March 2, 2013

15 HOUSTON (8-2) Rank: NR

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E 4 5 0 0 2 2 2 X X 15 6 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 X X 4 5 3 Final Stats Houston, Texas • Attendance: 984

4 BAYLOR (4-6) Rank: NR

STATS COMPARISON Runs 15 4 AB 24 27 Hits 6 5 RBI 13 3 BB 14 3 SO 1 9 LOB 7 6 STAT LEADERS Survance 2 H 1 Five Barker 1 2B 1 Two None -- 3B -- None Davis 1 HR -- None Two 4 RBI 2 Towey Two 3 R 2 Orf Montemayor 1 SB -- None PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO W - Pruitt (3-0) 6.0 5 4 4 3 7 L - Stone (0-1) 1.0 2 6 5 3 1 POSTGAME NOTES Nathan Orf extended his hitting streak to eight games ... Cal Towey and Mitch Price extended their hitting streaks to five games ... Jake Miller extended his on-base streak to seven games ... Towey extended his on-base streaks to six games ... Towey has multiple RBI in five of his last six games, has five such games this season and 28 in his career ... Lawton Langford has reached base in each of his last three games ... Miller extended his hitting streak to four games ... Baylor is now 87-61 all-time versus Houston and 8-4 in neutral site games in a series that dates back to 1951 ... Baylor is now 227-153-1 all-time against current members of Conference USA ... Baylor hasn't given up 15 runs in a game since the last game of the 2009 season in a 15-12 loss to Minnesota on May 31, 2009 at the Baton Rouge Regional ... Baylor is now 12-11 all-time at the Astros College Classic in its eighth appearance.

HOUSTON - Baylor's offense did not have enough to keep up with Houston on Saturday afternoon in the Bears' (4-6) second game at Minute Maid Park in the 2013 Astros Foundation College Classic. The Cougars (8-2) loaded bases in each of first two innings and cashed in both times en route to a 15-4 win, ending a four-game losing streak to Baylor.

After the first three batters of the game reached base for Houston, Jonathan Davis roped a grand slam. Then in the second, the first two batters reached again. Following a sacrifice bunt, Kyle Kirk scored two runs with a single. An out and two walks later, Caleb Barker cleared a loaded bases situation with a double to provide an insurmountable 9-0 lead.

"Well, in the course of a season you're going to have some bad ball games and this is clearly one of them," said Baylor Head Coach Steve Smith as all five of the walks in the first two innings came around to score. "From the get go on the mound we had trouble throwing strikes and it seemed like everybody that we put in there had trouble throwing strikes. I thought we competed OK at the plate but this game was all about balls and strikes off the mound, and it was just a bad day."

Each time Baylor started to chip away at the lead, Houston answered. In the bottom of the fourth, the Bears scored on an RBI double by Cal Towey, which extended his career-best RBI streak to six games. After a Mitch Price single moved Towey to third, Adam Toth brought him home on a ground out.

However, the Cougars scored two runs of their own in the top of the fifth. The same happened in the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth. Towey drove in his second run of the game on a ground out that scored Langford after he walked and advanced on a Nathan Orf double. A wild pitch pushed across BU's second run. But Houston responded with two more runs in the sixth and two again in the seventh before the game was called after Baylor went scoreless to end the seventh.

UH starter Austin Pruitt earned the win (3-0) on six innings of work, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. BU starter Austin Stone took the loss (0-1) after surrendering six runs (five earned) on two hits and three walks with one strikeout in one inning.

Davis and Barker each had one hit and four RBI for the Cougars, while Kirk had a hit with three RBI. Towey led Baylor with two RBI and one hit. Wendel Duncan, Jake Miller and Orf also collected one hit apiece.

Baylor completes its weekend at the Astros Classic tomorrow night against No. 12 Rice at 6 p.m. CT. BU RHP Max Garner (0-2, 3.27 ERA) is scheduled to take on Rice RHP John Simms (3-0, 0.00 ERA).