By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            OKLAHOMA CITY – Even after Kansas State's Zach Kokoska and Nick Goodwin hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning of Thursday's elimination game at the Big 12 Championship, Baylor had to like its chances with a one-run lead and one of the most reliable bullpens in the country. 
            But, not even Jimmy Winston, Ryan Leckich and Luke Boyd could stop the K-State train once it started rolling. 
            The seventh-seeded Wildcats (32-22) rallied from a 3-0 deficit and used a seven-run seventh to send the sixth-seeded Bears (31-20) home with their second-straight loss, 9-4, in the early-morning game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. 
            "Truthfully, the inning got away from us," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said, "because we gave them a couple free bases and then they just hit a bunch of singles and then, obviously, the home run. But, we couldn't stop it when we needed to."
            Through the first 5 2/3 innings, Baylor starter Hayden Kettler shut out the explosive K-State offense on three hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts and seemed to be cruising with a 3-0 lead in the sixth. 
            All that changed, though, on two swings, with Kokoska belting his 15^th homer of the season to right and Goodwin crushing one to left field for his 10^th round-tripper of the season. Kettler, who had been an out away from taking the 3-0 shutout into the seventh, exited the game with a 3-2 lead. 
            "The big thing about Hayden is that he doesn't have a ton of velocity," Rodriguez said. "You have to make sure you really minimize those (mistakes), because if you make a mistake with lower velocity, then it has a better chance of getting hit. He just made a couple of mistakes, and they got to him."
            Winston (6-4) retired the first two batters he faced, but gave up a one-out double to 9-hole hitter Dylan Caplan in the seventh and an RBI single up the middle to Cameron Thompson that tied it at 3-all. Leckich, brought in after Winston hit Dylan Phillips, gave up three-straight singles that gave K-State a 6-3 lead.  
            One of the top closers in the nation over the last two seasons, Boyd struck out Goodwin and seemed to have Kokoska picked off first when the Wildcats tried to sneak in a run with a delayed double steal. But, when second baseman Tre Richardson chased Kokoska back to first base but couldn't get the tag down in time, Caleb Littlejim deposited Boyd's next pitch into the left-field bullpen for a three-run homer and 9-3 lead. 
            "(Kettler) left a couple pitches up, but that's baseball and that happens," said centerfielder Jared McKenzie, who was 2-for-5 and drove in three of the Bears' four runs. "And the guys we sent in after him, those are the guys that have been good for us all year long. It's just the way the game goes. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It just sucks being on the losing side, but that's just part of it today."
            McKenzie certainly did his part, leading off the third inning with a solo homer off K-State starter Connor McCullough. The initial foul-ball call by the first-base umpire was overturned on review, giving the second-year freshman his 10^th homer of the season. 
            "Honestly, I didn't know if it was fair or foul, so I was just running and hoping they called it fair," McKenzie said. "And thankfully, they did."
            An inning later, McKenzie followed back-to-back two-out hits by Chase Wehsener and Jack Pineda with a single up the middle that plated two runs and gave the Bears a 3-0 lead. 
            Carson Seymour (3-4) gave up just two hits over the last five innings, the only other run scoring on Andy Thomas' two-out triple in the seventh. 
            McKenzie said the Dartmouth transfer "had a plus-plus fastball" that he kept down in the zone, "and we kept going after it."
            "Good fastball, then he'd mix in that slider and it was tough for us to lay off of it," McKenzie said. "Tip your hat to him, because he came out and threw the ball really well and gave them a chance to win."
            Coupled with Wednesday's 11-4 loss to Texas Tech, the Bears became the first team eliminated from the Big 12 tournament and have dropped six of their last eight games. The NCAA regional selections will be announced at 11 a.m. Monday on ESPN2. 
            "I hope the committee sees what our guys have dealt with the past three weeks to a month," said Rodriguez, who was missing starting pitchers Tyler Thomas and Blake Helton coming into the tournament. "I would like to be able to say that we've done enough, but we'll see. That's going to be on their plate on Monday. I really do think that once we have everybody back, it changes the dynamic of this program."  


OKLAHOMA CITY – Baylor baseball dropped its elimination game to Kansas State, 9-4, on Thursday in the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship inside Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The Bears (31-20) jumped ahead 3-0 on the Wildcats (32-22) before giving up a seven-spot in the seventh inning.
 
Second-year freshman Jared McKenzie started the scoring off in the bottom of the third with a leadoff home run for his 10^th of the season and put BU up 1-0. Baylor came back in the fourth with another two runs, both with two outs in the inning. A pair of singles from Chase Wehsener and Jack Pineda and a wild pitch set up runners on second and third when McKenzie came through with a two-RBI single up the middle to give the Bears the 3-0 edge.
 
K-State got back in the game in the sixth with back-to-back two-out solo home runs as Baylor led 3-2 heading into the seventh. The Wildcat offense exploded in the seventh inning with seven runs to take control 9-3. Baylor added a run in the home-half after fifth-year senior Andy Thomas hit an RBI-triple off the wall to make it 9-4, the eventual final.
 
Fifth-year senior Jimmy Winston (6-4) was tabbed with the loss in relief, while K-State's reliever Carson Seymour (3-4) earned the win. Fifth-year senior Hayden Kettler was solid on the mound after hurling 5.2 innings while giving up two runs on five hits and striking out two.
 
NOTES
• Baylor is now 37-41 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and 33-33 inside Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
• Kansas State evened the season series at 2-2.
• McKenzie hit his 10^th home run of the year after not hitting any in the shortened 2020 season.
• McKenzie finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBI.
• Pineda went 2-for-5 with a run scored.
• Thomas hit his first triple of the season.
 
QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
"K-State has a very good offense, obviously their numbers show that and the success that they've had down the stretch just showed that offensively they're a really good program. We had our older guys going on the mound today and we just made a few too many mistakes. Truthfully, the (seventh) inning got away from us because we gave up free bases and a bunch of singles and then obviously the home runs but we just couldn't stop it when we needed to."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will hope to hear their name called during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Monday, May 31 at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
 
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