By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor, Braden Murray | LTVN Sports Director
For the first time since 2019, Baylor baseball completed an Opening Weekend sweep, taking down Youngstown State twice, 16-4 and 12-4, as part of a day-night doubleheader Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.
The Bears (3-0) scored 38 runs over the course of the series and struck out 36 batters as Mitch Thompson picked up his third sweep as head coach.
“It’s what the doctor ordered,” Thompson said. “You can see that this is going to be a fun lineup, especially when you get production from the bottom… They all performed pretty good over the course of the weekend. It’s exciting to see. I think there’s a lot to work with.”
After knocking off the Penguins (0-3) 10-3 on Opening Day, senior left-handed pitcher Bryson Bales took the mound for Saturday’s afternoon contest. The Hendrix College transfer struck out the first seven batters he faced and went four innings, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks with eight total strikeouts. The only runs he allowed were off the bat of senior outfielder Kyle Fossum, who drilled his second home run of the weekend.
“Bales is a great pitcher,” senior left fielder Wesley Jordan said. “Every time he’s out there, we’re confident, and I’m confident behind him. He’s got great stuff and he showed it today.”
Bales (1-0) earned the win and was relieved by redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Lucas Davenport, who fired 1 1/3 innings. Davenport allowed one hit, two walks and two unearned runs while picking up his first two strikeouts in the green and gold. Senior right-handed pitcher Will Glatch rounded out the afternoon, earning the save in 1 2/3 scoreless innings before the run rule took effect.
“We got really good performances from the guys on the mound,” Thompson said. “We had a bunch of guys get out there, and I think we’ll keep getting better and better and better. I thought Bryson was great. I mean, gosh, what did he do, punch out the first seven? That was about as good as you could have ever hoped.”
Redshirt senior designated hitter Hunter Simmons, sophomore catcher JJ Kennett and Jordan all picked up three-hit games and combined for seven runs batted in. Redshirt second baseman Jack Little, redshirt senior right fielder Enzo Apodaca and senior shortstop Tyriq Kemp each picked up two-hit games and scored eight runs.
The Bears trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, where they dropped a six-spot thanks to five base hits and two walks. Kennett picked up his first career hit, run and RBI with Baylor in the inning.
Lightning struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning, as 14 batters took a trip to home plate and nine runs came in. Seven of those runs came with two outs, as Little and Apodaca crossed home before Simmons grounded into a double play. Six of the next eight batters reached via walk or hit-by-pitch before Simmons redeemed himself with a two-run single.
Leading 16-4, a scoreless top of the seventh inning was enough for Baylor to earn the run-rule victory and move on to the nightcap.
Following a 45-minute break, senior right-handed pitcher Cole Stasio toed the rubber to start game three of the series. Making his first appearance since March 19, 2023, the fifth-year Bear delivered four innings allowing two earned runs on five hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
“It’s probably the first game Cole started, maybe since high school,” Thompson said. “And it was a little bit of feeling his way through there a little bit. Then (in) his last couple innings he was much better. And I think that he kind of just fell into that. You have to play the game with joy.”
Baylor’s bats slugged early, plating two runs in the bottom of the first and five more in the bottom of the second. The first five batters reached safely for the Bears, with Simmons and senior center fielder Ty Johnson slapping RBI singles. Kemp led off the second inning with a 386-foot home run and Jordon followed with a 422-foot two-run dinger three batters later. Freshman third baseman Pearson Riebock clanked his first collegiate hit, an RBI double and a run-scoring error right after rounding out a dominant inning at the plate.
“I knew off the bat it was gone, but it’s just me playing with joy, really,” Kemp said. “It was exciting playing with this new team. It went well; everyone was excited. We got the wins and it was just fun playing with these guys.”
The Bears plated one more run in the third as Jordan sent a hot shot at 109 miles per hour to the warning track for an RBI triple. Earlier in the day, Jordan poked an infield single to third base, something he felt was slightly more impressive.
“I like the infield single,” Jordan joked. “I get a little payback for some of those lineouts. I don’t get [infield singles] often, but it’s fun when I do.”
Baylor wrapped up the offense with four more runs in the seventh inning as the team hit around. Little and Apodaca plated runs with singles and Jordan plated two more with a single of his own. Apodaca went 3-for-4 with four runs, Little went 3-for-6 with two runs scored and Jordan went 3-for-4 with four RBIs as the only Bears with three-hit games in the nightcap. Simmons, Johnson, Riebock and Kemp each finished with two hits.
“We hit a whole bunch of balls over 100,” Thompson said. “We made outs on hundreds, multiple times. And good for us. We’re squaring it up, and so I’m proud of the way the guys swung the bats. There was a bunch of really impressive swings over the course of the weekend.”
Junior left-handed pitcher Stefan Stahl, right-handed pitcher senior Patrick Hail, freshman Camden Clewett, redshirt junior Andrew Petrowski, junior Grayson Murry and redshirt senior Gabe Craig worked the final five innings of two-run ball. Stahl, a transfer from McLennan, dealt a scoreless fifth with two strikeouts, followed by a scoreless sixth inning from Hail, who shut down the only three batters he faced.
Clewett hit a road bump, allowing the final two Penguin runs in 1/3 of an inning before Petrowski halted the damage with a scoreless inning and a strikeout. Murray recorded two outs in his Baylor debut and Craig fried a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts.
“This is one weekend, don’t get me wrong,” Thompson said. “We have a lot of work to do, [we] have to keep getting better, but it was a good weekend, and you can kind of see some stuff and get excited about the possibilities here.
The Bears will be back in action against UTSA (0-2) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark.
