By Greg DeVries
Sports Writer
No. 21 Baylor baseball continued its hot streak with a 14-5 win against the University of Houston Tuesday at Cougar Field in Houston.
This win is Baylor’s eighth straight.
Senior right-hander Joey Hainsfurther started the game, but senior right-handed pitcher Tyler Bremer earned the win on the mound.
“When you have two seniors in Joey and Bremer who are able to throw seven innings for you on a Tuesday on the road, that’s significant,” head coach Steve Smith said. “It was just a gritty effort by Joey. It wasn’t as crisp and easy for him as it was last week, but he still got through it and he competed really well and made a lot of big pitches.”
The Bears gave up two runs in the second inning to fall behind early. This was Baylor’s first deficit in the last five games.
Freshman outfielder Michael Howard scored in the third inning to cut the lead in half on a Lawton Langford groundout.
Baylor opened the floodgates in the fourth inning. The Bears added five runs to go up 6-2. Junior first baseman Max Muncy crossed home plate after senior catcher Josh Ludy singled. Howard and junior Jake Miller each singled to drive in runs. This was followed by a Langford RBI walk. While the bases were still loaded, junior Nathan Orf was hit by a pitch to drive in another run.
The Cougars were able to counter by scoring a run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Baylor responded in the fifth with two runs of its own. These were back-to-back solo home runs by Ludy and senior outfielder Dan Evatt.
Ludy led the Bears and finished the game with four hits and four RBI’s.
Bremer came out of the bullpen to start the fifth inning after missing 20 consecutive games. After putting two runners in scoring position with no outs, he bounced back to strike out the next three batters on just 12 pitches to escape unscathed.
“That was really a big momentum shift right there, and the game was still a game for quite a while,” Smith said.
Baylor added four more runs in the eighth when Vick hit his Big 12-leading 13th double to drive in two runs and Ludy followed with a two-run single.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Sean Spicer closed out the win by retiring the final two batters in order in his collegiate debut.
Baylor is in its first regular-season 8-game winning streak since 2003.
Baylor has scored more than eight runs in six straight games for the first time since 1998.
The Bears won at Cougar Field for the first time since 2001.
Baylor returns to action with a weekend series against Oklahoma State starting at 6:35 p.m. Friday at Baylor Ballpark. The OSU series is Baylor’s annual Military Appreciation Weekend.
