WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball walked off with an 8-7 win over Incarnate Word on Wednesday evening at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (19-22) scored in six straight innings before needing to stop the Cardinals’ (11-30) comeback with a game-winning hit by Steven McLean.
McLean put the Bears up 2-0 with a single in the second inning, but the Cardinals responded with two runs on two hits and a walk in the third.
The scoring continued for Baylor as an error off the bat of Matt Menard scored a run in the third. Kameron Esthay had an RBI single in the fourth. Josh Bissonette added an RBI single in the fifth. Menard hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth. McLean capped the six-inning scoring streak with an RBI single in the seventh for a 7-2 lead.
In the eighth, Incarnate Word rallied to tie the game as three straight hits scored a run and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. Matt Morris then launched a grand slam to make it a new game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Justin Arrington led off with a single. After a sac bunt and ground out put him at third, McLean roped a walk-off single to right-center for the win.
BU reliever Joe Heineman (3-3) earned the win after giving up a run on one hit with two strikeouts in two innings. UIW reliever Lance Moszkowicz (1-4) took the loss, allowing a run on two hits with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 2-2 on its stretch of six road contests in a seven-game span.
*Baylor is 6-4 in midweek games in 2016.
*Baylor is 399-180 all-time at Baylor Ballpark and 14-14 under Steve Rodriguez.
*Baylor leads the all-time series vs. Incarnate Word 4-0 as all games have been played in Waco – BU is 1-0 in the series under Steve Rodriguez.
*Baylor claimed its second walk-off win of the season (March 29 vs. UTSA).
*Steven McLean had the second walk-off hit for Baylor this season (Aaron Dodson, March 29 vs. UTSA) as he tied a career high with four hits and drove in a career-best four runs, registering his 12th multi-hit and third multi-RBI game of the season.
*Richard Cunningham has a seven-game on-base streak.
*Kameron Esthay has a six-game hitting streak.
*Justin Arrington has a five-game hitting streak as he posted his 11th multi-hit game of the season.
*Aaron Dodson has a five-game hitting streak.
*Matt Menard has a five-game on-base streak.
*T.J. Raguse has a three-game hitting streak.
*Darryn Sheppard notched his third four-hit and team-high 14th multi-hit game of the season.
STAT OF THE GAME
7 – The amount of innings in which Baylor scored.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“One of the biggest things I saw today is that we were very consistent offensively, scoring a lot of runs. We scored in seven out of the nine innings, and just the ability to keep guys in scoring position and being able to get hits – whether it was zero, one or two outs – that was a great thing to see.” – Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor heads to Morgantown, West Virginia, for a weekend three-game series against West Virginia, starting with a 5:30 p.m. CT game on Friday.
