By Ben Everett | Sports Writer
Baylor baseball fell to Texas State 6-1 Monday night at Baylor Ballpark to drop its fourth straight game.
The Bears (13-13) dug themselves an early hole against the Bobcats (16-11-1) and managed only four hits against a stifling TSU pitching staff.
Senior pitcher Alex Phillips made his third start of the season and found himself in trouble early.
After a scoreless first inning for both teams, Phillips surrendered a two-run homer to Texas State junior first baseman Ryan Newman as the Bobcats took a 2-0 lead.
Texas State senior catcher Jared Huber notched a two RBI single in the top of the third as Baylor fell behind 4-0.
Phillips finished the third inning, but was replaced with freshman pitcher Jimmy Winston in the top of the fourth.
Phillips gave up six hits and four runs while striking out three batters in three innings pitched.
Bobcats’ senior second baseman Mickey Scott kept the runs coming for Texas State with a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth to give TSU a 5-0 lead.
Winston was replaced with sophomore pitcher Luke Boyd in the top of the seventh, but Boyd immediately gave up another single to Scott as the Bears fell behind 6-0.
Baylor got on the board in the bottom of the seventh inning with a solo home run by sophomore catcher Shea Langeliers to cut the lead to 6-1.
Freshman Nick Loftin, who usually plays in the outfield, pitched a scoreless inning for the Bears in the top of the ninth in his first career appearance on the mound.
Two hits in the bottom of the ninth resulted in zero runs for Baylor as they ultimately fell to the Bobcats 6-1.
Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez said Loftin has experience as a pitcher, so throwing a scoreless inning was no surprise.
“I know he pitched a lot in high school,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a tremendous athlete, great player, and as you can see, he throws strikes. We are trying to figure out exactly what he is, first, in regards to being a pitcher for us, but after that we will be able to kind of see where he fits in that rotation.”
The Bears look to rebound as they face Lamar at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark.
