Final Stats

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas - Baylor (7-13) dropped a 4-3 decision to Sam Houston State (10-12) Wednesday evening at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears were unable to recover from the Bearkats' four-run fourth inning.

BU starter Drew Tolson cruised through the first three innings as he retired the first seven batters he faced. However, things spun out of control in the fourth after a leadoff single and a throwing error at second base by West Tunnell to put runners at the corners with no outs. Following an RBI ground out by Travis Lee, Dylan Ebbs singled home another run. Spence Rahm grounded out to drive in the third run of the inning and the fourth run came home on Collin Yelich's two-out single.

The Bears cut into the lead in the sixth with a pair of runs, though. Logan Brown had a one-out single and stole second base with two outs. Duncan Wendel then drove him in with a single to right. After a walk to Aaron Dodson, Mitch Price reached on a throwing error at short stop that allowed a run to score.

Baylor nearly rallied to tie it in the ninth with two outs but come up just short. Matt Menard reached on a two-out error and scored on Justin Arrington's double to right that was about five feet short of leaving the park to tie the game. Unfortunately, Arrington stayed put at second as Levi Gilcrease flied out to right to end the game.

SHSU starter Ebbs (3-1) earned the win after allowing two runs on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings while Sam Odom earned his first save by giving up a run on one hit with two strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Tolson (0-4) took the loss, surrendering four runs on five hits with two strikeouts in four innings.

NOTES
*Baylor leads the all-time series vs. Sam Houston State 61-43, 34-17 in Waco, 14-8 under Smith and 27-26 in Huntsville.

*Baylor is 207-115-1 all-time vs. current members of the Southland Conference and 2-1 this year after topping Northwestern State Feb. 25 in Waco and beating SHSU last night in Huntsville.

*Baylor is 221-148 in March under Steve Smith and 1-8 this season.

*The game had a delayed start due to weather - it was supposed to start at 6:30 p.m. CT and did not start until 8:05 p.m.

*West Tunnell has a hit in his last three games and posted his second multi-hit effort of the season.

*Duncan Wendel has reached base in his last six games.

STAT OF THE GAME
5 - The amount inning of scoreless relief by Baylor newcomers Kody Hessemer (2.1 IP) and Troy Montemayor (2.2 IP).

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"We fought. We didn't do enough offensively, but give their guys some credit for that. They had two young right-handers who pitched pretty well. We had one inning defensively where we don't make a pretty routine play, then we're out of position on a hit-and-run, and that led to all four of their runs. It is what it is - we're not very good sometimes. We pitched it very well. We're getting a lot of mileage out of some guys that are just competing." - Baylor head coach Steve Smith

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor hosts West Virginia for its Big 12 home opening series this weekend. Games are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CT Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday on FOX College Sports and 1 p.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Southwest.