Baylor Baseball: BSB Dominates in Saturday Sweep of Memphis

[Rhodes, Zach]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 6, 2021

BSB Dominates in Saturday Sweep of Memphis
The Bears outscored the Tigers 29-4 in two games
Media Link: https://baylorbea.rs/37RVUDI
For more information contact: Zach Rhodes, 919-247-7585, Zach_Rhodes at baylor.edu

WACO, Texas – The Baylor baseball team dominated the Saturday doubleheader against Memphis with a 9-0 shutout victory in the first game and a 20-4 beatdown in the second at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (6-4) clinched the series win over the Tigers (4-4) and will go for the four-game sweep tomorrow afternoon.

GAME 1 (7 innings)

The Bears started the game with two infield singles from second-year freshmen Jared McKenzie and Tre Richardson, followed by a dropped fly ball by the Memphis right fielder to give BU the early 1-0 advantage.

In the third, BU added to its lead after fifth-year senior Andy Thomas smoked a ball past the second baseman to score McKenzie from third. Second-year freshman Kyle Nevin followed it up with his first double of the year to set up second and third, one out. In the next at-bat, newcomer Jack Pineda singled to score Thomas and Nevin to give the Bears the 4-0 edge.

A flurry of singles in the sixth added to the Baylor lead as Thomas and Nevin used base hits to score one apiece. The Tigers then walked three batters with the bases loaded to push the BU lead to 9-0, the eventual final.

Tyler Thomas (1-0) dominated as the lefty tied his career-high with six scoreless innings pitched while striking out a career-best nine batters. Thomas only allowed two hits and three walks in the game. Memphis starter Chris Durham (0-1) finished with the loss.

GAME 2

McKenzie started off the bottom of the first inning with his fifth home run of the season to left-center field to put Baylor up 1-0.

Later in the third, it was McKenzie again this time with a triple off the center field wall followed by Pineda bringing him home with a groundout. The Bears added another run in the frame after Richardson was hit by a pitch and advanced to third after two wild pitches. Third baseman Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo hit the sac fly to make it 3-0 in favor of BU.

The Tigers took the lead in the fourth after putting up a four-spot, before the Bears opened up the flood gates. After a throwing error and groundout to score two, BU got back-to-back doubles from outfielders Davion Downey and Jacob Schoenvogel to run up the score to 8-0. Third-year sophomore Chase Wehsener singled up the middle to make it 9-0 going into the sixth.

The Bears were far from done putting numbers on the board. In the sixth, Baylor exploded for another eight runs after Memphis walked five batters in the inning. Thomas, Downey and Richardson all had RBI base knocks to run up the score to 17-4.

Baylor piled on three more runs in the eighth with a Richardson single and error, followed by a Kyle Harper single to right field to make it 20-4, the eventual final.

In a relief effort, fifth-year senior Jimmy Winston (1-1) earned the win after throwing four scoreless innings and striking out a season-best six batters. The Tigers’ Jackson Cothren (0-1) came up with the loss.

NOTES
• BU is now 4-0 at home in 2021
• The Bears shut out its second opponent of the week with a 4-0 victory over Sam Houston on Tuesday and the 9-0 blanking of Memphis in game one on Saturday.
• BU will go for its first four-game sweep since March 10-13, 2011 against Louisiana Tech
• Baylor has outscored its opponents this week 38-8.
• The 20 runs in the second game of the day were the most for the Bears since they put up 24 in the 2019 Los Angeles Regional against Omaha.
• T. Thomas tied his career high with nine strikeouts and tied his longest outing, going six innings
• Schoenvogel earned his first career start in left field in the second game of the day. He had his first career hit with an RBI-double in game two.
• In the second game, McKenzie’s triple was the first of his career and the first for the Bears this season.
• Richardson combined to go 4-for-6 with five runs and three RBI on the day.
• Five out of the six pitchers that saw time on the mound did not allow a single run.

QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
“Taking a doubleheader is really difficult, but I was really happy with our guys and the energy they came out with in both games. Tyler Thomas did a phenomenal job really battling through that whole game and coming out and doing such an amazing job on his fast ball in-out, being able to throw some off-speed for strikes. He commanded his own and you can see that they were a little flustered as the game was developing. Watching him go out there was really good, he’s been so consistent for us here in this crazy start to our season. Offensively, in that second game, we were able to benefit for some walks and hit by pitches. What’s great is our guys took advantage of it - getting on base, taking really good at-bats, scoring some runs, putting the pressure on their defense, and allowing some other guys to get some at-bats as well. It was really good to see, big game tomorrow for us.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor and Memphis will conclude the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on Facebook (Baylor Baseball), Twitter (@BaylorBaseball) and Instagram (@BaylorBaseball).


-BaylorBears.com-


Zach Rhodes | Associate Director of Athletics Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 919-247-7585 | O: 254-710-3784

[signature_1353188582]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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