Baylor Baseball Defeats Wofford, 9-5
Bears use four-run first and fifth innings to topple Terriers
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball picked up a 9-5 win over Wofford on Tuesday evening at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (14-14) used four-run frames in the first and fifth innings to take down the Terriers (16-14).
The big first started with back-to-back doubles by Steven McLean and Richard Cunningham for a 1-0 lead. Darryn Sheppard followed with an RBI single and Kameron Esthay backed that up with another RBI double. After Aaron Dodson moved Esthay to third on a grounder to second, Matt Menard drove him home with sacrifice fly to center.
Wofford countered with a run in the second but Baylor dropped another four-spot on the Terriers in the fifth. Cunningham led off with an HBP and Sheppard doubled. Esthay then drove both in on a single. Following a pitching change and Menard single, Justin Arrington hit a two-out, two-run double to break the game open with the Bears leading 8-1.
The Terriers chipped away at the lead with three runs in the sixth and added a solo homer in the ninth by Brett Hash, but it wasn’t enough to overcome BU’s lead as the Bears added a run in the sixth after a McLean triple and Sheppard sac fly.
BU starter Nick Lewis (1-3) earned the win, giving up four runs (one earned) on seven hits and four walks with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Wofford starter Austin Higginbotham (0-3) took the loss, allowing seven runs on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts in four-plus innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 4-1 on its current six-game home stand.
*Baylor is 3-3 in midweek games in 2016.
*Baylor has won six of its last eight games and three in a row.
*Baylor is 396-176 all-time at Baylor Ballpark and 11-10 under Steve Rodriguez.
*Baylor and Wofford met for the first time ever, and the Bears now lead the series 1-0.
*Baylor has scored at least one run in the first inning 11 times in 28 games and has scored 25 first-inning runs in 2016.
*Steven McLean has a career-high 14-game on-base streak and career-high eight-game hitting streak as he posted his seventh multi-hit game of the season.
*Richard Cunningham has a career-high 12-game on-base streak as his three HBPs tied the Baylor record that is held by four people – the last person to do so was Steve DalPorto at Texas Tech on May 18, 2013.
*Darryn Sheppard has a career-high 11-game on-base streak as he notched his team-high ninth multi-hit game and seventh multi-RBI game of the season.
*Matt Menard has a six-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak.
*Kameron Esthay has a four-game hitting streak as he posted his eighth multi-hit game and second multi-RBI game of the season with a career-high-tying three RBI.
*Justin Arrington has a five-game hitting streak as notched his third multi-RBI game of the season with a career-high-tying two RBI.
*Nick Lewis posted a season-high five strikeouts.
*Drew Robertson tied a career high with two strikeouts.
STAT OF THE GAME
5 – The amount of doubles Baylor had in the game – the most the Bears have had all season.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“I think it sets a great tone offensively [to score runs in the first inning], and just from a pitching standpoint, it made our guys relax a little bit more. Hopefully they didn't feel a lot of pressure in thinking they had to throw up zeros, knowing we could score four runs in an inning like that. We continued to kind of put pressure on them, we had some really good at-bats throughout the game. Hopefully that takes some pressure off our pitchers, but it was a good tempo starter for sure.” – Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor finishes its six-game home stand with a 4:05 p.m. CT game vs. Wofford on Wednesday before heading to Norman, Oklahoma, for a three-game Big 12 weekend series against Oklahoma.
