Baylor
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
History Made: Baseball Beats TAMU-CC, 15-2
4/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
 2TAMU-CC (15-21) Rank: NR |
Box Score | Quotes | Photos |  15BAYLOR (31-7) Rank: #6 |
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April 17, 2012
WACO, Texas - Baylor head coach Steve Smith became the program's all-time wins leader, and the Bears tied a school record with a 20-game winning streak after a 15-2 run-rule win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.
The sixth-ranked Bears (31-7) needed only seven innings to secure their 20th straight win, tying the 1985 team for the longest winning streak in school history. Smith earned his 650th career victory, passing his predecessor Mickey Sullivan for the most wins in any sport in Baylor athletics history.
"It is absolutely special to be the winningest head coach in Baylor Baseball history," Smith said. "It's absolutely special to be right next to Mickey in the record book. It was not something that I ever thought about or set out to do, but if you stay with something long enough, these kinds of records are records of perseverance and longevity - for that I'm proud."
Austin Stone (2-0) earned the win by working a career-long 5.0 innings in his fourth career start on the mound. Stone allowed two runs on four hits with one walk and a career-high five strikeouts, and Trae Davis and Kolt Browder each worked a scoreless inning to close out the win.
"The guys are just doing what we've talked about a lot of times after these games," Smith said of the 20-game winning streak. "They're just taking them one game at a time. They've been motivated since August, and it continues to be that way today."
Cal Towey went 3-for-4 with one double, one triple, four RBI and a run scored to lead a Baylor offense that pounded out 15 hits against five Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (15-21) pitchers. Dan Evatt added a three-run homer, and Max Muncy and Logan Brown had two RBI apiece for the Bears.
Baylor took an early lead with four runs in the first on Muncy's RBI single and Evatt's two-out, three-run homer. The Bears added another run in the third when Cal Towey's RBI triple scored Josh Ludy, and Baylor had a 5-0 lead before the Islanders had their first base runner.
Stone retired the first nine batters faced before Jordan Lee led off the fourth with a single. Lee scored on a two-out RBI single, and Stafford Brantley added a RBI double to cut the Baylor lead to 5-2, but that's as close as TAMU-CC would get.
Baylor responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning, all with two outs. Brown reached on a bunt single, Nathan Orf walked, and Adam Toth reached on an error to load the bases. Muncy drew a run-scoring walk, Ludy hit a RBI single and Towey followed with a two-run double.
Stone ran into trouble in the fifth when the Islanders loaded the bases with no outs, but he struck out two and got a fly ball to shallow center field to work his way out of the jam with the Bears still leading 9-2.
Baylor capped the scoring when it sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run outburst in the sixth. Brown had a two-run single, and Towey and Orf added RBI singles in the inning.
Islanders' starter Trevor Belicek (0-1) took the loss after allowing nine runs - five of which were earned - on seven hits in 3.2 innings. Four Islander relievers combined to allow six runs on eight hits in 2.1 innings of work.
Steve DalPorto, Brown, Ludy and Toth added two hits each for the Bears, and Toth became the first Baylor player to steal three bases in a game since Brooks Pinckard on March 19, 2011.
The teams meet again at 4:05 p.m. Wednesday at Baylor Ballpark, and Wednesday's game will be $1 hot dog night. Baylor returns to Big 12 play Friday when it takes on Texas A&M in the final Big 12 edition of the Battle of the Brazos. Friday's game is in College Station at 6:35 p.m., and then the series shifts to Baylor Ballpark for the final two games. Saturday's game in Waco is at 6:35 p.m. and Sunday's series finale is slated for 2:05 p.m.
