MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Baylor baseball dropped its series opener at West Virginia 10-0 on Friday night at Monongalia Ballpark. The Bears (19-23, 5-11) were doomed by the Mountaineers’ (22-18, 7-8) three-run third and five-run fifth innings.
Trailing 1-0 entering the third inning, West Virginia rallied for three runs in the third on three hits, a walk and error. Then in the fifth a walk, four hits and error plated five runs as Ray Guerrini hit a two-run home run for an insurmountable 9-0 lead. The Mountaineers added another run in the seventh on two hits and two walks.
WVU starter Chad Donato (2-3) earned the win after allowing no runs on two hits with nine strikeouts in nine innings. BU starter Drew Tolson (4-3) took the loss, giving up nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 2-3 on its stretch of six road contests in a seven-game span.
*Baylor 5-9 on the road in 2016.
*The all-time series between Baylor and West Virginia is now tied 5-5 but WVU leads 3-0 in Morgantown – BU is 0-1 in the series under Steve Rodriguez – and the Bears have won two of the three all-time Big 12 series against the Mountaineers, including taking two of three in Waco last season.
*Baylor has won three of its nine three-game series in 2016 and 24 of 53 since 2012.
*Kameron Esthay has a seven-game hitting streak.
*Matt Menard has a six-game on-base streak.
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor continues its series with WVU in Morgantown, West Virginia, with an 11 a.m. CT game Saturday and 12 p.m. game Sunday. The pitching matchups feature BU LHP Daniel Castano (2-4, 4.48 ERA) vs. WVU LHP Ross Vance (4-3, 5.57 ERA) Saturday and BU RHP Andrew McInvale (2-2, 4.85 ERA) vs. WVU RHP Michael Grove (1-2, 2.88 ERA) Sunday.
