Blake Vines | Reporter
No. 8 Baylor lost a rivalry match to No. 5 TCU in Fort Worth Thursday, 11-8, dropping the Bears to 0-3. All three losses have come against top-five teams.
“I’m incredibly proud of how this team rode and battled today,” head coach Casie Maxwell said. “There’s still a lot to improve on, but we’ve got the majority of the season left in front of us.”
Baylor (0-3, 0-1 Big 12) won the Fences event 4-1, led by senior jumping seat Lauren Jorgensen, who earned a score of 87 and was awarded her first MOP honor of the season. Freshman jumping seat Morgan McCarthy scored a career-high of 84.50 to beat TCU’s (2-0, 2-0 Big 12) 79.
Baylor lost 3-1 in the Reining event sophomore, with sophomore western Britt McIlnay earning Baylor’s only point in the event with a career-high score of 71.25 over the Horned Frogs’ 67.75.
At the half, Baylor was in a good spot, leading the meet 5-4 going into Flat and Horsemanship events in the second half.
In Flat, senior jumping seat Lauren Reid earned her second MOP of the season with an impressive career-high of 90.50; however, the Bears still lost the event 3-2. They went to lose Horsemanship 4-1, ending the event with an 11-8 loss to the Horned Frogs.
“My plan was to be as accurate and bold as I could be,” Reid said. “I’m super grateful to the coaches and horses who helped me achieve this [Career-high score].”
The loss drops the Bears to 0-3 on the season. The match marked TCU’s sixth series victory in the programs’ past seven matchups.
“Jumping Seat was phenomenal today and rode very strong from start to finish,” Maxwell said. “Western showed tremendous improvement and garnered some great scores. I’m excited about the improvement that’s been made in the first two weeks of the season already and looking forward to playing at home in a few short weeks.”
Baylor will host No. 9 Fresno State at 11 a.m. Oct. 31 at Willis Family Equestrian Center for the Bears’ first home meet of the season.
