Pitching and Defense Helps Baylor Baseball Hold Off Oklahoma in 5-3 Victory

Sat Apr 8 18:53:59 CDT 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 8, 2023

Pitching and Defense Helps Baylor Baseball Hold Off Oklahoma in 5-3 Victory
Rigney, BU bullpen work out of jams to help Bears take the series
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (12-20, 4-8) clinched its series against Oklahoma (17-16, 3-6) Saturday with a 5-3 win at Baylor Ballpark in Waco.

In front of a season-high attendance, BU starter RHP Will Rigney gave the Bears five quality innings of work and scattered six hits, allowing just one run to the Sooners and striking out five. Freshman INF Kolby Branch, junior OF Hunter Simmons and freshman C Walker Polk each came up with timely RBI hits in the win.

Sophomore RHP Gabe Craig worked a solid 1.1 innings of scoreless relief before handing it over to junior righty Hambleton Oliver, who picked up his second save of the weekend with a clean ninth.

THE RUNDOWN
After Rigney retired the side in order with a pair of punchouts, Baylor struck first in the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back doubles by sophomore INF Hunter Teplanszky and Branch to open the scoring. Simmons drove in Branch with an RBI groundout to make it 2-0 after the first frame.

Despite OU scratching across one in the second, the Bears put up a three spot in the third as Simmons singled home Teplanszky, then later scored on Polk’s RBI knock that also drove in Branch to make it 5-1.

Rigney continued to put up zeros before passing the torch to junior RHP Adam Muirhead and freshman southpaw Ethan Calder, who each gave up a solo home run in their outing, accounting for OU’s final two runs of the ballgame.

But, Craig and Oliver combined to shut it down in the late innings, allowing just two baserunners on a pair of hits, to seal the series victory.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor won its second Big 12 series of the year and improved to 4-8 in conference play.
• This is BU’s first win when scoring fewer than six runs and second win of the season when out-hitting its opponent.
• Junior RHP Will Rigney worked a season-high five innings on the mound and struck out five for the third time this season, earning his third win of the season.
• Junior RHP Hambleton Oliver earned his third save of the season and second of the weekend with his sixth scoreless outing of the year.
• Sophomore RHP Gabe Craig worked his seventh scoreless outing of the year.
• Sophomore INF Hunter Teplanszky extended his on-base streak to a team-high 20 games and also improved his hitting streak to eight games.
• Freshman INF Kolby Branch recorded his 13th multi-hit game of the season with two doubles against the Sooners.
• Junior OF Hunter Simmons collected his seventh multi-RBI effort of the year.
• Sophomore C Cortlan Castle produced his fifth multi-hit game of the 2023 campaign.

STAT OF THE GAME
5 – Will Rigney tossed a season-high five innings and struck out five in the win.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On Will Rigney’s efforts…
“Well, we hoped he would [go that long]. We’re trying to get four, five, six innings out of guys every time. Thankfully, he did, and I thought he was great. He competed really hard, we made some plays behind him. I remember the big catch that [Caleb] Bergman made out in center field. I remember the double plays that we turned. We won this game on the mound, and we won it play defense.”

On the three-spot in the third inning…
“Really big. That’s how you win games. Just to extend the lead and go up 5-1, especially when they had just come back with a run in the second. To go up 5-1, that put everybody pretty much at ease. Just got to keep fighting and pitching. We threw up a whole bunch of zeros up there on that scoreboard today, and that’s big for us. I’m really proud of the staff.”

Junior RHP Will Rigney
On his performance…
“I felt a lot better early on, a lot better than at Kansas, but you know I haven’t gone five innings in a long time. Those last couple innings were definitely a grind to say the least, but I was happy with how I felt and happy with the win.”

Junior OF Hunter Simmons

On the importance of this series win…

“It was huge. Starting off with SFA, we take that one, then coming in here with a win on Friday, obviously we lose yesterday, but coming in here today to win the series after losing to Kansa I think it was huge. Obviously a lot of confidence going into next week, we just gotta keep it up. Pass the torch.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (12-20) hits the road for its first midweek game away from Baylor Ballpark to take on Dallas Baptist (23-9) on Tuesday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. at Horner Ballpark in Dallas.

To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.

-BaylorBears.com-

__________________________________

Max Calderone | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (BSB, FB, EQ)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_2719053851]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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