By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            While the Baylor Bears had more hits in eight innings in Sunday's series finale than they had in the first two games combined against ninth-ranked Texas Tech, the biggest difference was just coming through in the clutch.
            Led by Kyle Nevin's five-hit day, the Bears (22-22, 5-13) had five two-out hits and went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position to defeat the Red Raiders, 11-7, and snap a five-game conference losing streak.
            "What's funny is, the past couple of days we kind of had similar situations, with bases loaded, guys on second and third, guy on second base. We hit a ball hard, and it's just right at somebody," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "Today was the exact opposite.
"Guys were finding a way to put the ball in play, whether it's a flare down the left-field line or a ground ball to the right side or Kyle Nevin smashing a double into the gap. Those are things that were evading us the past few days. . . . With guys in scoring position, we were able to come through. I'm just really proud of the guys for the resiliency they showed this weekend.
            Tech (31-16, 11-7) actually took the lead on a first-inning solo homer by Cole Stillwell off Baylor starter Blake Helton. But, the Bears answered immediately with two-out doubles by Nevin and Cam Caley in the bottom half of the frame to go up 3-1.
            "I just felt comfortable in the zone today and swinging at good pitches and waiting for my pitch," said Nevin, who tied a program record with three doubles in a Big 12 game. "And if it came with two strikes, it came with two strikes. But, it's good to get a couple of hits."
            Or, a career-high five.
Nevin, who had three two-strike hits, is the first Baylor player to have a five-hit game since Shea Langeliers went 5-for-6 with 11 RBIs in a 24-6 win over Omaha on June 1, 2019, in the Los Angeles Regional.
            "Coach Ben (Breazeale) and Coach Rod have really stressed on me hitting pitches in the zone," Nevin said. "It's really helped me see the ball early in the count and lay off those pitches that maybe earlier in the year I was chasing a little bit., really emphasizing getting my hit to pitch."
            Making his first start since the opening weekend, Helton went a season-high 2.0 innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk while throwing 37 pitches and leaving with a 7-1 lead.
            "It was good to get Blake out there," Rodriguez said. "We've got to get his pitch count up. Hopefully, he can jump into a starting role. You can tell he doesn't have the stamina. So, we're battling that."
            Helton, who threw 1 1/3 innings of shutout, one-hit relief in last weekend's series at Texas, said "it felt really good to be back out on the mound."
            "Hopefully, I can just build up from here and go more and more innings every week," he said.
            In the second inning, Nevin chased Tech starter Trendan Parish (2-2) with a bases-clearing, three-run double and scored on what amounted to a swinging bunt single by Caley.
            Jace Jung greeted Baylor reliever Matt Voelker (4-5) with his 12^th home run of the year leading off the third inning. But, the Bears answered again, scoring four runs in the fourth inning on a Nevin double, three walks and run-scoring singles by Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo and Jacob Shoenvogel to extend the lead to 11-2.
            "Harrison Caley takes a bases-loaded walk . . . Antonio (Valdez) walked four times. Everybody wants to swing and get big RBIs, but that was the joy of it, watching guys. When you see that, you're proud of it," Rodriguez said. "Don't force an at-bat because you want to get a hit, force an at-bat because you get a good pitch to hit. That's the big difference today."
            Voelker gave up a two-run homer to Ty Coleman in the fifth and another run in the sixth, but worked into the eighth, throwing a season-high five innings. The Red Raiders added a pair of unearned runs in the eighth, but Adam Muirhead finished it off with a strikeout and groundout after hitting back-to-back batters in the ninth.
            "Matt Voelker came in and did a phenomenal job," Rodriguez said. "You can tell, he's tired, it was a hot day. He was out there a while, our offense was out there for a while. Him jumping back and forth was a really impressive thing on his end. We kept wanting him to go back out, wanted to ride him a little bit."
            Jack Pineda (3-for-5), Cam Caley (2-for-4) and Shoenvogel (2-for-4) also had multi-hit days for the Bears, while Stillwell, Coleman and Dillon Carter combined for six of Tech's 10 hits and drove in four runs.
            Baylor will host Tarleton State (13-30) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and break for final exams before a road series at Kansas State on May 13-15 in Manhattan, Kan. The Bears went 2-2 this week, rallying from a five-run deficit to defeat Incarnate Word, 8-7 on Tuesday.



THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Kyle Nevin sparked Baylor baseball (22-22, 5-13) to an 11-7 victory over No. 9 Texas Tech (31-16, 11-7) on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

Nevin recorded the Bears' first five-hit game of the season and tied the program record for most doubles in a Big 12 game with three. He also drove in four runs to tie his career high, while Jack Pineda, Cam Caley and Jacob Schoenvogel combined to add seven hits and five more RBIs in the winning effort.

Though Tech struck first with a solo homer in the top of the first, BU responded prompty with three runs in the bottom half. Nevin doubled in Pineda, then scored on Caley's two-run double that was fair by inches down the left field line.

The Bears plated four more in the second to jump out to a 7-1 advantage behind Nevin's bases-clearing two-bagger. A pair of walks and a Pineda single set up the Baylor cleanup man to extend his RBI total to 43 on the year.

BU starter Blake Helton exited after two innings, making his first start since the season's opening weekend, and handed the ball off to Matt Voelker who went on to throw the next five innings. He kept the Red Raiders in check, and benefited from a four-run fourth inning by his teammates in green and gold.
 
It was a Harrison Caley walk with the bases juiced, followed by an Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo run-scoring single that increased the Baylor lead to 9-2, following a TTU home run in the fourth. Schoenvogel kept the line moving with a two-run knock to make it 11-2.

The Red Raiders would scratch a few more across throughout the later innings, but Adam Muirhead was able to finish it off for the Bears without allowing a run in getting the final six outs. BU avoided the sweep by salvaging the series for its second top-10 win of the season.

NOTES
• Baylor collected its second win over a top-10 opponent in 2022, improving to 13-20 against such teams in the Steve Rodriguez era.
• Baylor is now 6-8 against a top-10 ranked Texas Tech team under Rodriguez.
• BU improved to 7-4 on Sunday's and 7-2 when wearing its gold jerseys.
• The Bears improved to 14-3 when out-hitting their opponent and tallied double-digit knocks for the 17^th time this year.
• Baylor extended its streak to 23 games in a row with an extra-base hit.
• The Bears have tallied two or more XBH in 12 of their last 13 games.
• Kyle Nevin logged a career-high five hits, becoming the first Baylor player to have such a game since Shea Langeliers did so on June 1, 2019 in the Los Angeles Regional against Omaha.
• Nevin tied the program record for most doubles in a Big 12 game with three.
• Nevin also tied his career high with four RBIs, his 13^th multi-RBI performance of the season.
• Jack Pineda notched his 16^th multi-hit game of the season.
• Cam Caley recorded his second multi-hit and multi-RBI efforts of 2022.
• Jacob Schoenvogel collected his second multi-hit and first multi-RBI game of the year.
• Antonio Valdez walked four times to tie the program record for walks in a Big 12 game.
• Matt Voelker set a season high with five strikeouts and five innings pitched in relief. He also earned his fourth win of the season.
 
STAT OF THE GAME
5 – Kyle Nevin logged a career-high five hits, including three doubles which tied Baylor's all-time record for doubles in a Big 12 game.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On the offense's performance…
"What's funny is the past couple of days we kind of had similar situations, with bases loaded, guys on second and third, guy on second base, we hit a ball hard and it's just right at somebody. Today was the exact opposite. Guys were finding a way to put the ball in play, whether it's a flare down the left-field line or a ground ball down the right side or Kyle Nevin smashing a double into the gap. Those are just things that were evading us the past few days. So for our guys to continue to do what they've been doing, just lay good at-bats throughout the game. With guys in scoring position today, we were able to come through, and I'm just really proud of the guys for the resiliency they showed this weekend."
 
Sophomore OF Kyle Nevin
On salvaging the series…
"Definitely huge. Big momentum. We have Tarleton this Tuesday and then we have ten days off. So just showing that we can fight and beat these big teams. The offense came to play and the pitching kept us in the game. It was definitely a good team win."

Junior RHP Blake Helton
On making his first start since February…
"It felt really good to be back out on the mound. I've been watching in the dugout for awhile. Last week at UT, I got a little bit over an inning. It was nice to be able to make another start. Hopefully, I can just build up from here and go more and more innings every week."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (22-22) hosts Tarleton (13-30) for a midweek matchup on Tuesday, May 3, at 6:30 p.m. CT at Baylor Ballpark.

For the latest news on the Baylor baseball team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.