Clutch Hitting Fuels Baylor Baseball's 6-5 Win Over Kansas

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 16, 2022

Clutch Hitting Fuels Baylor BSB’s 6-5 Win Over Kansas
Pineda, Nevin hit late homers to help clinch series over Jayhawks
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (18-17, 4-8) clinched the series over Kansas (14-20, 2-7) with a 6-5 win on Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.

Seventh-inning home runs from Jack Pineda and Kyle Nevin proved to be clutch and decisive as the Bears claimed the one-run victory over the Jayhawks.

KU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind a solo home run and an RBI single in the top of the third inning, but BU responded in the bottom half with a run-scoring single from Tre Richardson. Pineda also scored on a wild pitch to tie the tally at 2-2 entering the fourth.

An RBI knock in the fourth and sacrifice fly in the fifth gave Kansas a 4-2 lead through four and a half frames, but Nevin drove in Richardson with a sacrifice fly of his own in the bottom of the fifth to pull the Bears within one.

Then in the sixth, Harrison Caley came up with a clutch, two-out RBI single to score Chase Wehsener and knot the game at 4-4. Pineda poked a go-ahead homer off the left field foul pole in the bottom of the seventh, and two batters later Nevin blasted what wound up as the game-winning solo shot to left-center.

With a 6-4 lead, Matt Voelker was able to work out of trouble, only allowing one run in the top of the eighth as part of his 2.2 innings of solid relief. After striking out each of the first two Jayhawks in the ninth, the senior lefty turned the ball over to Chandler Freeman, who recorded his first-career save to seal the win.

NOTES
• Baylor claimed its first series win in Big 12 play of 2022.
• BU improves to 61-23 all-time against KU, including a 13-6 mark against the Jayhawks under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
• Baylor didn’t commit an error or walk a batter in the entire three-game series against Kansas.
• Baylor hit five home runs on the weekend, its most in a three-game series this year.
• BU recorded double-digit hits for the 14th time this season with 10 on the day.
• With five extra-base hits, the Bears extended their streak to 14 games in a row with at least one XBH.
• The Bears have tallied two or more XBH in each of their last four games and five of their last six.
• All nine starters recorded a hit in back-to-back days.
• Tre Richardson extended his career-high on-base streak to 26 games.
• Jared McKenzie extended his career-high on-base streak to 22 games.
• Jack Pineda extended his on-base streak to 18 games
• Pineda has scored at least one run in each of his last 13 games.
• Chase Wehsener recorded his 10th multi-hit game of 2022.
• Kyle Nevin collected his 12th multi-RBI game of the year.
• Matt Voelker notched a season-high four strikeouts.
• Chandler Freeman picked up his first-career save.

STAT OF THE GAME
0 – Baylor finished off the series win with zero walks or errors over each of the three games against the Jayhawks.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On turning things around with a series win…
“When you have the offense come out like it did, the pitching do what it did, you can’t help but get excited. Now we have some confidence. I really do believe that we were lacking some of that confidence. Guys were showing up like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s it going to be today?’ Then we get great outings by Kobe Andrade, a great outing by Will Rigney. We couldn’t get the win, but it was still a great outing. Same thing by our bullpen on Thursday. When you’re able to get those things, you can’t help but get excited to get playing again, because you’re starting to see guys take care of their business. That’s what we try to harp on – take care of your business, then pass it to the next guy and let him do his job. Then you pass it to the next guy and let him do his job. You don’t need to do everybody’s job, just do your own.”

Junior INF Jack Pineda
On his go-ahead home run…
“It was huge. I really put a lot of, I don’t want to say pressure, but I really took it upon myself to be a spark at the top of the lineup and just bring a lot of energy. I was really fortunate yesterday with a double to lead off the game; and tonight just the same thing. I think me and Tre really challenged each other to be that spark at the top of the lineup. It felt good to just produce.”

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (18-17) gets back at it on Monday, April 18, against Lamar (22-13) for a 6:30 p.m. CT contest at Baylor Ballpark.

For the latest news on the Baylor baseball team all season long, follow 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_1943071858]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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