By Daniel Hill
Sports Writer
The Baylor Bears lost 3-0 to the Texas State Bobcats on Tuesday in San Marcos. The Bears are now 19-18 on the season. The loss drops the Bears record to 5-2 against teams from the Western Athletic Conference this season. With the win, the Bobcats are now 16-20 overall on the year.
“I thought they pitched it pretty well,” head coach Steve Smith said. “Some nights, you just have to give them credit and this was one of them. They ran a bunch of different guys out there that gave us different looks and did a nice job. There weren’t a lot of walks and they didn’t kick it around.”
After an 11-game home stand where Baylor went 8-3, the Bears hit the road for the next five games, which started Tuesday against Texas State in San Marcos.
In the top of the first, junior second baseman Lawton Langford hit a single to keep his 28-game on-base streak alive.
Junior left-handed pitcher Bobby McCormack got the start on the mound for the Bears. It was only McCormack’s second start of the season. Coming into the game, McCormack had a 1.29 ERA and a 1-0 record in seven total innings of work.
Against Texas State, McCormack pitched two innings and only allowed one run on two hits and conceded two walks. After picking up the loss against the Bobcats, McCormack’s record is now 1-1 this season.
In the top of the third, senior right-hander Miles Landry came out to pitch for Baylor. Landry gave up a walk and a two-run home run to the Bobcats to give Texas State a 3-0 lead.
Landry was pulled from the game and senior right-handed pitcher Kolt Browder made a relief appearance. Browder took care of business and pitched two scoreless innings for the Bears before junior right-handed pitcher Josh Michalec took over in the fifth inning. Michalec pitched three scoreless innings for Baylor.
“We ran some guys out there early in the game that hadn’t pitched much,” Smith said. “I thought McCormack did a nice job once he got into the game a little bit. I was disappointed for Miles because I know how bad he wants to get it done and how hard he’s been working. That’s the problem with the whole nature of college baseball – we don’t play enough games to keep a lot of pitchers on any regular routine. That was the case tonight.”
In the bottom of the eighth, sophomore right-handed pitcher Austin Stone tossed a perfect inning to give the Bears a chance to rally in the top of the ninth inning.
The Bears’ bats were silent for the night and the Bobcats earned the 3-0 shutout victory. The Bears struggled at the plate and only tallied three hits on the night. The reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, senior third baseman Cal Towey, was 0-3 on the night and senior right fielder Nathan Orf, who leads the team in batting average and has the sixth best batting average in the Big 12, was 0-4. Towey, Orf and junior designated hitter Grayson Porter combined to make Baylor’s three, four and five hitters come up empty on the night, going 0-11.
