ANOTHER SUNDAY SPECIAL
4/27/2025 11:36:00 PM | Baseball
Bears overcome early 1-0 deficit to knock off #23 TCU, 6-3
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
FORT WORTH – There's just something about Sundays that seem to bring out the best in Baylor baseball.
For the third time this season, the Bears (27-16, 9-12) avoided a sweep in conference play, bouncing back to defeat 23rd-ranked TCU, 6-3, Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium.
"I'm disappointed that Sunday wins don't get us series wins more often," said Baylor coach Mitch Thompson, whose team continued a streak that has seen the Bears win at least once in each of their seven Big 12 series.
"It's hard not to get swept when you get beat two times, especially on the road and especially when you're playing somebody really good. And they didn't do anything to lose that game. We just won it. I think (Saturday), they just beat us. Today, I thought we beat them."
Baylor beat TCU (31-13, 14-7) with an offensive attack that produced double-digit hits (11) for the 20th time this season and a bullpen effort from Lucas Davenport (3-1) and Gabe Craig that combined for 5.2 innings of shutout relief.
"It's great to get out here and still compete, even after the past two days, and just strap away with a win" said Davenport, who gave up an inherited run in the fourth but allowed just three hits and no walks with two strikeouts in 3.2 innings. "This is a great build game. We're going to build from here, go into next week against Arizona State, I think we're in a really good spot."
After dropping the first two games, 7-2 and 8-4, the Bears fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, when Karson Bowen led off with a double to right-center and scored on Cole Cramer's sacrifice fly.
TCU starter Trever Baumler (2-4) sat down six of the first seven batters he faced before running into trouble in the third inning. Ty Johnson led off with a bunt single, moved to second on Cortlan Castle's sacrifice bunt and scored the tying run on a Travis Sanders RBI single up the middle.
Tyriq Kemp followed with a run-scoring single through the right side and then scored on Hunter Simmons' two-run triple to give Baylor a 4-1 lead.
"I feel like that kind of embodies what our team has been the entire year, just responding," said Johnson, who went 2-for-4, one of three Baylor players with multiple hits. "We haven't been able to do that as well as we have in these past couple weeks. But now, it's time to start getting this thing rolling. And that was a statement win today, for sure."
The Frogs battled back in the fourth, with four of the first five batters reaching base with three hits and a walk off BU starter Ethan Calder. Summoned out of the bullpen when Calder walked Brody Green to load the bases, Davenport gave up an infield single to score the second run of the inning before wiggling out of the jam with a lead still intact.
"Davenport limited the damage and then was fantastic for, what, three innings," Thompson said of Davenport. "And it was hard for me to pull him, because he was so good, and they weren't getting many good swings. But when you have Gabe Craig down there, too, you go, 'I don't want to be losing with Gabe down here. I have bullets in the gun, let's go to work.'''
Davenport, who threw just 38 pitches in 3.2 innings, said he was "all right with it" when he was replaced by Craig going into the eighth. The sixth-year senior got the final six outs, giving up just one hit, to pick up his seventh save.
"When somebody's dominating, you go, 'Golly, until he's out of bullets, let's not screw with this. Don't insert yourself in the lineup, Coach,''' Thompson said of bringing in Craig. "But Gabe's been so good, it was an easy call to go to him."
The Bears padded their lead in the sixth, when Johnson delivered a two-out, two-run single through the right side after a seven-pitch walk by Wesley Jordan and freshman Pearson Riebock going the opposite way for a single to left.
"I really just wanted to pick up my guys, just see something up in the zone, see something on the inner half of the plate, left on left," Johnson said. "And luckily, I came out with the hit and helped the team out."
Craig didn't give the Frogs a chance, striking out the side in the eighth and fanning two more in the ninth, when he gave up a one-out single to Bowen. TCU had 10 hits, but just one extra-base hit, and left nine runners stranded.
With three conference series remaining, Baylor will host Arizona State (28-16, 14-7) and Oklahoma State (19-21, 7-11) the next two weekends before finishing on the road at UCF (23-20, 6-15). The Bears will play Sam Houston (9-35) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Huntsville.
"We have three series, two of them at home, and we need to go win them," Thompson said. "And we're going to fight our tail off to do that. . . . We have a lot ahead of us. We're playing pretty good defense for the most part and, dadgum, they're in a lot of games. So, I'm proud of them, and we just have to keep battling."
