Baylor
16-13, 2-5
West Virginia
18-10, 3-1
BSB Falls in 7-6 Opener at West Virginia
4/8/2022 9:29:00 PM | Baseball
All nine starters reached base safely for the Bears in back-and-forth contest
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Baylor baseball (16-13, 2-5) dropped a 7-6 ballgame to open the series against West Virginia (18-10, 3-1) Friday night at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown, W.Va.
All nine starters for the Bears reached base safely as BU erased an early 3-0 deficit and led for most of the most of the game, but 11 runners left on base and a season-high 15 strikeouts were enough to fuel a Mountaineer comeback.
Once play resumed following a 15-minute rain delay in the first inning, WVU jumped out in front with three runs in the bottom of the second to take the first lead of the night. However, Baylor responded immediately as Jared McKenzie singled in a run and Kyle Nevin tied the score at 3-3 with a two-run knock in the top of the third.
The Bears scored the next two runs of the game in the fourth as Jack Pineda doubled in a run, then later scored as Tre Richardson reached on a Mountaineer error by avoiding a tag at first base. WVU cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom half with a solo home run, but once again BU answered in the sixth as Casen Neumann picked up an RBI for the ninth time in his last 11 games.
In the eighth, WVU got to Baylor reliever Adam Muirhead who had previously worked two scoreless innings. An RBI double pulled the Mountaineers back within one at 6-5, then a bases-loaded walk allowed by Mason Marriott knotted the tally.
In the ninth, the Bears were one strike away from forcing extra innings, but WVU scored the winning run off another bases-loaded walk.
NOTES
• Baylor still holds a 14-12 advantage in the all-time series over West Virginia, including a 9-8 mark against the Mountaineers under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
• With three more double plays, the Bears extended their season total to 33, which ranks second nationally.
• Tre Richardson (20), Jared McKenzie (16), Jack Pineda (12) and Chase Wehsener (12) each extended their on-base streaks.
• Alex Gonzales notched his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
• Kyle Nevin collected his team-leading 10th multi-RBI game of the year.
STAT OF THE GAME
9 – All nine Baylor starters reached base safely and eight of the nine starters recorded a base hit.
TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On tonight's game…
"It was a Friday night game in the Big 12. You had two pretty good pitchers going at it at the beginning. We were kind of trading blows for a while there, through the first five innings. We were able to get a couple more runs across, which we were really excited about, but we just couldn't finish the game out tonight."
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (16-13, 2-5) and West Virginia (18-10, 3-1) return for game two of the series on Saturday, April 9, with first pitch moved up to 12 p.m. CT due to the threat of inclement weather.
For the latest news on the Baylor baseball team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Braithwaite, Trey (2-0)
L: Marriott, Mason (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Pineda, Jack 1
RBI: Pineda, Jack 1 ; Richardson, Tre 1 ; McKenzie, Jared 1 ; Nevin, Kyle 2 ; Neumann, Casen 1
SH: Wimpee, Beau 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pineda, Jack 1 ; Richardson, Tre 1 ; Nevin, Kyle 1 ; Cardoza-Oquendo, Esteban 1 ; Gonzales, Alex 2
SB: Cardoza-Oquendo, Esteban 1
HBP: Neumann, Casen 1
Batting:
2B: Wetherholt, J.J. 1 ; Holbrook, McGwire 1 ; Kluska, Mikey 1
HR: Holbrook, McGwire 1
RBI: Wetherholt, J.J. 1 ; Blasick, Nathan 1 ; Holbrook, McGwire 1 ; Barry, Braden 1 ; Kluska, Mikey 2
SH: Abernathy, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Davis, Austin 1 ; Scott II, Victor 1 ; Holbrook, McGwire 2 ; Barry, Braden 1 ; Kluska, Mikey 1 ; Dowdell, Kevin 1
SB: Barry, Braden 1
CS: Davis, Austin 1
HBP: Davis, Austin 1 ; Scott II, Victor 1
