Baylor
UCLA
Baseball Pounds No. 22 UCLA, 15-3
2/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
 15BAYLOR (6-0) Rank: #25 |
Los Angeles, Calif. • Attendance: 522 |  3UCLA (2-3) Rank: #22 |
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Feb. 24, 2012
LOS ANGELES - Baylor pounded out a season-high 19 hits, including 10 doubles, on its way to a 15-3 win over No. 22 UCLA in Friday night's series opener at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Baylor (6-0) is off to its best start since winning the first seven games in 2008, and the Bears have won all six games against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams.
Trent Blank (3-0) picked up his Big 12 Conference-leading third win of the season with 3.0 innings of one-hit, shutout relief. Josh Turley started on the mound and allowed two runs in 4.0 innings before Blank came on with two runners on in the fifth.
"Trent is doing a great job of throwing strikes," head coach Steve Smith said. "He's being so economical with his pitches that we're getting a lot of miles out of him, which is pretty significant because the starters haven't been going deep into the games, so for him to give us what he's given us has been pretty big."
Logan Vick and Nathan Orf had four hits apiece, with Vick knocking four doubles and Orf connecting on two doubles. Freshman Adam Toth went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, and Jake Miller and Cal Towey each had two hits and three RBI.
The Bears jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the third, rallying after the first two batters in the inning were retired. Orf and Towey were hit by pitches, Max Muncy and Josh Ludy followed with walks to give the Bears their first run, and Vick knocked a two-run double.
Baylor added two more runs in the fourth on a RBI double from Orf and a RBI single from Muncy, staking Turley to a 5-0 lead. UCLA (2-3) got one run back in the fourth, and had a chance for more in the fifth, but Blank came out of the bullpen and limited the damage by retiring the first three batters he faced.
Baylor sent 13 batters to the plate in the seventh and broke the game open with an eight-run outburst. The Bears knocked five doubles in the inning, including two off the bat of Vick, and they added two singles and four walks to build a 14-2 lead.
Each team added one more run in the eighth to cap the scoring. UCLA starter Adam Plutko took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits with four walks in 3.1 innings. Two Baylor relievers made their season debuts, as sophomore Josh Michalec allowed one run in the eighth and freshman Ryan Smith worked around a one-out walk in a scoreless ninth.
The series resumes at 4 p.m. CT Saturday. Baylor is scheduled to send junior right-handed pitcher Max Garner to the mound against UCLA sophomore right-handed pitcher Nick Vander Tuig.
