Baylor Baseball Announces 2013 Schedule - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen

WACO, Texas – Thirty home games at Baylor Ballpark and three games at the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park highlight the 2013 Baylor baseball schedule announced Tuesday by head coach Steve Smith.

The 53-game regular season slate includes a road series against UC Irvine to open the season, as well as 17 games against NCAA Tournament teams from 2012.

After returning from California, Baylor takes on Texas State in BU's home opener and will then welcome 2012 College World Series participant UCLA to Baylor Ballpark for a three-game series (Feb. 22-24).

The Bears will host Pepperdine Feb. 26 for the first-ever meeting between the two schools before heading to Minute Maid Park for the Houston College Classic. Baylor is scheduled to play California (March 1), Houston (March 2) and Rice (March 3) in the 12th annual event.

After the Houston College Classic, Baylor will play 10 straight games at home, including a pair of three-game series vs. Illinois (March 8-10) and the University of New Orleans (March 15-17). The Bears will travel to Huntsville, Texas March 19 before beginning Big 12 play with a road series at Oklahoma State (March 22-24). Baylor has won eight of its last nine games against the Cowboys.

2012 NCAA participant (Waco Regional), Dallas Baptist, will visit Baylor Ballpark April 2 for the first of two meetings between the two schools, with the Bears slated to play at DBU's new Horner Ballpark April 23.

Following a home Big 12 series with Kansas State from March 28-30, Baylor will host new conference member West Virginia (April 5-7) for the first time in program history.

The Bears will host its third straight conference series when Oklahoma visits Waco April 12-14 before taking on TCU in a three-game series April 19-20. Baylor leads the all-time series against the Horned Frogs 136-109, including a 53-49 advantage in Fort Worth.

For the first time in the Big 12 era, Texas and Baylor will not have a split series. The Longhorns will visit Baylor Ballpark for a three-game set April 26-28, followed by a midweek home game against UT Arlington (April 30).

Baylor will wrap up Big 12 play with two straight road series as the Bears head to Lawrence, Kan., May 3-5 to take on Kansas before traveling to Texas Tech to wrap up conference and regular season play with a three-game series (May 16-18).

Baylor returns 17 letterwinners from a squad that went 49-17 and won the program's third Big 12 title. BU finished Big 12 play with a 20-4 record, which was the second-best winning percentage by any team in league history. The Bears, who finished the 2012 season ranked No. 9 or No. 10 in all four major national polls, won its first regional since 2005 and came up one win shy of the school record and its fourth trip to the College World Series.

Season tickets and renewals for Baylor's 30-game 2013 home schedule go on sale in December and will be made available online at www.baylobears.com/tickets, in person at the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office or via phone by calling 254-710-1000. Single-game tickets go on sale in February.