By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Players try to tune out all the noise, the heckling, the constant chatter from the stands. 
            But, Baylor fifth-year senior catcher Andy Thomas admits that he heard a fane shout out, "Hit it in the river!" as he came to the plate with two out in the bottom of the first inning. 
            "Little motivating, I guess," said Thomas, who connected on a 2-2 inside fastball from Kansas State starter Connor McCullough and deposited it over the right-field wall at Baylor Ballpark for a two-run home run. 
            That was just the second of 17 hits and first of three homers by the Bears (28-13, 8-8), who returned from a nine-day break for final exams to blow out the visiting Wildcats, 17-2, in Friday's series opener. 
            "It's always important to get something going in the first inning," said Thomas, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI. "Home runs are nice, it gets the energy in the dugout right. But, the real hero of the night is Hayden (Kettler). Hayden pitched his butt off. Two runs, seven hits on a Friday night versus that team, we'll take that any day of the week."
            Kettler (4-2) did earn his 20^th career win, allowing two runs on seven hits and no walks with six strikeouts. But, he got plenty of help, with the Bears jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first three innings and scoring in all but the seventh.
            "We had a 10-dday layoff, it can go either way," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "You worry about timing and rhythm and flow. . . . To come out here and be able to put those kinds of swings on the ball, that was pretty impressive."
            At the top of the lineup, sophomore Jack Pineda and second-year freshman Jared McKenzie went a combined 6-for-11 with a triple, two home runs, eight RBI and seven runs scored. 
            "At the beginning of the week, we didn't even know if we were going to play with people testing positive (for COVID-19)," said McKenzie, who hit a three-run homer in the second that pushed the lead to 6-0. "I think everybody had a little bit of uncertainty. At the same time, we've got so much talent on this team. . . . When you have guys who will pass the bat to one another, it's easy to keep things going in the right direction." 
            After McCullough (4-3) issued back-to-back one-out walks, Pineda made him pay for it with a three-run shot to right field that mad it 9-0. 
            "They made my job really easy," Rodriguez said. "They did a really good job of forcing a really good pitcher to throw strikes, and they laid some pretty good swings on some really good pitches."
            Chris Cebballos won a nine-pitch at-bat in the fourth, blasting a solo home to center field. And then in the fifth, Caleb Littlejim scored when Kettler made an errant throw to second base on a potential inning-ending double play grounder by Cameron Thompson. 
            But each time, the Bears answered, tacking on two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth on RBI singles by Kyle Nevin and Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo. 
            While Baylor freshmen Hambleton Oliver, Chandler Freeman and Adam Muirhead each threw a hitless, shutout inning, the Bears kept the bats going. Pineda led off the sixth with a triple down the left-field line and scored on McKenzie's third hit of the night, and Baylor added three more runs in the eighth on two hit batters, a Thomas double and Nevin's RBI single. 
            "It's really fun when you realize you have two freshmen and a sophomore at the top of the order," Rodriguez said. "It's just fun to consider what we have in the future."
            The series resumes with a game at 3 p.m. Saturday and wraps up with Sunday's finale starting at 12 noon.
 



WACO, Texas – Following a 10-day break, Baylor picked up right where it left off with a 17-2 thrashing of Kansas State on Friday night at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (28-13, 8-8 Big 12) have won 15 of their last 18 games after the victory over the Wildcats (27-17, 6-10 Big 12).
 
The Bears took an early 2-0 lead after fifth-year senior Andy Thomas hit a two-run homer to right field for his eighth of the season.  
 
In the second inning, BU continued to put the pressure on offensively when junior Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo used a sacrifice fly to score second-year freshman Kyle Nevin. Later in the inning, second-year freshman Jared McKenzie hit a three-run homer to stretch Baylor's lead to 6-0. 
  
The longball kept connecting in the third, as newcomer Jack Pineda hit a three-run blast to right field in the third, making it 9-0 in favor of the Bears.
 
K-State got on the board in the fourth inning with a solo shot, but Baylor responded with RBI by both true freshman Alex Gonzales and Pineda to push the Baylor advantage to 11-1.
 
In the top of the fifth, the Wildcats scratched across a run, but the Bears added another two in the home-half when Nevin hit an RBI-single and then Cardoza-Oquendo singled to left-field to make it 13-2.
 
Pineda led off the sixth with a triple, while McKenzie brought him home with a single to extend the lead to 14-2.
 
The Bears scored another three runs in the eighth inning with RBI by both Thomas and Nevin, as a wild pitch capped the scoring at 17 runs.
 
Baylor starter Hayden Kettler (4-2) was solid on the mound after throwing six innings and only allowing two runs on seven hits, walking none and striking out six. It was the third consecutive game that Kettler did not allow a walk. K-State starting pitcher Connor McCullough (4-3) was tabbed with the loss.
 
NOTES
• After starting 1-5, the Bears are now 8-8 in Big 12 play.
• Baylor is 21-3 this season at Baylor Ballpark.
• BU has won 15 of its last 18 games.
• In their last four wins, the Bears are outscoring opponents 56-9.
• Baylor scored double-digit runs for the 12^th time this season.
• The Bears scored the most runs against a Big 12 opponent since defeating Kansas State 18-0 on April 27, 2018 in Manhattan, Kansas.
• Baylor scored in every inning except the seventh.
• Kettler earned his 20^th career win and fourth of the season.
• Kettler has not allowed a walk in his last three starts (17.0 IP).
• Pineda and McKenzie combined went 6-for-11 with eight RBI, five runs scored and two home runs.
• Pineda finished a double short of the cycle.
• Thomas went 3-for-4 on the night with three runs and three RBI and his eighth home run of the season.
• With each of their home runs McKenzie and Thomas are still tied for the team lead with eight on the year.
• Nevin hit 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBI.
• Hambleton Oliver, Chandler Freeman and Adam Muirhead each threw a scoreless inning to close out the game.
 
QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
"They made my job really easy. They did a really good job of forcing a really good pitcher to throw strikes and they laid some pretty good swings on some pretty good pitches. We got really good results. I'm really happy and when you go through a year like these kids did dealing with a pandemic and going to school, this is something that no one else has done, and they were doing it with aggressiveness, style, and class. I'm really happy with everything they're doing. Coming out today after 10 days off is not an easy feat. They came out aggressive, free, and had fun out there."
 
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears and Wildcats will square off again tomorrow at 3 p.m. inside Baylor Ballpark.
 
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