No. 16 Baseball Pounds No. 1 Texas 9-1

Baseball 3/19/2005 12:00:00 AM

March 19, 2005

WACO, Texas - Mark McCormick struck out a career-high 10 batters and allowed only one unearned run as No. 16 Baylor defeated top-ranked Texas 9-1 Saturday night at Baylor Ballpark. Coupled with Friday night's 3-2 win at Austin, Baylor (14-7, 2-0) clinches the weekend series. Texas (21-3, 0-2) drops consecutive games for the first time this season.

Baylor now has won six consecutive games, the last five of which have come against teams ranked eighth or better nationally. The Bears have won eight straight against ranked opponents and at 9-1 have the nation's best record against teams ranked nationally. Baylor also clinches its seventh consecutive Big 12 Conference opening series.

McCormick (2-1) continued his recent run of dominant pitching, holding the Longhorns to four hits and a walk over 7.2 innings. Since allowing four runs in the first inning of his Feb. 27 start at Arizona State, McCormick has allowed only four runs, two earned, on 14 hits and eight walks with 28 strikeouts in 26.0 innings. In that time, he has posted a 0.69 ERA and held opposing batters to a .154 average.

Texas scored its lone run of the night in the top of the third when Baylor right fielder Seth Fortenberry dropped a fly ball that would have been the third out of the inning and David Maroul scored from first.

However, Baylor quickly answered with a run in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of two Texas errors in the inning. The Bears took control of the game in the fourth with four runs on three hits. Kyle Reynolds got things going with a leadoff home run down the line in left, his team-leading fifth of the season. Kevin Russo also had an RBI single, and Fortenberry and Paul Witt added sacrifice flies.

From there, McCormick found a groove and retired the side in order during the fifth and sixth innings with four strikeouts in those two frames. Texas got two on with one out in the seventh, but McCormick got the next two batters ground back to the mound, ending the threat.

Baylor added a run in the bottom of the seventh when Taylor Teagarden's throw to third on a Reynolds steal of third sailed into left field. In the eighth, Russo plated another run with an RBI single to center, and Mike Pankratz followed with a two-run homer down the line in left.

Jeff Mandel pitched the final 1.1 innings for Baylor, allowing only two walks with one strikeout. Russo was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

Texas starter Kyle McCulloch (4-2) was touched for five runs, four earned, on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts over 3.1 innings.

Baylor and Texas conclude their three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. CST at Baylor Ballpark. The game will be televised nationally on College Sports TV, available on Time Warner Cable Channel 15 in the Waco area. The Bears send southpaw Trey Taylor (2-2) to the mound, opposite Longhorn right-hander Adrian Alaniz (1-0).

NOTES: Texas leads the all-time series 212-95-4, including an 83-54-3 advantage in Waco. ... Baylor improves to 23-16 against Texas under head coach Steve Smith, including an 18-13 advantage since the inception of the Big 12 Conference. ... Baylor improves to 5-16 all-time against the nation's top-ranked team. Three of those wins have come against Texas over the past 12 months. ... Josh Ford has reached in 16 consecutive games and in 20 of 21 games this season. ... Zach Dillon extended his hitting streak to six games, a career long. ... Michael Griffin saw his four-game streak end.