No. 10/20 Baylor baseball lost a 6-5 game to West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (15-4, 0-2) erased a three-run deficit late but the Mountaineers (10-7, 2-0) had an answer to take the series.
Similar to Friday night’s loss, WVU jumped on top of BU early with three runs in the second inning. The Bears answered with two runs with help from an error and RBI single by Josh Bissonette in the fourth.
However, the Mountaineers separated again with a run in the fifth and sixth innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Matt Menard doubled and Kameron Esthay followed with a long two-run home run to make it a 5-4 WVU lead. Then in the seventh, a two-out throwing error allowed Baylor’s tying run to score.
Both teams were scoreless in the eighth, but in the ninth WVU took advantage of a leadoff walk. Following a sacrifice bunt, strikeout and intentional walk, Cole Austin delivered a soft single just out of reach of second baseman Bissonette for the go-ahead run.
WVU reliever Braden Zarbnisky (2-0) earned the win in relief, tossing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts while allowing only one hit. BU reliever Kyle Hill (2-1) took the loss, giving up a run on three walks and one hit with three strikeouts in two innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 4-3 as a ranked team this season and 4-2 against ranked teams.
*West Virginia leads the all-time series vs. Baylor 8-6, and the series is tied 4-4 in Waco.
*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (10-3 in 2017) in all 18 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 407-185 all-time at the park.
*Baylor lost its first three-game series of the season after winning three in a row.
*Baylor lost consecutive games for the first time all season.
*Senior designated hitter Matt Menard has an eight-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak as he notched his sixth multi-hit game.
*Junior third baseman Steven McLean has a three-game hitting streak.
*Freshman outfielder Hunter Seay has a four-game on-base streak.
*Junior JUCO shortstop Tucker Cascadden has a three-game on-base streak.
*Sophomore second baseman Josh Bissonette had his sixth multi-hit game.
*Junior right fielder Kameron Esthay had his team-high fourth multi-RBI game as he hit his third home run of the season and 11th of his career.
STAT OF THE GAME
2 – The amount of consecutive losses Baylor has suffered for the first time this season.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“I thought our guys did a good job competing in the second half of the game. It just took us a little while to get going. We got some hits and we got some guys in scoring position. We were able to make some things happen. West Virginia just did a good job of layering the game, getting a hit when they needed it.” – Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor finishes its Big 12 Conference opening series at Baylor Ballpark against West Virginia at 11 a.m. CT Sunday.
