May 17, 2003

Box Score

LINCOLN, Neb. - In a reversal of Friday night's game, No. 14 Baylor's pitching put up zeroes on the scoreboard Saturday afternoon while the Bears' offense rolled in a 7-1 win over No. 8 Nebraska at Hawks Field.

The victory by Baylor (37-18, 15-11 Big 12) sets up a must-win game Sunday for Nebraska (41-14, 19-7) if the Huskers hope to win the Big 12. Nebraska will start the day Sunday in a tie for first with the winner of Saturday's Texas-Texas A&M game. The Bears remain in fifth place in the conference, pending the results of the night's Oklahoma-Missouri game.

Chris Durbin got the Bears going in the first inning, leading off the game with a solo home run for the third time this year. The shot, his team-leading 17th, moved him into a tie with Nebraska's Matt Hopper for the conference lead.

The Huskers tied the game in the second, as catcher Matt Wells doubled after two outs and second baseman Bubbs Merrill singled him in to knot the game at 1-1.

Zach Dillon gave the Bears the lead in the fourth with his first collegiate home run, a two-run shot that put Baylor on top 3-1. Two innings later, Dillon worked a two-out walk and came home on a two-run homer by Trey Webb as the Bears upped their lead to 5-1.

Baylor pushed across two more runs in the seventh on four hits, as Michael Griffin knocked out his 24th double of the year to drive in Durbin with run number six, and Mark Saccomanno singled in Griffin for a 7-1 lead.

That was all the Bears needed. Starter Sean Walker (8-4) pitched six complete innings before leaving after walking the leadoff man in the seventh. Walker scattered seven hits and allowed just one run, walking three and striking out two. Zane Carlson finished out the game, striking out three over the final three innings for his eighth save of the year.

Quinton Robertson (8-2) suffered just his second loss of the year. The junior gave up five runs in six innings, striking out five but allowing the three Baylor homers. Reliever Steve Hale started the seventh and gave up the two seventh-inning runs, and Patrick O'Neil pitched the final 2 1/3 innings.

One day after seeing his 21-game hitting streak snapped, David Murphy went hitless again, going 0-for-4. The junior had not gone hitless in two straight games since the final two games of the 2002 regular season against Texas Tech.

The two teams meet again Sunday at 1:05 p.m. in the rubber match of the series.

NOTES: Carlson's outing marked his 80th career relief appearance, setting a new Baylor record... Saccomanno and Kyle Reynolds each extended their team-leading hitting streaks to nine games... Durbin moved into a tie for fifth on the single-season home run chart with 17, and moved into third place alone with his 40th career long ball... Griffin became the fourth Bear to record 40+ extra-base hits in a season, joining Charley Carter, Eric Nelson and Durbin... Nebraska head coach Mike Anderson was ejected in the top of the eighth after arguing balls and strikes calls.