Baylor Baseball Handles Sam Houston, 15-4

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 29, 2025

Baylor Baseball Handles Sam Houston, 15-4
Bears rack up season-high 14 strikeouts, Sanders and Kemp each drive in three runs in victory
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Baylor baseball handled Sam Houston to the tune of a 15-4 victory Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville.

The Bears racked up 14 strikeouts on the mound, matching their season-high, while four Bears drove in at least two runs in redshirt sophomore infielder Travis Sanders, senior infielder Tyriq Kemp, redshirt sophomore outfielder Gavin Brzozowski and redshirt freshman first baseman John Youens.

Youens, who made his first-career start, notched a pair of hits including a two-run single as part of BU’s offensive onslaught. Baylor pitchers had plenty of run support to work behind and five of BU’s seven hurlers tallied multi-strikeout appearances.

The win marked Baylor’s 10th midweek victory of the season, and 15th in its last 16 such games, as the Bears also improved to 12-7 this season against fellow teams from the state of Texas.

THE RUNDOWN
BU threatened early, as redshirt senior outfielder Enzo Apodaca singled to extend his hitting streak and Sanders walked, but the two were left stranded in the first. The first two Bears reached again in the second, as Brzozowski singled into right and Youens was hit by a pitch. After senior outfielder Ty Johnson laid down a sacrifice bunt, senior catcher Cortlan Castle hit a sacrifice fly to get Baylor on the board.

Apodaca followed suit with his second knock of the night to score Youens, then Sanders doubled the lead with his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot the opposite way to put BU ahead 4-0 after the first two innings.

Redshirt sophomore left-hander Caleb Jameson was sharp on the mound, retiring six of the seven batters he faced and striking out three of the last four he saw in two scoreless frames to start the ballgame. He handed the ball off to senior right-hander Hunter Teplanszky, who allowed a two-run home run to SHSU in the bottom of the third that cut into the lead at 4-2.

Baylor answered back rather loudly in the fourth, putting up five runs on three hits and one Bearkat error. Kemp got things started with a run-scoring knock, then later came around on Brzozowski’s two-run single. Youens collected his first two-career RBIs right after, driving in Brzozowski and freshman infielder Pearson Riebock to make it 9-2.

Teplanszky worked around a one-out walk to record a scoreless fourth, then made way for junior southpaw Stefan Stahl who struck out the side in his only inning of work. The Bearkats got a couple back in the home half of the sixth, scoring two runs on an RBI double and an RBI single, trimming the deficit to five at 9-4.

Yet again, Baylor responded emphatically in its next offensive inning, plating three in the top of the seventh inning. Sanders drove home his third run of the night with a sharp single into left field, then Kemp walked with the bases loaded to make it 11-4. Apodaca trotted home on a wild pitch to cap off the three-run frame.

After junior righty Grayson Murry and sophomore southpaw RJ Ruais each threw up zeros, the Bears added three more in the top of the ninth, as Kemp collected his third RBI of the night with another sacrifice fly and redshirt senior first baseman Will Pendergrass tallied a run-scoring, pinch-hit single. Riebock put the cherry on top of the evening with an RBI double to the left-field wall as the Bears scored 15 runs for the fifth time this season.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor improved to 73-49 all-time against Sam Houston and 5-1 against the Bearkats under third-year head coach Mitch Thompson.
• BU is now 26-11 in midweek ballgames during the Thompson era, including a 10-1 mark this year.
• The Bears are winners of 15 of their last 16 midweek matchups.
• Baylor is 12-7 against fellow teams from the state of Texas this season.
• BU walked just two batters tonight, improving to 19-3 in such games.
• The Bears also racked up a season-high 14 strikeouts, the staff’s 15th game this season with double-digit strikeouts.
• Baylor improved to 20-2 in games when striking out at least nine.
• BU tallied 12 hits as a team and improved to 17-4 in games when reaching double figures in hits.
• Redshirt senior OF Enzo Apodaca extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
• Apodaca also logged his 13th multi-hit game of the season.
• Redshirt sophomore INF Travis Sanders extended his hitting streak to six games.
• Sanders also recorded his 14th multi-hit and fourth multi-RBI games of the year with a two-run home run in the second inning and an RBI single in the seventh.
• Senior INF Tyriq Kemp reached base for the 21st consecutive game.
• Kemp also notched his eighth multi-RBI performance of the year.
• Freshman INF Pearson Riebock extended his on-base streak to seven games.
• Redshirt sophomore 1B/OF Gavin Brzozowski tallied his second multi-hit and third multi-RBI efforts of the year.
• Redshirt freshman 1B John Youens made his first-career start at first base.
• Youens also logged his first-career multi-hit and multi-RBI games, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
• Redshirt sophomore LHP Caleb Jameson pitched his seventh scoreless outing of the year and third consecutive, earning his second win of the season with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts.
• Junior LHP Stefan Stahl struck out a career-high three batters and worked his sixth scoreless appearance of the season.
• Junior RHP Grayson Murry struck out the side, matching his personal best and logged his 11th scoreless outing of the year.
• Sophomore LHP RJ Ruais made his eighth scoreless appearance of the season and fifth consecutive.
• Redshirt senior RHP Andrew Petrowski recorded his eighth scoreless outing of the year.

STAT OF THE DAY
14 – Baylor pitchers racked up 14 strikeouts to match a season high.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On the pitching performance…
“Virtually every guy that went out there for us today was really good. I could start naming names. [Stefan] Stahl, [Grayson] Murry, [Andrew] Petrowski, [RJ] Ruais, were all really good towards the end of the game. [Caleb] Jameson was pretty good too. They all filled up the strike zone and made pitches. You’ve got to be pleased with that for sure.”

On preparing for a seven-game homestand…
“We’re excited to go back to Waco and play here now, we’ve got seven in a row coming up at home. We need to go take care of business, create a great atmosphere, pack that ballpark and have a lot of fun with it in the next week and a half. I’m looking forward to it.”

Redshirt Freshman 1B John Youens
On his first-career start…
“I was really excited. Just blessed for the opportunity that Coach Thompson gave me. My heart was pounding, was just super stoked for the opportunity. Right when the first pitch was thrown, I felt like I was locked in from there and felt pretty good. Just really blessed to be in a spot where I had guys in front of me doing their job, getting on base, that’s what makes the game fun.”

Sophomore LHP RJ Ruais
On his recent success…
“I’m so thankful that God pushed me through this and helped me get through some of the struggles that I had. I’ve just felt a lot more like myself lately and have been feeling really good. I’m hoping to keep building on it and keep it going towards the end of the season as we get into crunch time.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (28-16, 9-12) hosts Arizona State (28-16, 14-7) in a three-game series to begin a seven-game homestand at Baylor Ballpark on Friday, May 2, at 6:30 p.m.

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 | Director of Athletics Communications (Baseball, Football)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_901236287]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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