THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (14-11) continued its offensive hot streak with a dominating 15-1 win over East Tennessee State (17-6) Friday night at Baylor Ballpark in Waco.

The Bears logged six extra-base hits for the third game in a row, led by Jack Pineda's four-hit performance. Jared McKenzie and Ian Groves also bashed home runs in the victory.

Although ETSU scored the opening run in the top of the first, it was all Baylor as the Bears hit around in the bottom of the second, plating five runs to take the lead. Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo, Pineda, Tre Richardson and McKenzie each had RBI hits in the inning.

In the third, Cardoza-Oquendo drove in another run, chasing in Harrison Caley to make it 6-1. Then in the sixth, McKenzie crushed one off the center-field batter's eye that ricocheted past the ETSU outfielder, and he raced all the way around the bases for his second inside-the-park home run of the year.

After a sacrifice fly added to the tally in the sixth, BU extended its lead with another five-run frame, this time in the seventh, as Kyle Nevin, Chase Wehsener and Groves got in on the RBI action. Groves parked a pinch-hit home run to move the total to 14-1, his second long ball of the year.

Baylor scored one more for good measure in the eighth, as Richardson got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Tyler Thomas (4-3) earned the win, throwing five innings with just one unearned run allowed. Adam Muirhead, Cole Stasio and Henry Cone combined to give the Bears four scoreless frames of relief to see out the victory.

NOTES
• BU is now 3-0 all-time against ETSU and 5-0 all-time against SoCon opponents.
• Baylor improved to 81-33 (.711) at home over the past five seasons, including a 9-7 mark in 2022.
• With 15 runs on Friday against ETSU, the Bears have now scored 46 runs over their last three games.
• 46 runs is the most scored by Baylor over a three-game stretch since April 24-28, 2018 when the Bears scored 51 (17 at Texas State, 18 at Kansas State, 16 at Kansas State).
• This is the 11th time in the Rodriguez era that the Bears have scored at least 30 runs in back-to-back games and second time this season.
• BU out-hit its opponent for the eighth-consecutive game and improved to 11-3 in such games this year.
• The Bears tallied double-digit hits for the 11th time this year and sixth time in the last eight games.
• Baylor knocked six extra-base hits for the third consecutive game.
• Five Bears drove in multiple runs in Jack Pineda (2), Tre Richardson (3), Jared McKenzie (2), Ian Groves (3) and Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo (2).
• Jack Pineda tied a career high with four hits, his team-leading 12^th multi-hit game of the year, and extended his on-base streak to eight games.
• Jared McKenzie tallied his ninth multi-hit game of the season and extended his on-base streak to 11 games.
• Harrison Caley and Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo each recorded their fifth multi-hit games of 2022.
• Casen Neumann drove in a run for the fifth-straight game, and sixth time in his last seven appearances.
• Tre Richardson extended his on-base streak to 16 games.
• Ian Groves extended his on-base streak to six games with a pinch-hit, three-run homer, his second HR of the year.
 
STAT OF THE GAME
46 – The Bears have scored a combined 46 runs in their last three games.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On tonight's offensive success…
"I thought our guys, from the first hitter on, had really good quality at bats. Once we got in the bullpen, you could kind of tell our guys were feeling a bit better and more comfortable and just taking more quality swings. Our guys did a much better job as the game went on. That's what really excites me, is that they're able to get it going to the pace that we need pretty quick."
 
Sophomore OF Jared McKenzie
On how fun the past few games have been…
"It's a lot more fun when everyone's hitting the ball and we're scoring more runs, and even more when we win ballgames because of it. Pitchers did a great job of holding them to one run tonight. We're just going to come out here the rest of the weekend and try to do the same thing. It's promising and exciting knowing that there's a lot of Big 12 play left and our offense is starting to click."
 
Senior DH Ian Groves
On contagious hitting…
"I think it's just the mentality at the plate for everybody. Everybody's looking to do damage and looking to get their pitch. When we get it, we're not really missing right now, so we're gonna try to keep that going as long as possible. Power helps too, it gets runs in."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (14-11) and ETSU (17-6) tangle Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark in the second game of the series, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. CT.
 
For the latest news on the Baylor baseball team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.