By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            During a five-game winning streak coming into a weekend series against Xavier, Baylor baseball batted .344 with 12 extra-bats hits and averaged 9.2 runs. 
            The Bears (8-4) found another way to win Friday night at Baylor Ballpark, capitalizing on Xavier's self-inflicted wounds (four errors and three wild pitches) and using two bunt singles, two other infield hits and a pair of sac bunts to defeat the visiting Musketeers, 7-3. 
            "In these Friday night games, those little things help a lot," said Antonio Valdez, who had Baylor's first hit with a leadoff bunt single in the third. "Chase (Wehsener) laying down a nice bunt to get the runner into scoring position, and next thing you know we score a run without getting a ball out of the infield. If we can capitalize on those little things that break a team down – you saw tonight, that's really helpful."
            Facing 6-6 left-hander Trevor Olson, the Bears didn't have a hit through the first two innings and had one of their two baserunners wiped out by a double play. But, in classic "small ball," Valdez beat out a bunt single, went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Wehsener's sacrifice bunt and scored on Jared McKenzie's grounder to second. 
             "I wanted to see (Olson) move around, maybe see if he could make a play," Valdez said. "I had been thinking about it a little, maybe trying it. if it didn't work out, it was the first pitch of the at-bat. So, I wanted to do it early, maybe get the ball rolling with the team a little bit and get the bats going, and it ended up working out."
            Valdez scored again in the fifth when he reached on a two-out error by the rightfielder and came across on Wehsener's double to the gap in right-center field. 
            Baylor starter Tyler Thomas carried that 2-0 lead into the sixth, retiring 10 batters in a row. But, the Musketeers struck for three runs on doubles by Natale Monastra and Luke Franzoni and an error to take a 3-2 lead. In his fourth quality start, Thomas allowed two earned runs on six hits and one walk with a career-high-tying nine strikeouts. 
            "I know the result isn't exactly how you want it, but he just did a great job keeping their hitters off-balance, moved the fastball in and out," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "He made a couple mistakes, but nothing ridiculous. I was pretty happy overall with Tyler's performance, he did a great job."
            Going back to the small-ball attack, the Bears tied it up in the bottom of the sixth. After Jack Pineda was hit by a pitch and Tre Richardson reached on a bunt single, Andy Thomas moved them up with a sac bunt. Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo hit a sharp grounder that got by third baseman Grant Stephenson to score the tying run. 
            And then in the eighth, the wheels fell off for the Musketeers. Baylor put runners on the corners with one out on a pair of errors, then Cardoza-Oquendo came through with a high-chop single over third to give the Bears the lead back. 
            "I like those situations," said Cardoza-Oquendo, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI. "You get to simplify the game a little bit more  . . . it was definitely a fun at-bat. Especially close games, late in the game, that's what every player dreams about and visualizes going into each game. I was just glad to be a part of that help the team get the win."
            The Bears tacked on three more insurance runs in the inning on a two-out infield hit by freshman Cam Caley, a wild pitch and another RBI hit by Wehsener.
            Baylor's "super seniors," Logan Freeman and Luke Boyd, took care of the rest. Freeman worked two scoreless innings, then Boyd worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to close it out. 
            Blake Helton (1-1, 4.15 ERA) is the scheduled starter when the Bears go for the series win in Saturday's 3 p.m. game, with Hayden Kettler (0-0, 3.86) going in Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale. The games will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Derek Smith and former Baylor standout Richard Cunningham calling the action. 
 


WACO, Texas – Thanks to a four-run eighth inning, Baylor baseball defeated Xavier at Baylor Ballpark on Friday night. The Bears (8-4) defeated the Musketeers (3-5) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
 
The offenses were slow to start for both sides, until second-year freshman Jared McKenzie used an RBI-ground out to put BU up 1-0 in the third inning.
 
Later on in the fifth, first baseman Chase Wehsener hit an RBI-double, to double the Baylor lead to 2-0.
 
Xavier responded with three runs in the top of the sixth to take the brief 3-2 lead, but Baylor tied things up in the home-half with an RBI-double courtesy of third baseman Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo.
 
In the eight, the Bears made a run with an RBI-single from Cardoza-Oquendo to give BU the 4-3 advantage. Baylor was not done, as a wild pitch allowed fifth-year senior Andy Thomas to score from third. Later in the frame, an RBI-single from in true freshman Cam Caley's first collegiate at-bat and another RBI-single from Wehsener allowed Baylor to solidify their lead at 7-3, the eventual final.
 
In a relief effort, fifth-year senior Logan Freeman (1-1) earned his first win of the season after throwing two scoreless innings, while Xavier's Dorsey Chatham (0-1) was tabbed with the loss. Baylor starter Tyler Thomas had a solid outing with six innings pitched, while allowing three runs, two earned and striking out nine batters. His nine strikeouts tied his career high that he set last Saturday against Memphis.
 
NOTES
• Tyler Thomas tied his career high with nine strikeouts for the second-consecutive week.
• Cardoza-Oquendo tied his season-high with two, which resulted in two RBI.
• The Bears recorded their second- highest strikeout total for the season with 13.
• Baylor has won six games in a row, tying its longest win streak since 2019.
• Freeman picked up his third career win at Baylor.
 
QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
"When you have a chance to win ugly, it's a good sign your guys are grinding. Things didn't really go great tonight, in some respects, but at the same time I really liked how our guys continued to push, continued to fight. We executed in some big situations and we were able to get some runs across the board. Overall, it's a great team win on different aspects. It wasn't pretty, but I'm never going to apologize for a win."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The two sides will do it all again tomorrow for the second game of the series at 3 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.
 
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