By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
After scoring 28 runs in the first two games of a weekend series against Incarnate Word, Baylor baseball lost control on the mound and couldn’t catch up in the batter’s box. The Bears fell 14-1 in eight innings on Sunday at Baylor Ballpark.
The Bears (13-18, 5-7 Big 12) rode a five-game winning streak entering the series finale, which was the longest under head coach Mitch Thompson. Baylor couldn’t extend that, as it allowed 13 hits and 12 free passes (10 walks and two hit-by-pitches) to help UIW (16-14, 2-4 SLC) run away with the win.
“I’m very disappointed in how we came out and played today,” Thompson said. “I’m disappointed in how we pitched, and I’m disappointed in our hitters not being able to make an adjustment today. Any time you win the first two games of a series, if you don’t sweep it, you feel like junk. And we feel like junk right now.”
Freshman left-handed pitcher Mason Green (1-4) earned the start, but he was tagged with the loss despite having the strongest outing of the day — going 3 2/3 innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits. After Green was yanked from the game, five Baylor relievers combined for 4 1/3 innings, walking seven batters and forfeiting 13 runs.
“We didn’t have a single guy go out on the mound out of the bullpen and pitch well,” Thompson said. “One guy can have a bad day; the next guy has to be able to come in and get it done. We didn’t have any of that.”
Baylor’s lone run came off the bat of sophomore designated hitter Zach Mazoch, who sliced a 377-foot home run over the right field fence in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior third baseman Hunter Teplanszky was the only Bear with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 on the day and tallying six hits on the weekend.
https://twitter.com/BaylorBaseball/status/1777067453501018391
Incarnate Word plated four runs in the fifth and sixth innings as junior catcher JD Gregson — a former Baylor commit and current Cardinal — muscled out a grand slam to capitalize on his 4-for-5 day at the plate with six RBIs. The visitors capped off the ballgame with five runs in the eighth as another former Bear, now Incarnate Word senior center fielder Cameron Caley, tagged a two-run home run to force a run-rule victory at 14-1.
“The guys in green and gold didn’t play very well, and the guys in red let us know it,” Thompson said. “We have to use it as a lesson, and the lesson is the next time we have a chance to sweep somebody, we have to have a hunger for that. And the next time somebody has a chance to sweep us, we have to show up with the determination that it’s not happening.”
that one felt good. REAL GOOD. #TheWord pic.twitter.com/A7Na4j1j2Q
— UIW Baseball (@UIWBaseball) April 7, 2024
With an eight-game homestand in the books, Baylor will hit the road and take on No. 8 Dallas Baptist (25-6, 6-3 C-USA) at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Horner Ballpark.
