Baylor Baseball: Bears Drop Rubber Match to Oral Roberts, 4-2

Sun Feb 23 16:20:55 CST 2020

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – February 23, 2020

BEARS DROP RUBBER MATCH TO ORAL ROBERTS, 4-2
The Bears will finish out their eight-game homestand on Wednesday, Feb. 26 vs. UTRGV.
For more information contact: Rachel Caton, (254) 652-2061, Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu<mailto:Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – The Bears dropped the rubber match to visiting Oral Roberts, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

The Bears (4-3) mustered two runs on five hits, with Mack Mueller launching his first long ball of the season, a solo shot in the fifth inning. Four of the Bears’ five runs came from Jared McKenzie and Nick Loftin, who each had two hits apiece.

Both starting pitchers, Hayden Kettler for the Bears and James Notary for Oral Roberts (4-3), were cruising through the first three frames, both just facing one batter over the minimum.

In the fourth inning, the Golden Eagles got on the board first, as Jordan Wiley launched a solo home run, his third home run is the last two days. They then added two more to jump out to a 3-0 lead on back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning.

Mueller, who made an outstanding grab to end the top of the fifth inning, tried to jump start the Bears’ offense with a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the inning, putting the Bears on the board and score at 3-1.

In the sixth inning, Jared McKenzie led things off with a single and Ricky Martinez got him to second on a sac bunt. From there, Notary spiked one in the dirt and catcher Tanner Lindsly was unable to recover it and McKenzie flashed the wheels, coming around from second to score, pulling the Bears within on, 3-2.

ORU added one more run in the eighth inning to make the score 4-2.

The Bears brought the game-tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to breakthrough against Oral Roberts’ closer Kaleb McCullough.

Baylor starter Hayden Kettler took the loss, falling to 1-1, while ORU starter James Notary earned the win to improve to 1-1. McCullough earned his third save of the year.

NOTES

  *   The Bears are now 25-22 all-time against ORU
  *   CF Jared McKenzie extended his hitting streak to seven games (he has reached safely in all seven games on the year).
  *   Six of Jared McKenzie’s seven games have been multi-hit performances, including a two-hit performance today.
  *   McKenzie and Nick Loftin accounted for four of the Bears’ five hits on the day with two hits apiece.
  *   The other lone hit on the day was a solo home run by Mack Mueller.
  *   C Andy Thomas extended his reached based streak to 10 games, stemming back to the 2019 season.
  *   OF Mack Mueller extended his on-base streak to eight games, going back to 2019.
  *   OF Mack Mueller launched his first home run of the season, a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning. It is his third career home run as a Bear.
  *   RHP Luke Boyd made his second-straight appearance, after earning his first career save yesterday. He again faced the minimum with two strikeouts in today’s appearance.
  *   RHP Logan Freeman made his fourth appearance of the season and his second appearance in as many games.
  *   LHP Tyler Thomas made his four appearance of the year and second appearance in as many games.
  *   Starter RHP Hayden Kettler made his second start of the season and threw 5.0 innings, tying his outing last Sunday.
  *   RHP Jacob Ashkinos made his second appearance of the year.
  *   For the second-straight game, the Bears only walked one batter.

QUOTES OF THE DAY FROM HEAD COACH STEVE RODRIGUEZ
On what ORU starter James Notary was doing…
“Now I’ll tell you what he did a good job. He didn’t walk anybody, he threw a lot of strikes mixing up his pitches and changing zones up and down. I just thought he did a really good job and we couldn’t get anything started. We had guys on base with two outs, but we couldn’t do anything to kind of manufacture around it. We got a big home run from Mack [Mueller] and were able to get a guy in on a wild pitch.”

On what Andy Thomas is doing behind the plate…
“He is a veteran, he’s an older guy and that’s one of the things. He came in here one of the best catchers out of high school in the country. And we knew who he was, he just had a guy that unfortunately was a difference maker behind the plate in front of him. And now is his time, and so I’m very proud of him continuing to work hard and the effort that he’s showing us, he’s a really talented young man and I’m glad he’s getting to show that.”

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears remain at home to finish off their eight-game homestand as they host UT Rio Grande Valley at 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

-baylorbears.com-

__________________________________

Rachel Caton | Associate Sports Information Director
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3784 | C: 254-652-2061

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