Coaches always say winning is contagious.
Baylor coach Steve Smith certainly wouldn't argue with that notion.
Though BU isn't exactly known as a long-time athletic powerhouse, that dynamic has changed in the past couple of years, mostly in the last year. The Baylor football team recorded 10 wins, they got a Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Robert Griffin III, the men's basketball team reached the Elite Eight and the women's basketball team is playing for their second national title this week.
Though Smith and the Bears realize it's a tall order for the baseball program to meet those lofty standards, they're definitely doing a doing great job of emulating those success stories so far this spring.
The Bears began the season in strange fashion. They jumped out to a 6-0 start, but dropped a series to UCLA and were in a state of confusion for a while.
That situation now seems like ancient history, as the Bears are in tremendous shape entering their fourth week of Big 12 play. They swept a home series from Texas Tech to begin league play before sweeping Kansas at home in dominant fashion. BU then improved its conference mark to an outstanding 9-0 over the weekend with yet another home series sweep, this time over left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney and Oklahoma State.
After playing at home the first three weekends of conference play, we're all interested to see how the Bears fare on the road the next two weekends against Missouri and Kansas State.
The Bears very well could scuffle. But if they follow the trend set by other BU athletic programs in the last year, chances are good they'll be standing tall at the conclusion of the season.
BU headlines our inside look at the nation's winners from the last week. Meanwhile, Arizona State had a week to forget and spearheads our look at the big losers.