Baylor Baseball Falls in Friday Opener at Duke

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Feb. 24, 2023

Baylor Baseball Falls in Friday Opener at Duke
Rigney returns as Bears drop the first of a three-game set in Durham
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

DURHAM, N.C. – Baylor baseball (2-3) fell to Duke (3-2), 20-1, Friday evening at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.

The Bears opened the scoring, but allowed 20 unanswered runs as the Blue Devils struck out 17 and made use of 21 hits and 13 free passes in the series opener.

Junior LHP/OF Kobe Andrade had two hits, including a double, and junior C Harrison Caley drove in BU’s lone run in the loss. Junior RHP Will Rigney made his return to the mound after suffering a season-ending injury last April and struck out two batters in a scoreless inning.

THE RUNDOWN
In the top of the second inning, back-to-back singles from sophomore 1B John Ceccoli and Andrade set the table for Caley’s RBI single, a shot to center field with two strikes and two outs. But, Duke’s left-handed starter Jonathan Santucci settled in to strike out nine over five innings and pick up his second win of the year, holding the Bears to just the one run.

The Blue Devils chased BU starter Blake Helton after just 3.2 innings, scoring five runs in the second and another five in the fourth. They went on to score another six runs in the fifth and put up a four-spot in the seventh to stamp the scoreline.

Baylor’s freshman righty Blake Rogers notched a pair of punchouts in two innings of relief work, while Rigney made his first appearance in a game since April 22, 2022, collecting two strikeouts in a scoreless bottom of the eighth.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor moves to 4-2 all-time against Duke, including an 0-1 mark in road games against the Blue Devils.
• BU’s pitching staff has struck out at least eight batters in all five games this season.
• Junior LHP/OF Kobe Andrade collected a career-high two hits, including his team-leading third double of the season.
• Four of Andrade’s five hits so far in 2023 have gone for extra bases, as he is slugging .588.
• Junior C Harrison Caley picked up his first RBI of the season.
• Freshman INF Kolby Branch has hit safely in each of BU’s first five games this season.
• Sophomore RHP Gabe Craig made his Baylor debut on the mound.
• Junior RHP Will Rigney made his first appearance in 10 months after suffering a season-ending injury a year ago.

STAT OF THE GAME
10 – Junior RHP Will Rigney made his first appearance in a game in over 10 months, having last pitched on April 22, 2022 at Texas.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On tonight’s game…
"You’re not going to win games when you’re walking and hitting people like we did. You’re not going to win games when you can’t get the third out of an inning. We gave up four big innings and we’ll have to regroup. Sometimes you get far enough down and decide, ‘hey this is what we’re doing.’ The beauty of today is that we got Will Rigney back out there for an inning. We were going to pitch him an inning this weekend. This is the second time he’s faced live hitters since last spring. I loved getting to see him go out and compete. Hopefully that will give us a little bit of a lift.”

On the process to get Will Rigney back…
“He’s been very diligent working through the weight room, working through the rehab, doing everything he’s supposed to do. We’ve been very patient with him and bringing him along slowly. He faced hitters earlier this week in a live intrasquad-type situation and he threw the ball really well. We told him if he was ready to go that we’d get him an inning this weekend, he wanted to do that, so we got him an inning. It was good to get him in when there was no pressure, get his feet wet, and we’ll keep building from here. He’s a great kid and I’m really happy for him.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (2-3) and Duke (3-2) are back at it on Saturday, Feb. 25, for the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and will be streamed on ACCNX via ESPN+. Baylor will send junior LHP Cam Caley to the mound against Duke’s RHP Adam Boucher.

To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on 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_2920986528]<http://baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230225/f636489c/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11693 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230225/f636489c/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU05 Box Score.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 50804 bytes
Desc: BU05 Box Score.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230225/f636489c/attachment-0002.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2023 BSB Season Stats.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 385882 bytes
Desc: 2023 BSB Season Stats.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230225/f636489c/attachment-0003.pdf>