BAYLOR BASEBALL: Long Balls Launch Bears Over Missouri, 4-2

Fri Feb 28 16:17:23 CST 2020

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – February 28, 2020

LONG BALLS LAUNCH BEARS OVER MISSOURI, 4-2
The Bears open up the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children College Classic with a victory.
For more information contact: Rachel Caton, (254) 652-2061, Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu<mailto:Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu>

HOUSTON, Texas – The Bears defeated Missouri 4-2 in game one of the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children College Classic on Friday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

The Bears (5-3) benefited from solid pitching and timely hitting, including two solo homers from Mack Mueller to earn their first Friday win of the season.

The Tigers got on the board first, taking advantage of a leadoff walk and a single before a double play brought home the first run of the day, making it 1-0 Mizzou (4-5).

Tiger starter Ian Bedell was good through the first few frames on the day, but the second and third time through the lineup the Bears were able to take advantage.

The Bears evened things up in the third inning as the Bears took advantage of a fielding error from the Tigers that led Kyle Nevin reach to start the inning. Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo then tied things up with a one-out double down the left field line that allowed Nevin to come home from first.

With the game deadlocked at 1-1, the Bears took advantage of a second Tiger error in the inning that allowed Nick Loftin to drive in the second run of the day on a single through the left side.

The Tigers got that run back in the fifth inning as they took advantage of a Baylor error that extended the inning and a sac fly tied the game back up at 2-2.

From there the Bears’ offense was all Mueller, as he launched a solo homer on the first pitch of the sixth inning into the Crawford Boxes to make it 3-2 Bears. He then further extended the lead with a second shot in the bottom of the eighth, this time to the deepest part of the park in left center, giving the Bears some breathing room at 4-2.

Baylor starter Paul Dickens tossed a solid 5.0 innings of work, scattering four hits and allowing two runs (one earned) with three walks and six strikeouts.

It was the bullpen that came through for the Bears down the stretch, as Logan Freeman entered in the sixth with two on and nobody out and was able to get out of the inning unscathed after a sac bunt and two big strikeouts with two Tigers in scoring position. He then put up a zero in the seventh and one out in the eighth before giving way to Tyler Thomas who pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning.

Finally, Luke Boyd entered to toss a scoreless ninth, notching his third save of the year.

Freeman earned the win for the Bears to improve to 1-0 on the year, the first win of his career, while Tiger starter Bedell took the loss, falling to 1-2 on the year.

NOTES

  *   The Bears are now 17-17 all-time in the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children College Classic.
  *   The Bears are 4-3 in the tournament under fifth-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
  *   The Bears are now 34-26 all-time against Missouri and have won four-straight against the Tigers.
  *   For the second time in three trips to the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children Classic under head coach Steve Rodriguez, the Bears are off to a 1-0 start.
  *   SR OF Mack Mueller launched two solo home runs on the day, a career single-game high.
  *   JR SS Nick Loftin tallied two hits on the day and drove in one run.
  *   JR INF Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo drove in one run on the day.
  *   FR OF Jared McKenzie has now hit safely in all nine games on the year.
  *   FR INF/OF Kyle Nevin has had at least one hit in all three of his starts on the year.
  *   RHP Logan Freeman collected the first win of his career.
  *   RHP Luke Boyd collected his third save of the year.
  *   LHP Tyler Thomas made his fifth appearance of the year out of the bullpen, tossing 0.2 of an inning with 1 K.
  *   Starter LHP Paul Dickens tossed a season-high 5.0 innings of work on the day, scattering 2 runs (1 earned) on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts (one K shy of tying his season high).
  *   The Bears did not allow a walk and struck out 6 through the final 4.0 frames of the game.

STAT OF THE DAY
2 – Mack Mueller launched two solo home runs, single-game career high for the senior.

QUOTES OF THE DAY FROM HEAD COACH STEVE RODRIGUEZ
On Mack Mueller’s performance…
“Mack has just never been fully healthy for us. Last season he was coming off a back injury and this fall he had a broken jaw. And last year he just didn’t have a chance for a lot of opportunities with the likes of seniors Cole Haring and Richard Cunningham in the outfield. But we’ve always thought there was a lot of pop in his swing and getting a chance as an everyday starter he is getting to show his full potential.”

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will return to Minute Maid Park for the second game of the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children College Classic on Saturday, Feb. 29 vs. LSU. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT and will be televised live on AT&T SportsNet and streamed on MLB.com, Astros.com, the Astros’ twitter page, YouTube page and Facebook Live.

-baylorbears.com-

__________________________________

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

[cid:image001.png at 01D5070F.1E7C3CA0]<http://baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20200228/2208c7c3/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11689 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20200228/2208c7c3/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Baylor 4, Mizzou 2.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 39686 bytes
Desc: Baylor 4, Mizzou 2.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20200228/2208c7c3/attachment-0001.pdf>