By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
After Baylor baseball plated its first run of the game in the top of the third inning, 12 of the next 13 Sam Houston batters reached base — including 10 straight — to craft a 12-run bottom of the third inning.
The Bearkats used that hot start and dominated the Bears 18-3 on Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville.
Coming off a Big 12 series win, head coach Mitch Thompson and Baylor (7-13, 2-4 Big 12) allowed 17 hits and seven walks as Sam Houston (14-7, 2-1 C-USA) led the game 15-1 after just three innings. The Bears were only able to muster six hits.
““It was an inning that definitely got away from us,” Thompson said of the third. “From then on, we were just trying to battle and compete a little bit. There were moments of good stuff that happened after that, I thought Grant Golomb was good. It was good to see Will Glatch get back out there and have a good inning. There were a few swings that were pretty good tonight, too. But, a tough night and not how we envisioned it.”
In his third midweek start of the season, redshirt freshman right-handed pitcher Tanner Duke (0-2) allowed a two-run home run and walked two batters. Duke was tagged with the loss after the Bearkats led 3-0 following his lone inning of work.
Baylor’s bats briefly supplied a spark in the top of the third when senior catcher Harrison Caley led off the inning with a triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly. The Bears’ only other runs came in the sixth inning after the first three batters each reached base. They followed that with a walk and a sacrifice fly to plate a pair.
Baylor threw four pitchers in the third inning when Sam Houston blew the door open. Freshman left-handed pitcher Jackson Elizondo, who threw a scoreless second inning, allowed back-to-back singles before recording a flyout to open the frame. The freshman threw just one pitch to each batter to create contact and was promptly removed by Thompson.
Senior right-handed pitcher Cole Stasio then came in and faced six batters without recording an out, and all six batters would later go on to score. Freshman left-handed pitcher Jackson Wilkerson was unable to muster much more gusto, as he allowed the straight run scoring singles and hit a batter before recording the second out of the inning. Thompson looked for Wilkerson to close the frame, but the southpaw walked the next batter he faced, and a run was forced home as the bases were loaded.
With 10 earned runs already across, Thompson turned to the big guns in redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Drew Leach, who’s been thrust into big reliever spots this season. Leach allowed an infield RBI single in an 0-2 count, and a second run came in to score on the play due to a throwing error. Leach bounced back and retired the final batter of the inning.
Sam Houston tagged two more runs in the fourth inning, and Bearkats junior designated hitter Malachi Lott capped off a 5-for-6 day with his second double and scored his fourth run of the game to extend the lead to 17-1. Baylor blew through eight arms on the day and allowed 25 base runners (17 hits, 7 walks, and 1 hit-by-pitch) while only recording 24 outs.
Baylor will open a three-game series with Texas at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin.
