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No. 5 Baylor Baseball Falls to No. 4 West Virginia

Posted at 4:31 PM, May 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-24 17:31:35-04

No. 5 seed Baylor baseball fell 11-1 in seven innings to No. 4 West Virginia in the first game of the 2017 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday morning at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The Bears (34-20) were unable to overcome the Mountaineers (33-22) big, seven-run first inning.

WVU jumped all over BU starter Nick Lewis in the first, scoring seven runs on six hits, two walks and an HBP. The crushing blow came on a two-out, three-run triple by Kyle Gray.

The Mountaineers added another run in the fourth before the Bears finally scored in the seventh on a Richard Cunningham leadoff double and Kameron Esthay RBI ground out.

But WVU put the game away in the eighth with two walks and two hits to complete a run-rule win.

WVU starter Isaiah Kearns (5-0) earned the win, allowing a run on three hits and no walks with six strikeouts in eight innings. Lewis (6-5) took the loss, giving up seven runs on six hits and two walks in one inning.

NOTES

*Baylor is 44-48 all-time in conference tournaments and 32-36 at the Big 12 Championship. BU is 28-30 in Oklahoma City in the event, 28-28 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, and 34-38 in tournament format.

*Baylor is 17-13 overall in conference tournament opening games and 12-9 in the Big 12 Championship opening game.

*Baylor is 5-12 as a No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Championship and made it to the title game in 2003 as a No. 5 seed. Overall, No. 5 seeds are 28-37 in the event and have won it all in 1999 (Nebraska), 2007 (Texas A&M), 2008 (Texas) and 2015 (Texas).

*Baylor is 7-9 all-time against West Virginia and 1-1 in neutral site competition – WVU took two of three from BU in Waco earlier this season. The Bears are 1-1 vs. the Mountaineers in the Big 12 Championship with the win coming in a 9-4 decision in an elimination on May 23, 2014.

*Baylor has won 15 of its last 23 games and 10 of its last 14 after going through a stretch of losing eight of 10 games from March 24-April 8.

*Baylor is 14-9 away from Baylor Ballpark this season (12-7 on road, 2-2 in neutral sites).

*Freshman catcher Shea Langeliers has a season-high 16-game on-base streak and season-high 11-game hitting streak.

*Sophomore center fielder Richard Cunningham has a nine-game hitting streak as he posted his 14th multi-hit game.

STAT OF THE GAME

7 – The amount of runs scored by West Virginia in the first inning and the number of innings Baylor did not score in.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“We put some pretty good swings on the ball today but didn’t get line drives and base hits when we needed them. [Isaiah Kearns] pitched well, threw strikes and had his defense make plays behind him, and we weren’t able to put pressure on him on the bases like we wanted to.” – Head Coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor faces the winner/loser of the No. 1 Texas Tech vs. No. 8 Oklahoma State game Thursday at 9 a.m. CT/4 p.m. CT.