Houston baseball suffered its second series sweep in conference play this season, falling to Baylor at Schroeder Park March 27-29.
The Bears outscored the Cougars 30-12 in the series, scoring double-digit runs in two out of the three games.
As a result, Houston fell below .500 overall for the first time in 2026, having been outscored 101-59 through nine Big 12 games and its pitching staff allowing 11.2 runs per league contest.
Armstrong’s two-homer night propels Bears to victory in opener
In a game that featured three home runs, two of them from redshirt senior first baseman Tyce Armstrong helped Baylor to a 6-2 win over Houston to take the series opener Friday.
Along with his 3-for-4, three-RBI night, the Magnolia native’s two home runs gave him 10 on the season, becoming the 11th player for the program to hit 10 home runs in a season since 2012.
After a scoreless three innings, Armstrong broke the deadlock for the Bears with his first home run of the game, a two-run shot to deep right field in the top of the fourth.
Baylor further compounded the Cougars’ troubles with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-0 lead, with an RBI double from sophomore infielder Cade Dodson and back-to-back wild pitch scores from Dodson and junior catcher JJ Kennett.
Houston finally got its first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to an RBI single from freshman outfielder Blake Fields.
But Armstrong’s second homer of the game, a seventh-inning solo shot to deep left field, would effectively put the game in the bag for the Bears.
Despite sophomore infielder Jackson LaLima burying a 3-2 pitch into deep left field to make it 6-2, a comeback was not in the cards for the Cougars.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Lucas Davenport got the win for Baylor to improve to 2-0. In a career-high 5 ⅓ innings, Davenport allowed four hits, an earned run and a walk while striking out six batters.
For Houston, freshman right-handed pitcher Connor Udland took the loss, falling to 1-2. In 4 ⅓ innings, Udland allowed two earned runs on five hits, a walk, and a home run while striking out three batters.
Explosive third gives Baylor the series in middle game
Thanks to a six-run third inning as part of a stretch of 10 unanswered runs, the Bears clinched the weekend series with a 10-3 win over Houston Saturday.
With the win, Baylor got its first series win over the Cougars since 2017 and its first at Schroeder Park since 1996.
This was in large part due to a scoring spree at the top of the third inning, where three of the Bears’ six runs came off of fielding errors.
The spree came after the Cougars took an early 3-0 lead at the bottom of the first thanks to a two-run blast to right field from redshirt sophomore outfielder Xavier Perez, and a RBI double from junior catcher Riley Jackson.
But Houston’s offense remained stagnant for the rest of the game as it could only muster up two more hits, in comparison to the three runs on three hits it produced in the first. It allowed Baylor to put the game out of reach.
In the sixth inning, sophomore outfielder Pearson Riebock drove in an RBI single down the left field line.
Freshman infielder Brytton Clements added on in the seventh with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring junior infielder Robert De La Garza.
And in the eighth, redshirt junior infielder Travis Sanders launched a 2-2 pitch to right center for a two-run home run to complete the 10-run unanswered stretch.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Zack Wallace got the win for the Bears to improve to 3-1. In five innings, Wallace allowed three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out one batter and forcing seven fly outs and six ground outs.
In addition to his home run, Sanders went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
For the Cougars, sophomore right-handed pitcher Kendall Hoffman was handed the loss, dropping to 1-3. In 2 ⅔ innings, Hoffman allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk while striking out three batters.
Baylor brings out the brooms in series finale
Schroeder Park was painted green and gold as Baylor defeated Houston 14-7 in the series finale Sunday to complete the sweep.
It took a throwing error by senior right-handed pitcher Paul Schmitz to kick off the Bears’ four-run second inning, with Armstrong and redshirt sophomore designated hitter John Youen both scoring off that error.
Baylor’s last two runs in the inning were scored on a groundout RBI from fifth-year outfielder Ty Johnson and Kennett scoring off a wild pitch.
The Bears extended their lead to 6-0 in the fourth and fifth innings, with an RBI double from Dodson and an RBI fielder’s choice from Clements.
But the Cougars did not give in in the bottom of the fifth. With runners on first and second, senior infielder Tyler Cox launched a 1-0 pitch to right center for a two-run triple, before reaching home plate himself off a throwing error from Dodson.
In the bottom of the sixth, Perez crushed the first pitch he saw from senior left-hander Ethan Calder deep to left field to cut Houston’s deficit to 6-4.
But Baylor created separation in the late innings that Houston could not come back from.
Despite Jackson’s bases-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth, the Bears outscored the Cougars 8-3 between the seventh and ninth innings to hold their efforts firm, with freshman outfielder Brady Janusek’s two-run homer as the capper.
Calder earned the win for Baylor to improve to 2-3. In seven innings, he allowed four earned runs on seven hits, including two extra-base hits and a home run while forcing 15 flyouts.
Offensively, Janusek, Clements and Johnson each drove in two runs.
For Houston, Schmitz received the loss to fall to 2-2. In 3 ⅔ innings, he allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits and a walk while striking out three batters.
Including his sixth-inning leadoff home run, Perez went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Cougars, at 13-14 overall and 1-8 in Big 12 play, are still in search of their first league series win of the season.
That search continues as they’ll travel to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park for a three-game series beginning Thursday, April 2 at 6 p.m.
