Baylor Baseball Falls in Extras to Abilene Christian, 5-2

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 28, 2023

Baylor Baseball Falls in Extras to Abilene Christian, 5-2
Bears tie it after being down to their last strike, leave the bases loaded in the ninth and 10th
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – After being down to its last strike and then tying the ballgame in the bottom of the ninth, Baylor baseball (9-16) couldn’t scratch across the game-winning run and ultimately fell, 5-2, to Abilene Christian (19-6) Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark in Waco.

Freshman C Walker Polk crushed a pinch-hit, two-run home run to tie the game at 2-2 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth after sophomore C Cortlan Castle was down to his last strike, but worked a walk.

The Bears would leave the bases loaded in both the ninth and 10th innings, stranding the game-winning run just 90 feet away in back-to-back frames. Then, the Wildcats made use of a three-run home run in the top of the 11th to escape Waco with a win.

THE RUNDOWN
Both sides were kept quiet through the first three innings, combining for just three hits. Then in the fourth, both the Wildcats and the Bears stranded a pair of runners on base after threatening to break open the scoring.

It was ACU that cashed in first in the fifth, thanks in part to a Baylor throwing error. In the sixth, the Wildcats looked to add one more but a brilliant throw from junior INF/OF Cole Posey cut down a runner trying to score for an inning-ending double play. ACU head coach Rick McCarty was ejected after arguing the call heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Again, the Bears stranded a couple of runners, as part of their 0-for-13 night batting with runners in scoring position, and ACU made them pay with a run in the top of the seventh to make it 2-0.

BU went down 1-2-3 in both the seventh and the eighth, then made a quick two outs to start the ninth. That’s when Castle worked a full count walk, having been down to his last strike, and Polk came in off the bench to deliver the heroics. In just his sixth-career at-bat, Polk mashed the second pitch he saw over the wall to knot the scoreline at 2-2.

Then, freshman OF Caleb Bergman beat out an infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, setting up an intentional walk to freshman INF Kolby Branch. Following that, sophomore 1B John Ceccoli walked to load the bases, but a fly out ended the inning.

In the 10th, ACU had a baserunner reach with two outs after being hit by a pitch, but he was erased on a caught stealing by Castle, with some help from a fantastic tag by Branch. With momentum squarely on their side, the Bears loaded the bases once again in the bottom of the frame, but again couldn’t cash in the winning run.

The Wildcats wasted no time in the 11th, as a leadoff double was followed by a walk and a three-run homer, which proved to be decisive in the end. Though the Bears got the first two on in the bottom half, a strikeout and a double play finished things off.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor fell to 14-3 all-time against Abilene Christian.
• BU is now 4-2 in midweek games and 4-2 against teams from Texas in 2023.
• This was Baylor’s fifth extra-innings game of the year, it’s most in a single season since also playing five extra-inning contests in 2013.
• The Bears are now 2-3 in extras in 2023.
• The Bears eclipsed double-digit hits for the 10th time this season, and fifth time in their last seven games.
• Sophomore INF Hunter Teplanszky recorded a career-high four hits and tallied his seventh multi-hit game of the year.
• Teplanszky extended his team-leading on-base streak to 13 games.
• Freshman INF Kolby Branch notched his 10th multi-hit game of the year.
• Junior INF/OF Cole Posey collected his seventh multi-hit game and extended his team-leading hitting streak to nine games.
• Freshman C Walker Polk crushed his first-career home run, a two-run blast, to tie the ballgame in the bottom of the ninth.
• Freshman OF Caleb Bergman extended his on-base streak to six games.
• Junior RHPs Anderson Needham and Cole Stasio each recorded their sixth scoreless relief outings of the season.
• Sophomore RHP Gabe Craig worked his fifth-straight outing without allowing a run.
• Junior RHP Brett Garcia extended his scoreless appearance streak to four games.
• Junior RHP Hambleton Oliver collected his fourth scoreless appearance of the year.
• Senior RHP Blake Helton made his first relief appearance and worked 1.1 scoreless frames.

STAT OF THE GAME
25 – The total number of players used by Baylor in the ballgame.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On tonight’s game…
“I give Abilene Christian credit, they threw the ball really well. We didn’t get enough hits and we didn’t get the ball in play enough. I’m disappointed in the way we swung the bats. We weren’t competitive enough early on. I thought we pitched the ball well enough to win. I was proud of Walker Polk stepping up and getting the pinch-hit home run. But, it’s a constant battle. The guys are trying and we’re trying to get better.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (9-16, 2-4) hits the road once more for a Big 12 series at Kansas (8-14, 0-3). The series begins Friday night, March 31, with a 6 p.m. first pitch at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, Kan.

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_83095453]<http://baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230329/619359a1/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/20230329/619359a1/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU25 Box Score.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 159045 bytes
Desc: BU25 Box Score.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230329/619359a1/attachment-0002.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2023 BSB Season Stats.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 402566 bytes
Desc: 2023 BSB Season Stats.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230329/619359a1/attachment-0003.pdf>