By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
After seven lead changes, Baylor baseball found a way to claw itself to the first road victory of the Mitch Thompson era, courtesy of a 7-6 win over Sam Houston State University Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntstville.
It took 11 tries before Baylor (14-23, 5-10 Big 12) found its first road win of the season. Backed by more success from sophomore infielder Hunter Teplanszky and freshman infielder Kolby Branch, the Bears improved to 6-3 in midweek games.
Teplanszky started the game off with a bang in the top of the first inning by going yard on only the second pitch he saw.
“To be honest, it felt like I was seeing a beach ball,” Teplanszky said of the home run. “There’s really no better feeling than to help your team pull out a win, especially on the road.”
Junior right-handed pitcher Jared Matheson took the mound for the Bears with a run already on the board for his team. Matheson would end up going 3.0 innings and allowing two runs while only striking out one batter.
Anderson Needham, junior right-handed pitcher, fired a scoreless bottom of the fourth inning for the green and gold. In Needham’s lone inning that he pitched, he struck out two batters and only allowed one hit.
Sam Houston (22-16, 14-4 WAC) held a 2-1 lead all the way into the fifth inning. The Bears scored two runs in the top of the fifth after Teplanszky and Branch whacked back-to-back RBI singles to give Baylor a brief lead.
Just a half inning later, SHSU scored two runs off junior left-handed pitcher Cam Caley. Caley only threw the fifth inning and allowed two hits in addition to the pair of runs.
Baylor answered back with the third consecutive two-run half-inning, which came in the top of the sixth. One run came in to score following a Bearkat error, and then junior infielder and outfielder Cole Posey hit a frozen rope into the outfield to plate another run.
Leading 5-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth, junior right-handed pitcher Adam Muirhead stepped on to the mound. Muirhead only went 1.0 inning and allowed the tying run to score. He also managed to strike out four batters in just one inning after allowing one batter to reach base after a wild pitch for strike three.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Danny Valadez came in to pitch in the bottom of the seventh but only went 2/3 of an inning after giving up an unearned run. He was relieved by junior right-handed pitcher Cole Stasio (4-2) who went on to get the win. Stasio threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings and retired all seven batters he faced in order.
Baylor scored the final two runs in the top of the eighth inning when Teplanszky and Branch recorded back-to-back RBI base hits to give the green and gold the 7-6 win. The infield pair combined for five RBI, five hits, three walks and one hit by pitch.
“Our hitters came up big,” Thompson said. “They continued to fight through and we got the big runs and big two-out hits to take the lead. The guys who have been doing it for us all year were the ones who ended up coming through for us in clutch time, and that was big. We’ll take this 7-6 win. It’ll be a happy bus ride [home].”
The Bears will be back in action Friday for game one of a three-game series against No. 13 Texas Tech University. First pitch against the Red Raiders (26-12, 6-6 Big 12) is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Rip Griffin Park in Lubbock.
