Bears Fall to Texas 12-1

Baseball 5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM

May 2, 2008

WACO, Texas -- Texas batted around in a four-run fifth, breaking open a close game en route to a 12-1 victory over Baylor in Friday night's Big 12 Conference opener at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (27-21, 9-13) fall to 1-7 in Big 12 series openers and have dropped each of their last four such games. The Longhorns (28-18, 11-11) have won 11 consecutive meetings.

While Texas took control of the game in the fifth, the game turned in the top of the fourth. After recording seven strikeouts over the first three innings, Baylor starter Kendal Volz was forced to leave the game with a strained oblique muscle. Volz, who gave up a two-out RBI hit to David Hernandez in the second, left the game with Baylor trailing and was saddled with the loss.

Preston Clark's one-out RBI single in the fourth pushed the Longhorns' lead to 2-0. In the fifth, six consecutive Texas batters reached base safely with two outs.

Baylor managed a run in the bottom of the inning on two hits and a Longhorn error. Gregg Glime singled with one out and moved to third when Texas catcher Cameron Rupp's pickoff attempt skipped down the right-field line. Beamer Weems followed with an RBI single.

However, that was all the offense on the night for the Bears, who did not collect more than one hit in any other inning. Chance Ruffin allowed the one unearned run on seven hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts for the complete-game victory. Ruffin used 150 pitches on the night, 50 of which came in the game's final three innings.

Texas added three runs in the seventh, a run in the eighth and two in the ninth. The Horns 16-hit attack was paced by four players with three hits each - Brandon Belt, Clark, Jordan Danks and Hernandez.

Weems and Shaver Hansen were both 2-for-4, turning in Baylor's only multiple-hit games.

The series now shifts to Austin's UFCU Disch-Falk Field for the final two games of the series, beginning with Saturday's 2:30 p.m. CDT game that will be televised nationally on FSN. The Bears send right-hander Shawn Tolleson (4-3, 5.15 ERA) to the mound. The Longhorns will throw either right-hander Cole Green (2-4, 4.34 ERA) or southpaw Austin Wood (3-2, 5.30 ERA).

NOTES: Texas leads the all-time series 223-97-4, including an 88-55-3 advantage in games played in Waco. The Bears are 20-24 against the Longhorns since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997. Baylor is 25-27 against Texas during head coach Steve Smith's tenure. ... Raynor Campbell (seven games), Hansen (five games), Aaron Miller (four games) and Glime (three games) all extended hitting streaks. Campbell's is his longest this season. ... Ben Booker (six games), Dustin Dickerson (three games) and Adam Hornung (three games) all saw streaks end. ... Weems' third-inning triple was the seventh of his career in Big 12 play. He is now in sole possession of second place at Baylor, trailing on Jon Topolski's 10 (1996-1999). ... Volz now has 58 strikeouts in Big 12 play this season, tying Chad Hawkins (1999) for eighth in school history. In less than two seasons, Volz has tallied 94 strikeouts in Big 12 games; he ranks eighth in school history, passing Zane Carlson (2000-2004), Trey Taylor (2002-2005) and Mark McCormick (2003-2005) in Friday's game.