Baker does it all in Houston

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No. 16 Texas Christian 10, Rice 0

In the nightcap and last game of the Saturday triple header, Texas Christian put on a dominating performance and defeated Rice 10-0 in 7 innings, as tournament rules called for a mercy-rule.

The game was essentially the Luken Baker show, as the freshman dazzled on both sides of the ball.

Last weekend the true freshman twirled six shutout innings and struck out six while supporting his own case with a homerun, and it was much of the same from the 6-foot-4, 260 pound true freshman on Sunday as he again picked up the win on the mound and clobbered a homerun for good measure.

Considered one of the top high school talents of last year’s draft class, Baker wasn’t selected until the 37^th round of the draft as scouts knew that he was very committed to attending Texas Christian University. Coach Schlossnagle has to be thrilled that Baker, a former Perfect Game All-American, has gotten to campus, as his presence has already paid immediate dividends for the Horned Frogs.



Baker gave up a few late hits in his sixth and final inning of work when he throttled down his velocity (and had also been sitting on the bench in between innings for a while), but for much of the night he was very hard for the Rice lineup to barrel up—as his final line of 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K can speak to.

The big, physical true freshman looks like a grown man and presents an intimidating presence on the mound. He generates significant downhill plane and angle from his high three-quarters arm slot, with his fastball showing some bigger life in the bottom half of the strike zone. Baker presents the ball in the back slightly with an extended arm-action, but he remains loose and is able to work through it without much of an issue. In the first inning Baker’s heater sat in the 92-94 mph range and he settled more in the low-90s as the game progressed.