Baylor Bear Insider
FORT WORTH – There's just something about Sundays that seem to bring out the best in Baylor baseball.
For the third time this season, the Bears (27-16, 9-12) avoided a sweep in conference play, bouncing back to defeat 23rd-ranked TCU, 6-3, Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium.
"I'm disappointed that Sunday wins don't get us series wins more often," said Baylor coach Mitch Thompson, whose team continued a streak that has seen the Bears win at least once in each of their seven Big 12 series.
"It's hard not to get swept when you get beat two times, especially on the road and especially when you're playing somebody really good. And they didn't do anything to lose that game. We just won it. I think (Saturday), they just beat us. Today, I thought we beat them."
Baylor beat TCU (31-13, 14-7) with an offensive attack that produced double-digit hits (11) for the 20th time this season and a bullpen effort from Lucas Davenport (3-1) and Gabe Craig that combined for 5.2 innings of shutout relief.
"It's great to get out here and still compete, even after the past two days, and just strap away with a win" said Davenport, who gave up an inherited run in the fourth but allowed just three hits and no walks with two strikeouts in 3.2 innings. "This is a great build game. We're going to build from here, go into next week against Arizona State, I think we're in a really good spot."
After dropping the first two games, 7-2 and 8-4, the Bears fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, when Karson Bowen led off with a double to right-center and scored on Cole Cramer's sacrifice fly.
TCU starter Trever Baumler (2-4) sat down six of the first seven batters he faced before running into trouble in the third inning. Ty Johnson led off with a bunt single, moved to second on Cortlan Castle's sacrifice bunt and scored the tying run on a Travis Sanders RBI single up the middle.
Tyriq Kemp followed with a run-scoring single through the right side and then scored on Hunter Simmons' two-run triple to give Baylor a 4-1 lead.
"I feel like that kind of embodies what our team has been the entire year, just responding," said Johnson, who went 2-for-4, one of three Baylor players with multiple hits. "We haven't been able to do that as well as we have in these past couple weeks. But now, it's time to start getting this thing rolling. And that was a statement win today, for sure."
The Frogs battled back in the fourth, with four of the first five batters reaching base with three hits and a walk off BU starter Ethan Calder. Summoned out of the bullpen when Calder walked Brody Green to load the bases, Davenport gave up an infield single to score the second run of the inning before wiggling out of the jam with a lead still intact.
"Davenport limited the damage and then was fantastic for, what, three innings," Thompson said of Davenport. "And it was hard for me to pull him, because he was so good, and they weren't getting many good swings. But when you have Gabe Craig down there, too, you go, 'I don't want to be losing with Gabe down here. I have bullets in the gun, let's go to work.'''
Davenport, who threw just 38 pitches in 3.2 innings, said he was "all right with it" when he was replaced by Craig going into the eighth. The sixth-year senior got the final six outs, giving up just one hit, to pick up his seventh save.
"When somebody's dominating, you go, 'Golly, until he's out of bullets, let's not screw with this. Don't insert yourself in the lineup, Coach,''' Thompson said of bringing in Craig. "But Gabe's been so good, it was an easy call to go to him."
The Bears padded their lead in the sixth, when Johnson delivered a two-out, two-run single through the right side after a seven-pitch walk by Wesley Jordan and freshman Pearson Riebock going the opposite way for a single to left.
"I really just wanted to pick up my guys, just see something up in the zone, see something on the inner half of the plate, left on left," Johnson said. "And luckily, I came out with the hit and helped the team out."
Craig didn't give the Frogs a chance, striking out the side in the eighth and fanning two more in the ninth, when he gave up a one-out single to Bowen. TCU had 10 hits, but just one extra-base hit, and left nine runners stranded.
With three conference series remaining, Baylor will host Arizona State (28-16, 14-7) and Oklahoma State (19-21, 7-11) the next two weekends before finishing on the road at UCF (23-20, 6-15). The Bears will play Sam Houston (9-35) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Huntsville.
"We have three series, two of them at home, and we need to go win them," Thompson said. "And we're going to fight our tail off to do that. . . . We have a lot ahead of us. We're playing pretty good defense for the most part and, dadgum, they're in a lot of games. So, I'm proud of them, and we just have to keep battling."
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