Baseball Shuts Out Kansas for Sixth Straight Win

Saturday, March 24

Baylor Ballpark

4:05 PM

Baylor

Kansas

Baseball Shuts Out Kansas for Sixth Straight Win

3/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

1
KANSAS
(10-12, 0-2) Rank: NR

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	2
0	1	3	1	1	3	0	0	X	9	13	2

Box Score

Waco, Texas • Attendance: 3,105

7
BAYLOR
(17-7, 5-0) Rank: NR

STATS COMPARISON
Runs	0	9
AB	35	34
Hits	7	13
RBI	0	7
BB	2	4
SO	8	4
LOB	13	10

	STAT LEADERS
Stanfield	2	H	2	Five Players
None	--	2B	--	None
None	--	3B	1	Towey
None	--	HR	2	Muncy
None	--	RBI	5	Muncy
None	--	SB	--	None

PITCHING	IP	H	R	ER	SO
W - Blank (6-0)	6.0	4	0	0	8
L - Taylor (2-3)	5.0	12	9	8	2
S - Smith (1)	3.0	3	0	0	0

POSTGAME NOTES
Baylor's 5-0 start in Big 12 play is the Bears' best start in the conference's 16-year history, topping the 4-0 start of 1999 ... Baylor has its second 6-game winning streak of the season; the Bears started the year 6-0 ... Baylor recorded its first shutout since a 2-0 win on May 1, 2011 at Nebraska ... Baylor's last four starting pitchers have combined to allow only an unearned run over 23.0 innings ... Trent Blank improved to a Big 12-best 6-0 on the season and 14-4 in his career - he has won his last 8 decisions dating back to 2011 ... Ryan Smith worked a career-long 3.0 innings in relief and record his 1st career save ... Max Muncy's 2-run homer in the 3rd snapped Baylor's 15-game homerless drought - the Bears had homered in only one of the last 29 games dating back to 2011 ... Muncy's home run was the first by a Baylor player in 17 games at Baylor Ballpark this season ... Muncy homered again in the 6th inning, giving him 3 career multi-homer games - he now has 4 home runs on the season and 24 in his career ... Cal Towey hit his 1st home run of the season and 8th of his career in the 5th inning ... Blank threw a career-high 107 pitches in 6.0 shutout innings - his 8 strikeouts were one shy of a career high ... Nathan Orf was hit by a pitch for the 12th time this season, moving him into a tie for 7th on Baylor's single-season list ... Lawton Langford (career-long 8 games), Max Muncy (5 games) and Jake Miller (4 games) extended hitting streaks ... Logan Vick (14 games), Towey (12 games), Langford (9 games) and Muncy (8 games) extended on-base streaks ... Muncy has reached base safely in 14 consecutive Big 12 games dating back to the 2011 season ... Langford has reached base safely in 20 of 21 games played this season ... Vick drew his 112th career walk, giving him sole possession of 9th on Baylor's career walks list - he needs just 11 more to crack the Big 12's all-time top 10 ... Muncy made his 106th consecutive start at first base; he has started 142 of 143 games since joining the Baylor program ... Orf, Muncy, Vick, Towey and Hainsfurther had multi-hit games ... Muncy had the Bears' only multi-RBI games ... Baylor is 14-3 at home this season and 52-21 in its last 73 games at Baylor Ballpark ... Baylor is now 44-10 in the all-time series against Kansas, including a 23-3 mark in games played in Waco and a 39-10 record during the Steve Smith era ... Baylor has won 13 of 16 series against Kansas in Big 12 play (only losses in 1997, 2010 and 2011).

March 24, 2012

WACO, Texas - Trent Blank and Ryan Smith combined on Baylor's first shutout of the season, and Max Muncy homered twice and drove in five as the Bears defeated Kansas, 9-0, for their sixth straight win on Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. Baylor's 5-0 start in Big 12 play is its best in the league's 16-year history.

"We are playing the first two (Big 12) series at home, so that's good," head coach Steve Smith said. "It's good to see us kind of putting a stake in the ground here at home, and obviously this season we will have to go on the road and we will be finishing on the road, so every win we get right now will be pretty significant."

Blank improved to a Big 12-best 6-0 by allowing only four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in 6.0 shutout innings. He allowed a well-hit single to Kevin Kuntz leading off the game, but none of the three hits he allowed to the next 26 batters made it out of the infield.

Blank tossed a career-high 107 pitches and fell one strikeout shy of tying his career high. Smith earned his first career save by scattering three singles across 3.0 shutout innings of relief.

Baylor's last four starting pitchers have combined to allow only an unearned run over 23.0 innings, dating back to Sunday's win against Texas Tech.

Baylor (17-7, 5-0 Big 12) scored in five consecutive innings from the second through sixth, while Kansas (10-12, 0-2 Big 12) left eight runners on base over those same five innings.

Kansas threatened to break a scoreless tie in the top of the second when two infield singles and a hit batter loaded the bases, but Blank was able to grab Kuntz's grounder back up the middle for the third out.

The Bears took advantage of their opportunity in the bottom half, as Logan Vick led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Josh Ludy's RBI groundout. That would prove to be enough, but the Bears kept adding on.

Muncy hit a two-run homer in the third inning, snapping Baylor's 15-game homerless drought that dated back to a three-home run game at UCLA on Feb. 26. The Bears also hit three home runs in Sunday's game, as Cal Towey hit a solo shot in the fifth and Muncy added a three-run homer in the sixth for his third career multi-homer game.

Blank worked around an error and a hit batter in the third and a walk and infield single in the fifth to keep the Jayhawks off the board.

"Trent was not on his A-game necessarily, particularly early," Smith said. "They had a couple of shots and he was able to wiggle out of it with either a strikeout or the one ball that got hit back to him one inning, then he kind of got going a little bit, as we did offensively."

Five different Baylor batters had two hits in the game, with Muncy leading the way with five RBI. Nathan Orf had two infield singles, scored two runs and was hit by a pitch for a team-leading 12th time this season.

Kansas starter Thomas Taylor (2-3) took the loss after allowing nine runs on 12 hits in 5.0 innings. James Stanfield was the only Jayhawk with multiple hits in a 2-for-5 effort.

Sunday's series finale is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Baylor is expected to send Max Garner to the mound against Kansas' Wes Benjamin. The Bears look to sweep consecutive Big 12 series for the first time since sweeping Kansas and Kansas State in April of 2005. Sunday will also be the first of two Dogtopia Bark in the Park events at Baylor Ballpark this season. For more information, visit www.baylorbears.com/barkinthepark.