By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
In a nail-biting thriller, eight Baylor baseball pitchers saw the mound and the Bears’ bats came alive to rally back in order to take down Dallas Baptist University, 8-7, in extra innings on Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark.
Head coach Mitch Thompson and the Bears (5-8) came off a four-game series split against Youngstown State University and secured the midweek victory over DBU (7-5).
Junior right-handed pitcher Jared Matheson was the first pitcher that saw the mound, which marked his first career Division I start.
“It was staff day all the way,” Thompson said. “We tried to put the guys in the best situations we could, and they competed.”
After a scoreless first inning, Matheson got himself into trouble in the top of the second inning. He allowed four-straight base runners in the inning, as a single, an RBI double, a hit-by-pitch and a two-run single capped off the side. He finished the inning strong but threw just 2.0 innings and allowed three earned runs while striking out three.
Trailing 3-0, the green and gold scored a run in consecutive innings. In the bottom of the third, freshman infielder Kolby Branch pulled a single through the left side, allowing a run to score. Then in the following inning, junior outfielder Hunter Simmons walked on five pitches and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to center field that was hit by sophomore infielder Hunter Teplanszky.
The Bears recorded four-consecutive shutout innings to stay close. Junior right-handed pitcher Adam Muirhead tossed one inning and struck out two batters before junior right-handed pitcher Grant Golomb dazzled with three scoreless frames. Golomb struck out a season-high four batters.
While the pitching stayed locked in, the bats helped achieve a big inning in the bottom of the sixth. Junior left-handed pitcher and outfielder Kobe Andrade started off the rally by slapping a leadoff double down the left field line. Simmons was drilled by a fastball and jogged to first base prior to freshman catcher Zach Mazoch reaching first with an infield single to load the bases. Teplanszky recorded another RBI sacrifice fly, and junior infielder Will Pendergrass stepped up to the plate.
The first pitch thrown to him flew to the backstop and Simmons scored. Pendergrass roped a double through the left side on the very next pitch and Mazoch scored to give the Bears a 5-2 lead.
Then, things got crazy at the ballpark. In the top of the seventh, the Patriots responded by notching three runs of their own against three different Baylor pitchers to take back the lead, 6-5.
The Bears weren’t able to score in the seventh or eighth innings, but the bullpen’s arms kept DBU scoreless in the top of the eighth and ninth. When it turned to the ninth, Baylor needed a run to tie the game.
Branch led off the inning and just missed a home run to left field by a matter of feet, and he recorded the first out. Then, redshirt freshman outfielder Gavin Brzozowski, the second hitter, dug into the batter’s box from the left side. After seeing a ball and a strike, Brzozowski smashed a solo home run over the right field fence to knot the tally at six runs apiece.
“Everyone was doing great, the energy kept flowing through the dugout [and into] the box,” Brzozowski said. “It was so much fun just getting to keep on hitting today.”
Now in extra innings, junior right-handed pitcher Cole Stasio kept the Patriots scoreless in the top of the 10th inning to conclude his 2.2 innings out of the pen. Stasio struck out two batters and pumped his fist with passion after each big defensive play.
The green and gold managed to get a runner to third base in its half of the inning, but came up empty and the night kept rolling on. Junior right-handed pitcher Hambleton Oliver got called to the mound and delivered another scoreless inning.
“Words can’t describe it,” Oliver said. “I went in there wanting to back everybody up just like everybody else in the pen had done to the point and wanted to give our hitters a chance. That’s what we did and [the] hitters really stepped up.”
Unfortunately, yet again the Bears came up empty in the bottom of the inning and the 12th inning came around.
Oliver came back out and started off strong by forcing a ground out and a throwing a strike out. The righty walked the following batter and an error in the field put runners on the corners. Oliver looked in and his first pitch to the very next batter skimmed by junior catcher Harrison Caley, and the Patriots took a 7-6 lead off of the wild pitch.
After allowing the unearned run, Oliver got the out he needed and the final rally began. Mazoch led off the inning with a single and then Thompson called on junior infielder and outfielder Daniel Altman to pinch run. The change appeared to be effective, as Teplanszky spanked a single to right field and Altman’s burst of speed brought him all the way from first base to third.
“We just can’t be afraid to use our roster and so we’re not going to,” Thompson said. “We’re going to use it and you know tonight was a great result.”
With a runner now only 90 feet away, a wild pitch evened the score as both runners advanced.
After an error and a walk, Branch stepped up to the dish with the bases loaded and the game tied 7-7. He watched a fastball fly by to start the at-bat, but after getting back into the box, he swung away. He made contact, and the ball flew sky high down the right field line. In the blink of an eye, the blooper hit fair grass in between third base and right field, scoring Teplanszky and igniting a dugout rush on to the field.
Brzozowski said the team has had some low moments as of late but that this midweek win was a huge confidence booster.
“That’s definitely the lowest we’ve been and it was really fun competing,” Brzozowski said. “I think that’s what we needed right there, a good extra innings game against a really good ballclub and it was fun. I feel like that’s how baseball should be and I feel like that’s how we’re going to turn it around.”
It took four hours and 29 minutes, but the green and gold took down the visiting Patriots, 8-7, and Oliver (2-1) took the win on the mound.
“We’re just going to try to keep having fun and keep competing every chance we get,” Brzozowski said. “That was a really good eye opener for everyone that we can compete with really good arms and really good hitting teams. I think a lot of us just gained a lot of confidence in each and every one of us.”
The Bears have now won two-straight games for the first time in 2023 and will look to keep rolling against Mercer University this weekend in a three-game set. The first pitch for game one is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Baylor Ballpark.
