Baseball Drops Series Opener at Baylor
March 21, 2015 01:01 AM | General
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WACO, Texas – Despite coming back to tie the game in the sixth inning, the West Virginia University baseball team fell 5-4 to Baylor on Friday evening at Baylor Ballpark.
“It wasn’t played all that great,” coach Randy Mazey said. “Three errors by both teams cost each team some runs. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes that we usually don’t make. To be down 4-0 on the road and grind yourself back into the game is encouraging.”
West Virginia (9-9, 1-3 Big 12) held the hit advantage at 11-9 and both teams committed three errors.
Senior shortstop Taylor Munden, senior third baseman Justin Fox and junior center fielder KC Huth had two hits apiece to lead the Mountaineer offense.
“We just got to where we were swing happy and late in the game we swung at a lot of pitches out of the zone,” Mazey said. “That’s probably the way to pitch to us. If you pitch to us in the zone we’re going to hit it, if you pitch out of the zone we’re pretty aggressive.”
Baylor took a quick 4-0 lead through two innings of action, beginning with back-to-back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first to plate one run.
With runners on the corners and the WVU infield playing in, Logan Brown as he poked a two-run single up the middle in the bottom of the second. Brown later scored on a fielder’s choice to center field by Duncan Wendel.
West Virginia cut the lead to 4-1 in the top of the third with Munden hitting a one-out double to right center field. Munden came around to score on a single through the right side by senior right fielder Brad Johnson.
The Mountaineers sent seven hitters to the plate in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs to tie the game at 4-4. With one out and the bases loaded, freshman second baseman Shaun Corso hit a sacrifice fly to center field, driving in freshman left fielder Kyle Davis from third base. Huth and Munden followed with back-to-back RBI singles to right field, allowing senior catcher Cam O’Brien and sophomore designated hitter Ray Guerrini to score, respectively.
Baylor retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth at 5-4 when Darryn Sheppard scored on a throwing error by sophomore first baseman Jackson Cramer. Steven McLean grounded out to Fox, who threw McLean out at first. In the meantime Sheppard attempted to advance to third base on the ground out, forcing Cramer to make a throw across the diamond that went past Fox and allowing Sheppard to score easily.
West Virginia threatened in the top of the ninth as Fox singled to lead off the frame, but he was stranded at first, ending the game.
Freshman right-hander Conner Dotson (0-2) was issued the loss in five innings of work. He allowed five runs, three earned, on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Freshman right-hander Shane Ennis pitched two innings of one-hit shutout relief with one strikeout.
Sheppard went 2-for-3 with two runs and one double to lead the Bears at the plate. Brown and Justin Arrington added two hits apiece with Brown driving in two runs.
Joe Kirkland (3-1) picked up the victory, giving up no runs on two hits in 2.1 innings of relief. Kirkland struck out two.
West Virginia and Baylor return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The Mountaineers will send junior left-hander Ross Vance (2-1) to the mound and he will face Baylor right-hander Austin Stone (0-2).
The game will be broadcast on FOX College Sports, while it also can be heard on the affiliates of the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG College with Jeff Culhane on the call.
Additionally, fans can listen to the broadcast via the WVU Gameday App on their mobile device, as well as the TuneIn Radio App. WVUsports.com also will carry free live audio via the LeanStream Player at WVUsports.com/audio.
A link to live stats is available on WVUsports.com.
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