No. 8 Seed Baylor Baseball Held in Check by No. 1 Seed TCU, 4-2

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 25, 2022

No. 8 Seed Baylor Baseball Held in Check by No. 1 Seed TCU, 4-2
Bears will face No. 4 seed Oklahoma State in 9 a.m. elimination game on Thursday
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

THE RUNDOWN
ARLINGTON, Texas – No. 8-seeded Baylor baseball (26-27) fell to top-seeded TCU (36-18) Wednesday afternoon at Globe Life Field in Arlington by a final of 4-2 in the first round of the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.

The Bears will have to battle back through the loser’s bracket to keep their season alive, first with a matchup against No. 4 Oklahoma State on Thursday at 9 a.m. CT.

Blake Helton turned in a career-high seven strikeouts on the mound for BU and the Bears jumped out to an early lead, but four unanswered runs sealed the deal for the Horned Frogs.

In the top of the first, Tre Richardson doubled and came around to score on Kyle Nevin’s RBI triple, opening the ballgame with a 1-0 Baylor advantage. After a spotty bottom of the first but solid second inning, Helton retired nine in a row across the third, fourth and fifth frames to keep his side in front.

The Bears added a run in the top of the sixth thanks to Antonio Valdez’s RBI knock through the right side that scored Richardson. However, in the home half the Frogs were able to breakthrough and get to Helton with a pair of runs to even the ledger.

As BU was unable to scratch any across against TCU’s bullpen in the late stages, the Horned Frogs plated another two runs in the eighth off Grant Golomb to take the lead 4-2 and hold on to the opening round victory.

NOTES
• Baylor falls to 37-42 all-time at the Big 12 Championship and 4-4 as the No. 8 seed in the tournament.
• BU extended its streak to 32 games in a row with an extra-base hit and has collected at least two XBH in 20 of its last 22 games.
• The Bears added to the nation-leading total of 63 double plays with another two twin killings in the ballgame.
• Blake Helton collected a career-high seven strikeouts on the afternoon.
• Tre Richardson notched two doubles for the third time this season.
• Richardson picked up his 17th multi-hit game of the year.
• Adam Muirhead turned in his 11th scoreless relief outing of 2022.

STAT OF THE GAME
7 – Blake Helton fanned seven Horned Frogs for a career-best total.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On today’s game…
“I thought offensively we came out hot. We got some guys in scoring position, we just couldn’t get that extra hit. It was great to see our guys just constantly competing. We had a couple defensive miscues that were frustrating, but our guys competed well all the way up to the final swing. That’s all I can really ask of them.”

On Blake Helton’s start…
“He did exactly everything we asked him to do. He went out there and got us deep into the game, had a career-high in strikeouts. I was really excited about watching him go out there and compete for us. We needed that kind of a start today and we got it from him. Having him back out there gave us a refreshing feeling.”

Sophomore INF Tre Richardson
On the feeling after the game…
“It’s a little tough to only muster as much as we did, but TCU’s a really good team. They won the conference in the regular season for a reason. We knew in a game like that runs were going to come at a premium. Missing a couple of opportunities that we had doesn’t feel too good, but that’s just the game of baseball.”

Junior RHP Blake Helton
On allowing two runs in the sixth inning…
“I was making bad pitches and they hit them. It would have been nice to get those plays, but I’d already been saved a few times. Tre [Richardson] had a great play, I missed a spot and it got crushed but Tre saved me. They’d been making plays for me all day. I just started making mistakes in that last inning. I can’t always count on them to erase my mistakes.”

WHAT'S NEXT
No. 8 seed Baylor (26-27) faces No. 4 seed Oklahoma State (36-19) in an elimination game with first pitch set for 9 a.m. CT at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

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_2782658360]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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