What To Watch For in Houston's Weekend Series vs. Baylor

Another week. Another opportunity.

That’s the mindset that both the Houston Cougars and Baylor Bears have to have going into the weekend series when they face off against each other with similar records.

It’s not the ideal start that either program perhaps thought it would be, but it is a step in the right direction to have a winning record going into conference play. Now, it's the little steps that lead to enough wins to win more series.

This weekend will be Game 1 of 3 between both schools, and it will be the first time each team has gotten a look at the other at the plate and on the mound, so what’s ahead of an exciting sports weekend in Houston?

Houston vs Baylor Preview

🚨 GAME TIME UPDATE 🚨

First pitch on Saturday against @BaylorBaseball is now at 1 p.m. pic.twitter.com/EYxDKyMKRc
— Houston Baseball (@UHCougarBB) March 24, 2026

The Cougars are under the direction of head coach Todd Whitting, while the Bears are led by their head coach Mitch Thompson. It is the 16th season that Whitting has coached the program, joining back in July 2010. As for Thompson, it is the fourth season that he has coached this program since he got hired back in June 2022.

In the tenures that both coaches have had, there haven’t been a lot of postseason berths. For Whitting, there have been only four appearances in his years at Houston, while there have been none for Thompson, so the main goal going into this stretch of Big 12 play is to gather as many as possible.

To do so, both programs need production from their batters and pitchers. For the Cougars, the hitting hasn’t been terrible, but it needs to improve, as the number of programs that have seen elite pitchers is only growing, making it hard to win at the plate. Their batting sits at .289 as a group with a .888 OPS and 27 home runs on the year. There have been a share of hits with 216 so far, but there have also been a ton of strikeouts with 182 this season.

At the plate, the Cougars’ best hitter has been Tyler Cox, who leads the team with a .328 batting average, and Riley Jackson leads with a .590 slugging percentage. The most hits, runs batted in, triples, and home runs belong to Xavier Perez, so that will be another intriguing player to catch this weekend.

On the mound, there have been several studs who have helped accumulate some wins with Ryne Rodriguez and Kendall Hoffman, so getting these two guys going early and throwing some heaters to the Bears will help pull out the series.

The pitching staff will face some of Baylor’s best hitters, including Travis Sanders, Brady Janusek, and Tyce Armstrong, so if there is any way to keep these guys off the bases and driving in runs, it’s going to take a ton of relief off the Houston bullpen. Baylor has a .261 batting average with a .792 OPS to go along with their 18 home runs.

On the rubber, the Bears have a few arms that can go deep in games, so the Cougars have to get the pitch count up, or it might be a short game. Guys like Ethan Calder have been the backbone of the pitching staff and are going to need their best performance to help their team get out of town with several wins added to the resume.

Game 1 is on Friday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m., followed by Game 2 on Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m., with the final game of the series on March 29 at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.