By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Two years removed from winning five of his first six decisions as a weekend starter, Jimmy Winston has settled into his role as a "bridge guy."
            On a day when he admittedly "didn't have my best stuff, by any means," Winston (4-2) made it through 3 1/3 innings of no-hit relief and helped Baylor baseball (21-10, 3-5) clinch its first Big 12 series in almost two years with a 7-4 come-from-behind win over West Virginia (11-14, 3-5) Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. 
            "Sometimes, you've got to go out there and grind through it, and that's what I did today," said Winston, who struck out two and walked three in lowering his ERA to 2.65. "I got some really good plays behind me, and then our bats came alive and put some runs up there."
            The Bears were trailing 4-3 when Winston relieved starter Blake Helton with two out in the fourth and a pair of runners on base. Wiggling out of trouble, Winston threw a wild pitch that bounced off catcher Andy Thomas' chest protector and out in front of the plate, allowing the pitcher to tag out Vince Ippolito trying to score from third. 
            "That's just the weird thing about baseball," Winston said. "That's not a normal out. You're never going to see that more than once a year. I mean, it could happen, but it's just a weird, funny thing that happens, and I'm glad we got it."
            West Virginia, which lost a late lead to lose Friday's series opener 6-3, had just three baserunners over the last five innings, two walks and a third-strike wild pitch. Logan Freeman had a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and then closer Luke Boyd retired the side in order for the second-straight day to record his seventh save. 
            "Jimmy comes in and really kind of bridges that gap really well," said Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez, whose team won its eighth in a row and sixth-straight from the Mountaineers. "Just an upperclassman who understands what he's supposed to do and when he's supposed to do it and being able to get to the back end of the bullpen guys, who have done an amazing job. Just really happy with how al of them came out today and performed."
            Unlike Friday's game, when the Bears never led until a five-run eighth, Baylor jumped out on top with two runs I the first inning. Tre Richardson drove in Jack Pineda with a double down the right-field line and scored on a Thomas RBI single up the middle for the early 2-0 lead. 
            Matt McCormick put West Virginia on top with a three-run homer in the second and then drove in a go-ahead run in the fourth after Pineda tied it up with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the second. 
            Baylor responded again in the bottom of the fourth, bringing four runs across on Thomas' two-run double to right, Cade Currington's sac fly to center and Kyle Nevin's RBI single to right. In the first four innings, the two teams had combined for 11 runs on 12 hits with four lead changes. 
            "Even as a coach, you start to see some of these things, and you're like, 'OK, this could be a last-inning, last at-bat kind of game,''' Rodriguez said. "Really happy with our offense continuing to put pressure on the defense and squeaking out hits and finding ways to get guys I scoring position, and once again getting that hit when we needed it."
            After all the fireworks in the first four innings, the only hit the rest of the way was a single through the right side by Currington in the eighth. Baylor's bullpen of Winston, Freeman and Boyd combined to throw 5.1 innings of shutout, no-hit relief, walking three and striking out four. 
            "We just had to play our game, put the ball in play, and do what we could on the bats," Winston said. "I thought Blake battled. He, obviously, gave up that home run, but that was just one bad pitch. I thought he battled and got through it, got it to the bullpen, and we did our jobs and made it happen."
            The Bears, who improved to 19-2 this season at Baylor Ballpark, will go for the series sweep at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Fifth-year senior right-hander Hayden Kettler (3-1, 3.90 ERA) goes for Baylor and will be opposed by WVU lefty Ben Hampton (2-2, 2.63). 
            "I think we're playing with a lot of confidence, we're playing aggressive," Rodriguez said. "Sweeping is really hard, especially when you have a team that's as aggressive and as good as West Virginia. We just need to make sure we come out and right from the get-go, hit that gas pedal."


WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball clinched its first Big 12 series since May 4, 2019 with its 7-4 win over West Virginia on Saturday at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (21-10, 3-5 Big 12) took the lead from the fourth inning and never gave it up to the Mountaineers (11-14, 3-5 Big 12) to earn the win.
 
The Bears jumped ahead early as newcomer Jack Pineda reached on an error and then later scored after second-year freshman Tre Richardson doubled down the right field line. In the next at-bat, fifth-year senior, Andy Thomas singled up the middle to score Richardson to make it 2-0
 
In the second, the Mountaineers hit a three-run home run briefly take the 3-2 advantage. In the home-half, Pineda hit an RBI-single up the middle to knot things up at 3-3.
 
The Mountaineers were able to scratch a run across in the fourth to go up 4-3, however, the Bears bounced back with a two-run double from Thomas in the bottom of the fourth to take the 5-4 lead. Second-year freshman Cade Currington used a sacrifice fly to build the Bears lead and make it 6-4. Baylor continued to add runs with an RBI-single from second-year freshman Kyle Nevin, pushing the advantage to 7-4, the eventual final.
 
The two sides held each other scoreless for the final five innings, as fifth-year senior reliever Luke Boyd (7) earned his third-consecutive save this week, shutting the door in the ninth.
 
Fifth-year senior Jimmy Winston (4-2) earned his team-leading fourth win of the year after hurling 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, while WVU starter Adam Tulloch (0-3) was tabbed with the loss.
 
NOTES
• Baylor is now 19-2 at Baylor Ballpark.
• BU has won six-straight against WVU.
• Baylor extended its win streak to eight-consecutive games.
• The Bears earned their Big 12 series win since May 4, 2019 against Kansas State.
• Winston picked up his team-leading fourth win.
• Thomas led the way after going 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI.
• Currington finished the night 2-for-4 with an RBI.
• Boyd earned his third-consecutive save of the week and seventh of the year.
 
QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
"It's interesting because the game was kind of back-and-forth at the very beginning. As you're going through it you can see your team thinking that the last at-bat might win this game and then you're able to put a big inning up like we did in the fourth. Then you're able to put a lot of the bullpen in and Jimmy Winston did a great job, and then to have (Logan) Freeman and (Luke) Boyd to close it out made it really nice to preserve that win."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will go for the series sweep tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. inside Baylor Ballpark.
 
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