Baylor
Texas
Griffin Homer Sinks Texas 5-3
4/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 17, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas - Michael Griffin's leadoff home run in the top of the 10th broke a 3-3 tie and Baylor added another run in the inning as the Bears knocked off top-ranked Texas 5-3 in 10 innings Saturday night at Disch-Falk Field. Baylor (16-20, 6-7) wins its sixth in eight tries and posts its first-ever victory over a team ranked first nationally.
Griffin's home run, his sixth of the season, barely cleared the wall in left-center and came with an 0-1 count. The homer was hit off Texas reliever Huston Street, the Longhorns' third of four pitchers, and sent the UT reliever to only his third career loss.
The Baylor victory snapped a 10-game Texas winning streak. It also snapped a seven-game Longhorn streak in the series.
After Griffin's home run, Reynolds singled to right and stole second. Two batters later, Reynolds scored on a Texas fielding error to push the score to 5-3.
That gave Baylor reliever Abe Woody (2-0) all the insurance he needed. The sophomore from Round Rock, Texas, closed the game with 3.0 innings of hitless ball and walked two with one strikeout.
Street (4-1) was touched for two runs, one earned, on four hits and two strikeouts in 2.2 innings.
Baylor starter Trey Taylor lasted 7.0 innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on three hits and two walks with a season-high nine strikeouts. The Longhorns managed only a bloop double to center, a bloop single down the line in right and a comebacker, all coming in the fifth inning.
Texas starter Justin Simmons allowed three runs, all earned, on five hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
Both teams plated three runs in the fifth. Kyle Reynolds got the scoring started with a two-out, two-run triple off the wall in right-center; he then scored on a Reid Brees single up the middle. Texas answered with three runs on three hits and two Baylor errors in the bottom half. Robby Hudson had the only RBI in the inning on a single up the middle.
Griffin and Reynolds finished with two hits each. Texas' three hits was a season low.
Baylor and Texas conclude the series Sunday with a 1 p.m. CDT contest at Disch-Falk Field.
NOTES: This was the 311th meeting between Baylor and Texas, the most-played series in Baylor baseball history. Texas now leads the series 213-94-4 overall and 129-31-1 at Austin. ... A crowd of 6,874 witnessed the game, the largest crowd this season at Disch-Falk Field. ... Trey Taylor matched his career-long outing, going 7.0 innings for the third time (all this season). ... Michael Griffin extended his season-long hitting streak to 15 games, the longest run by a Bear this season and one game shy of his career long. Griffin has reached safely in 30 consecutive games and has hit safely in 11 consecutive Big 12 games. ... Kyle Reynolds also extended his hitting streak to 10 games, one shy of his career long. Reynolds has hit safely in 14 consecutive starts. ... Paul Witt pushed his hitting streak to eight games, a career long.
