Baylor Baseball Falls to No. 21 West Virginia on Friday

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 26, 2024

Baylor Baseball Falls to No. 21 West Virginia on Friday
Apodaca hits leadoff homer in series-opening defeat
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Baylor baseball fell to No. 21 West Virginia 18-5 in its Friday night series opener at Kendrick Family Ballpark in Morgantown, W.Va.

Despite a leadoff home run by redshirt junior outfielder Enzo Apodaca and a two-hit, two-RBI night from senior infielder Daniel Altman, the Bears couldn’t overcome WVU’s 12-hit, 18-run output.

The Mountaineers (24-16, 12-7) chased BU’s starter junior right-hander Mason Marriott after just 1.2 innings, his shortest start of the season, though freshman southpaw Mason Green weathered the storm and gave the Bears 4.1 frames in relief. Senior righty Grant Golomb struck out three in his inning of work and redshirt freshman right-hander Tanner Duke pitched a clean eighth, his third scoreless appearance of the year.

THE RUNDOWN
Apodaca got things going in a hurry for the Bears (19-21, 9-10), sending the seventh pitch of the evening into the upper deck of the office building at Kendrick Family Ballpark for his fifth home run of the season. An RBI single later in the inning from Altman made it 2-0 in favor of the visitors.

However, WVU responded with four-straight singles to greet Marriott in the bottom half and scored four runs in the frame to take the lead. The Mountaineers added six more in the second to chase the BU starter and take a 10-2 advantage into the third.

Sophomore catcher Zach Mazoch kept Baylor in the fight with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the third, but BU’s threat for more ended with a strikeout that left the bases loaded.

Again, West Virginia answered with two runs of its own in the home half on a pair of sacrifice flies to go ahead by 10 at 12-2.

A solo home run in the fourth made it 13-4, Mountaineers, before Altman picked up his second RBI knock of the night in the top of the fifth, cutting the deficit back to eight at 13-5.

Green did well to weather the storm, allowing just five runs though just two were earned across 4.1 innings and giving the Bears some length out of the bullpen. However, Baylor didn’t record a hit past the sixth inning and had just one baserunner reach over the final four frames, as a five-spot in the seventh by WVU put a cap on the series opener.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Redshirt junior OF Enzo Apodaca hit the first leadoff home run by a Bear since Jack Pineda did so vs. Oklahoma State on May 20, 2022.
• Apodaca also recorded his team-leading 14th multi-hit game of the year, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
• Junior OF Ty Johnson reached safely for the 15th consecutive game with a single in the second inning.
• Junior OF Wesley Jordan was hit by a pitch in the first inning, extending his on-base streak to 31 games.
• Senior INF Daniel Altman went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for his 10th multi-hit and sixth multi-RBI effort of the 2024 campaign.
• Sophomore C Zach Mazoch tallied his fourth multi-RBI game of the season.
• Fifth-year senior INF Cole Posey reached base in all three of his plate appearances with a hit and two walks, extending his on-base streak to 11 games.
• Freshman LHP Mason Green made his sixth relief appearance of the year and worked a season-high 4.1 innings out of the bullpen.
• Green struck out five batters, marking his most in a relief appearance this season.
• Senior RHP Grant Golomb matched his season high with three strikeouts.
• Redshirt freshman RHP Tanner Duke made his third scoreless appearance of 2024.

STAT OF THE DAY
5 – Redshirt junior OF Enzo Apodaca launched his fifth home run of the season and became the first Bear in two seasons to record a leadoff blast.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On the length Mason Green provided out of the bullpen…
“The length that he gave us is a big deal. 78 pitches, four and a third [innings] with three hits, it was a big deal because it saved the bullpen for tomorrow and Sunday. We’ll just try to see if we can get some rest tonight, show back up tomorrow and play a little bit better baseball.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (19-21, 9-10) looks to even the series with No. 21 West Virginia (24-16, 12-7) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at Kendrick Family Ballpark in Morgantown, W.Va.

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 (Baseball, Football)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_3181327388]<http://baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20240427/e2c0d9ca/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11694 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20240427/e2c0d9ca/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BU40 Box Score.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 196355 bytes
Desc: BU40 Box Score.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20240427/e2c0d9ca/attachment-0003.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2024 Season Stats.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 407720 bytes
Desc: 2024 Season Stats.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20240427/e2c0d9ca/attachment-0004.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2024 Conf Stats.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 379065 bytes
Desc: 2024 Conf Stats.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20240427/e2c0d9ca/attachment-0005.pdf>