Baseball’s Smith earns 500th win leading Bears

Sunday at Mississippi State, Baylor baseball head coach Steve Smith became the second coach in school history (across all sports) to reach 500 career wins.

Only Mickey Sullivan — who like Smith, lettered at Baylor — ever earned more wins leading the Bears (Sullivan won 649 games between 1974 and 1994). Smith has led Baylor to nine NCAA Tournament appearances in his first 13 seasons, and with this year’s squad off to an 11-1 start, it looks like 2008 may well bring number 10.

It was only fitting for Smith to earn his 500th win in Starkville; the Baylor grad spent five years as an assistant at Mississippi State under head coach Ron Polk before being named Baylor’s head coach in 1994. Polk is the fifth-winningest coach in college baseball history with over 1,350 wins, but he was on the losing end versus Baylor on Sunday.

Sic ’em, Coach Smith!