Baylor
UT Arlington
Baseball Slugs Way to 14-4 Victory Over UTA
4/9/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2013
 4 UT ARLINGTON (16-15) Rank: NR |
Waco, Texas • Attendance: 2,358 |  14BAYLOR (17-16) Rank: NR |
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WACO, Texas- An offensive outburst of seven runs in the sixth, five in the seventh and two in the eighth paved the way to a 14-4 run-rule victory for Baylor over UT Arlington on Tuesday evening at Baylor Ballpark. The win marked the Bears' third in a row, sixth in their last seven games and tied their high water mark of the season with a 17-16 overall record.
Slamming a season-high 21 hits, the most since doing the same at Georgia on Feb. 27, 2011, Baylor was led by two career performances. Nathan Orf posted a 5-for-5 game with four RBI to set two new career highs. Jake Miller went a career-best 4-for-5 with three RBI, three runs scored, two doubles and pitched his first collegiate inning (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) in the eighth to end the game.
"[Jake] is seeing it well, looks like he's comfortable at the plate, playing good shortstop," said BU Head Coach Steve Smith. "We've been throwing him in bullpens looking for an opportunity to do what we did tonight, as much for him as for us. Maybe more so for him. He's got a good arm, it's got good life on it. He might be a guy that can get a chance to go out on the mound and we just wanted to give him a chance to go out there and do it, and we had the opportunity to do it."
Baylor also received a career performance on the mound as Josh Michalec tied a career-high three innings pitched and struck out a career-best seven batters to earn the win. Improving to 4-2 on the season, Michalec entered the game in the fifth inning, only gave up one hit and fanned all but three of the 10 batters he faced to give the offense a chance.
"He was on his A-game tonight," Smith said. "He punched out seven of the first eight he faced. He had all three - fastball, slider and changeup - working. That was what really gave us the opportunity to relax and really swing the bat."
Trailing 3-0 after a second-inning three-run UTA (16-15) homer, Baylor erupted in the sixth for seven runs on eight hits. Orf and Lawton Langford both went 2-for-2 in the inning as runs scored on a Grayson Porter single, wild pitch, Miller two-run double, Cal Towey double and Orf two-run single.
An inning later, the Bears scored five runs on five hits in the seventh to give them four innings with five or more runs in the last four games. Runs came home on a Steve DalPorto sacrifice bunt, Miller single, Towey walk and Orf RBI single that scored two runs after a fielding error.
Following a UTA run in the eighth, Baylor closed the game on a Logan Brown sacrifice fly and Orf single to give the Bears their second straight run-rule win.
Taking the loss for the Mavericks was Chad Nack (4-4), who gave up four runs on four hits in 0.2 innings.
Five other Baylor hitters tallied multi-hit days. Porter went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Brown went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Towey was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run. Langford and Duncan Wendel also had two hits apiece.
With their third three-game winning streak of the season, the Bears finish a season-long 11-game home stand this weekend against No. 8 Oklahoma. Games are slated for 6:35 p.m. CT on Friday, 3:05 p.m. on Saturday and 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.
-BU-
