By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
The Mitch Thompson era started off with a bang when redshirt freshman infielder Jack Johnson hit a walk-off RBI single to secure Baylor’s 6-5 win over Central Michigan University in extra innings Friday night at Baylor Ballpark.
“We’re proud to be out here and we’re proud to be with one another,” freshman second baseman Kolby Branch said. “It’s just a lot of fun to be out here. It’s good to play baseball again.”
After months of anticipation, Thompson and the Bears (1-0) took the field and clawed their way to one of the most memorable opening day wins in team history. Baylor’s last win in extra innings on Opening Day was on Feb. 20, 2009, when they defeated Pacific University by a final of 2-1 in 10 innings.
Thompson said he was proud of his young group for showing maturity on the diamond.
“Kolby Branch [played his] first college game ever and had three hits and two RBIs,” Thompson said. “[That was] Jack Johnson’s first college game he ever played and he gets the game winner. Doesn’t get much better than that.”
It was a mix of youngsters and veteran pitching which paved the way to the walk-off win. Branch, the leadoff hitter, led the Bears offensively with three hits, two RBIs and a walk in his first six at-bats as a college athlete. Johnson also saw six plate appearances and had a walk, a hit-by-pitch and the game-winning RBI in his first game wearing the green and gold.
“It wasn’t an easy day to hit,” Thompson said. “They’re running some good arms out there at us and we had the wind blowing in. So, I liked the way we competed.”
The Bears trusted fifth-year senior right-handed pitcher Blake Helton to take the mound on opening day and he gave up two runs in the third inning. He finished with four strikeouts, two walks and was then replaced by junior right-handed pitcher Grant Golomb who kept the Chippewas (0-1) scoreless to finish the fourth.
Baylor was able to get runners on base in both the second and third innings but wasn’t able to bring them home. Central Michigan held a 2-0 lead going into the fourth inning, but the Bears responded. Sophomore first baseman Casen Neumann walked to leadoff the inning and junior left-handed pitcher and outfielder Kobe Andrade smashed a hard line drive to center field that advanced Neumann to third while Andrade reached second base with a double.
With runners in scoring position, sophomore infielder Austin Stracener recorded his first hit as a Bear when he bounced a ball to shortstop and forced no throw. Neumann scored on the play, but after he touched home plate, the Chippewas tagged Andrade who was trying to advance from second to third. The Bears only plated one run in the fourth but cut their deficit down to 2-1.
After scoring a run in the fourth, Baylor took the field in the top of the fifth inning. Golcomb struggled in the half inning, as he gave up four walks and a hit-by-pitch, but limited the damage to only two runs. The Bears now trailed 4-1 and needed a response in the bottom of the inning.
After a walk and a hit, Baylor had runners on first and second with two outs. Neumann stepped up to the plate and lined a single into left field, allowing the runner from second to score and the runner on first to advance to third. On the very next pitch, Neumann pretended to steal second base and forced the catcher to throw the ball to second. The runner on third broke for the plate and scored, while Neumann made his way safely into second base after the Chippewas’ shortstop unsuccessfully tried to throw the runner out at the plate.
The Bears only plated the two runs in the fifth, but they were able to match Central Michigan’s two and the Chippewas’ lead was only 4-3 going into the sixth inning. At this point in the game, Thompson looked to his pitching in order to help pull off a win.
“Well, you can’t come back and win it if you don’t start throwing up zeros and that’s what has to happen when you’re behind,” Thompson said.
Junior right-handed pitcher Hambleton Oliver threw 2.2 innings and junior Cole Stasio threw 2.1. They combined for five innings, only giving up one run while striking out six batters.
With the pitching on point, Baylor scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh off of a Branch single with the bases loaded.
After nine innings of action, the Bears had to play on with the score knotted up at 5-5. Stasio pitched a scoreless top-half of the tenth inning and gave Baylor the opportunity to win the ballgame in the bottom-half of the inning.
When all signs were pointing to more baseball, Branch reached first on a walk with two outs in the inning. Up to the plate came Johnson, and before the first pitch was even thrown, the Central Michigan pitcher was called for a balk and Branch advanced. With a man in scoring position, the first pitch was delivered and skipped away from the catcher, allowing Branch to advance to third, only 90 feet from home plate. The rest was history.
The next pitch came sailing towards Johnson and he lined it up the middle and over the second baseman’s head for a walk-off single, scoring Branch, to win the game 6-5. For Johnson, it was his first college hit and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“First game of the year, [there’s] a lot of energy riding and to get Coach T’s first win right there was huge,” Johnson said.
Thompson secured his first win as head coach in the green and gold. The Bears will be back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m. for game two of the three-game series against Central Michigan at Baylor Ballpark.
