OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 6 seed Baylor baseball lost 15-3 in a seven-inning run rule decision to No. 7 Texas on Thursday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in an elimination game at the 2016 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. The Bears (24-29) gave up three runs in the first inning and struggled to keep the Longhorns’ (23-32) bats at bay as their season came to an end.
The Bears were down 7-0 before they got their first run as UT scored three in the first and four in the third inning. BU received a leadoff double by Richard Cunningham in the bottom of the third, and after a single by Steven McLean moved him to third base, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Menard.
The teams exchanged runs in the fifth as UT scored on a triple and wild pitch while BU scored on a triple by Cunningham and sac fly by McLean. Darryn Sheppard launched a solo homer for Baylor in the sixth to make it an 8-3 game, but Texas responded with a huge, seven-run seventh inning to put the game out of reach.
UT starter Morgan Cooper (3-5) earned the win, giving up three runs on 10 hits and no walks with three strikeouts in seven innings. BU starter Drew Tolson (6-4) took the loss, allowing seven runs on seven hits and two walks in 2.1 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 44-47 all-time at conference tournaments, 32-35 in the Big 12 Championship, 34-37 in conference tournament format, 12-8 in Big 12 Championship opening games, 8-11 in Big 12 Championship elimination games and 0-6 in Big 12 Championship title games.
*No. 6 seeds in the Big 12 Championship are 35-30 overall and have won the event twice (Kansas in 2006 and Missouri in 2012) – Baylor has been a No. 6 seed four times and is 9-8 as a No. 6 seed in the event, reaching the title game in 2007 and 2010.
*Baylor and Oklahoma are the only two teams to qualify for all 20 Big 12 Championship events.
*The Bears are 10-7 all-time against the Longhorns in conference tournaments and 4-6 in the Big 12 Championship – UT topped BU twice in last year’s event and eliminated Baylor.
*Baylor trails the all-time series against Texas 239-109-4 overall and 9-8 in neutral site games – BU has won 10 of the 20 all-time Big 12 series against UT. Baylor won its first series over UT on May 19-21 (in Austin) this season since a sweep in Waco on April 26-28, 2013.
*Baylor had 34 home runs in 53 games in 2016, which are 17 more than the team had in 55 games in 2015 – BU had 30 or more homers for the first time since blasting 46 in 2012.
*Justin Arrington posted his 13th multi-hit game of the season.
*Richard Cunningham notched his 14th multi-hit game of the season.
*Darryn Sheppard hit his career-high eighth home run of the season and 14th of his career.
STAT OF THE GAME
3 – The amount of hits Richard Cunningham had and amount of innings Baylor scored in.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“I just spoke to our team briefly about how proud I am of them and how they competed this season. From the first day I got here at Baylor to this last game of the season, there’s been a significant change in their attitude and approach to the game, and their respect of the game. They were a tremendous group of young men for me and the upperclassmen really helped me a lot in understanding our University and how this program works.” – Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
