. I’m for as many dingers as possible, and if those dingers happen to be game-winners, well, that’s just dandy.

But a loss to Kansas in the final game of the series hurts. The Frogs have to go 2-1 against their final opponent of the season this weekend in order to finish .500 in the Big 12. Who is that final opponent? Stay tuned to find out!

(It’s Texas Tech.)

Baylor (32-13, 14-6 Big 12): The Bears won 4-3 and 11-6 over Kansas State at home before getting shellacked in a 10-3 loss on Sunday. Maybe the Baylor players were depressed Liverpool fans who lost all motivation after City won the league on Sunday morning, who knows.

But the loss didn’t hurt the Bears too much in the standings, at least not yet. Baylor still holds a half-game lead over Texas Tech. The Bears finish out their regular season against Oklahoma State in Stillwater this weekend.

Texas Tech (34-13, 14-7): The Red Raiders played precisely one game last week, a 9-6 win over FIU. Game Two of that doubleheader was cancelled, ostensibly due to foul weather but probably due to lack of interest.

Tech gets TCU at home to finish out the regular season in a series starting Thursday. Show up Thursday evening for Coach Tadlock Shirsey Giveaway Night!

Oklahoma State (30-17, 12-9): A week after sweeping Oregon State on the road, the Cowboys played three games across the state of Oklahoma against the Sooners and won the series 2-1. The only loss was a 3-2 defeat in 10 innings at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, home of the Big 12 championship, which I’m choosing to believe means Oklahoma State can’t win in that park and therefore will be no threat in the conference tournament.

The Cowboys play Baylor at home this week to finish out the season. A sweep would move Oklahoma State above the Bears in the conference standings.

West Virginia (31-18, 13-11): The Mountaineers won a series 2-1 over Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., last week. They also knocked off Virginia Tech in a non-conference game just for fun.

West Virginia, through some odd scheduling quirk, is done with Big 12 play. The Mountaineers will play Pitt on Tuesday and close out the season against George Washington at home. Per the Mountaineers’ website, tickets are available for as low as $3!

TCU (28-21, 10-11 Big 12): Put it this way: the Frogs aren’t back from the dead yet, but the coroner is getting very worried.

TCU is now fifth in the Big 12 and can move up to fourth with a sweep of Texas Tech this weekend. The Frogs will have work to do in the Big 12 Tournament if they want an outside shot at a postseason bid, but at least that’s a possibility now. As down in the dumps as this team was a month ago, that’s a victory.

But, yeah — sweeping Texas Tech in Lubbock is going to be very, very tough.

Oklahoma (31-20, 9-12 Big 12): The Sooners lost two to Oklahoma State last weekend and have to sweep their final opponent if they want to finish .500 in the conference.

Luckily for Oklahoma, the final opponent of the year is Texas! And Texas is very bad. See below.

Kansas (28-24, 9-12 Big 12): The Jayhawks were on the wrong end of a 2-1 series against TCU, and now, much like Oklahoma, they’ll have to sweep their rivals to finish .500 in the conference. Kansas has had a better season than I’d expected, but the Jayhawks are going to look back at losing a series 3-0 to Oklahoma earlier in the schedule as a major regret.

Kansas and Kansas State play this weekend in Lawrence. Speaking of Kansas State...

Kansas State (25-28, 8-13 Big 12): The Wildcats lost a series 2-1 to West Virginia last weekend. The last team Kansas State beat in a series was (sigh) TCU, and that was back on April 20.

The Sunflower Showdown starts Friday. Check your local listings (note: unless you have the “Jayhawk Network,” it will not be in your local listings).

Texas (25-25, 6-14 Big 12): The Longhorns’ last four games were: an 8-2 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a 4-2 loss to Kansas, a 1-0 loss to Kansas and a 10-6 loss to Kansas. Texas then canceled its game last Tuesday against Texas State due to bad weather. (Texas State won the first meeting between the schools.

The Longhorns play Incarnate Word this Tuesday, and close out the regular season against Oklahoma this weekend. I haven’t seen a nightmare like this for Texas fans since, well...