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- Baylor makes its third appearance at the Minute Maid Park College Classic this season. The six-team, three-day event, formerly known as the Astros College Classic, is one of the nation's premier early season college tournaments. The Bears posted a 2-1 mark at the 2001 event and a 2-1 record again in 2003. - Baylor plays 25 games against nine teams ranked the Baseball America Preseason Top 25. Along with three ranked Big 12 opponents, the Bears face No. 9 Arizona State, No. 17 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Rice, No. 21 TCU, No. 22 Long Beach State and No. 24 Oral Roberts. - From the weekend of Feb. 18-20 to the weekend of March 25-27, the Bears have five consecutive weekend series against teams ranked in the preseason Top 25. - The Bears play 36 games against 13 teams that appeared in the 2004 NCAA Regionals. - Baylor Ballpark has ranked 21st or better nationally in average attendance every year since the facility's opening in 1999, including a program-best ninth in 2001. Baylor ranked 19th nationally in average attendance last season. - Entering the 2005 season, 2B Michael Griffin is the NCAA active career leader in games played (189), at bats (782) and hits (243). He also is third and one shy of the lead in doubles (50), second and two shy of the lead in RBI (166), and third and four shy of the lead in total bases (405). - Baylor and LSU are the only NCAA Division I teams to enter the 2005 season with two players who have amassed at least 25 career home runs each. For Baylor, that tandem is C Josh Ford and 2B Michael Griffin, both of whom have 28 career round-trippers. - The Bears open the season with two pitchers continuing rehab from off-season surgery. RHP Sean Walker had ACL surgery last June and should miss only the first two-to-three weeks of the season. RHP Andy Pape is recovering from a broken ankle in September and should return to action by late March. - Baylor's 2005 roster features five players who have previously been drafted: LHP/1B Drew Jeffcoat (2003-Los Angeles-36th Round), RHP Mark McCormick (2002-Baltimore-11th Round), IF Kyle Reynolds (2002-Arizona-50th Round), LHP Trey Taylor (2001-Colorado-2nd Round; 2003-Chicago Cubs-20th Round) and LHP Cory VanAllen (2003-Los Angeles-3rd Round). - Since the start of the Big 12 in 1997, the Bears have the league's best conference record at 137-83 (.623). Baylor leads all conference schools in both first-team All-Big 12 selections (21) and first-team Academic All-Big 12 selections (47), and the Bears are the only Big 12 Conference program to have ranked in the top 10 nationally at some point during each of the past seven seasons (1998-2004).