No. 15/24 Baylor baseball posted a 5-0 shutout win over No. 23 Houston in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (14-1) scored all five runs in the eighth inning to take the series vs. the Cougars (8-5) with a chance to sweep.
BU starter Montana Parsons retired the first 11 batters of the game to keep the Houston bats at bay, and the Bears finally cashed in during the eighth inning. Tucker Cascadden led off with a single, and after a sacrifice bunt by Levi Gilcrease, Steven McLean walked. Following a pitching change, Josh Bissonette was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Shea Langeliers, who hit a sacrifice to center field. Matt Menard backed that up with a two-run single. Then after a Kameron Esthay HBP and pitching change, Aaron Dodson also posted a two-run single for a 5-0 lead.
Bears reliever Kyle Hill (2-0) earned his second straight win in relief in the series, getting out of a jam in the eighth and working the ninth as he tossed 1.2 innings, giving up just a walk. Parsons took a no-decision, allowing no runs on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts in 7.1 innings. Houston starter Mitch Ullom (1-2) was tagged with the loss, surrendering two runs on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 7.1 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor’s 14-1 start through 15 games is its best in program history (started 14-2 and then 15-2 in 1990).
*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (10-0 in 2017, best start since 1984 (11-0)) in all 18 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 407-182 all-time at the park.
*Baylor leads the all-time series vs. Houston 90-67 and 37-29 in Waco.
*Baylor is 3-0 as a ranked team this season and 4-1 against ranked teams.
*Baylor has four pitching shutouts in its first 15 games since 1986 (4).
*Baylor has four pitching shutouts in a season for the first time since 2013 (5).
*Sophomore reliever Kyle Hill has a career-high two wins along with a career-best four straight scoreless appearances, spanning 6.0 innings with six strikeouts, no hits and two walks.
*Junior JUCO starter Montana Parsons posted a season-high 7.1 innings pitched and tied a season-high with six strikeouts.
*Junior JUCO shortstop Tucker Cascadden has an RBI in 13 of 15 games and did so in each of Baylor’s first 10 games, and has a four-game hitting streak. He’s also had the game-winning RBI in each of BU’s last three games until scoring the winning run on Sunday.
*Senior first baseman Aaron Dodson notched his third multi-RBI game (2).
*Junior right fielder Kameron Esthay has a four-game on-base streak.
*Senior designated hitter Matt Menard has a four-game on-base streak and posted his first multi-RBI game (2).
*Sophomore second baseman Josh Bissonette has a three-game hitting streak.
*Freshman infielder/outfielder Davis Wendzel has a three-game on-base streak.
STAT OF THE GAME
4 – The amount of hits given up by Baylor in the game and the amount of shutouts Baylor’s pitching staff has this season.
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor finishes its series vs. Houston with the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. CT.
