Baylor Baseball Soars Past ORU in 11-2 Victory

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 1, 2024

Baylor Baseball Soars Past ORU in 11-2 Victory
Marriott turns in solid start behind 15-hit outburst; Hail shuts the door for Friday night win
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (2-7) picked up an 11-2 series-opening victory over Oral Roberts on Friday night at Baylor Ballpark in Waco behind a season-high 15 hits, a solid start from Mason Marriott and 3.1 impressive scoreless innings of relief from Patrick Hail.

Marriott went 5.2 innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits, three walks and notched eight strikeouts in the no decision, minimizing damage until a seven-run sixth inning powered the Bears past the Golden Eagles. Hail came on to shut the door, recording the final 10 outs and fanning five.

All nine starters recorded a hit and six different Bears drove in a run, including junior infielder Hunter Teplanszky who went 3-for-5 at the dish and drove in three. Redshirt junior outfielder Enzo Apodaca blasted his second home run of the year, while redshirt junior infielder Will Pendergrass, senior infielder Daniel Altman, junior catcher Cortlan Castle and sophomore outfielder Caleb Bergman all posted multi-hit efforts.

THE RUNDOWN
ORU threatened early, loading the bases in the top of the second and even pushing across the game’s first run, though Marriott struck out the side to prevent a crooked number. The Golden Eagles went ahead 2-0 after a two-out RBI double in the third, though that’s as large as their lead would get.

Marriott settled in after BU tied it in the bottom of the third, as Teplanszky came through with a two-run single. The junior righty retired the ORU side in order in each of the fourth and fifth innings before handing the ball off to Hail, who stranded a pair of Golden Eagles baserunners upon entering from the bullpen.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Bears batted around as seven runs came across on seven hits and two ORU errors. Fifth-year senior infielder Mason Greer got the scoring started with an RBI single, followed by Altman’s RBI double and a two-run single by redshirt junior outfielder Kade Fletcher. Apodaca reached on an error that allowed two more Baylor runs to score and Teplanszky capped off the rally with a double to chase in Apodaca, making it 9-2.

Hail went on to scatter four hits over the next three frames and Baylor added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth off Apodaca’s solo shot and an RBI double from Pendergrass to seal the series-opening victory.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor picked up its first series-opening victory of the season.
• BU improved to 26-22 all-time against Oral Roberts.
• The Bears notched a season-high 15 hits in the win.
• Baylor put up seven runs in the sixth inning, marking the first time the Bears have scored seven or more runs in a single inning since scoring eight runs in the sixth inning against Kansas State on March 19, 2023.
• All nine starters hit safely for the first time since April 16, 2022, vs. Kansas.
• BU pitchers struck out 13 batters, marking the sixth time this season and 26th time in the Mitch Thompson era that the Bears have eclipsed double-digit punchouts.
• Redshirt junior OF Enzo Apodaca extended his team-leading hit streak to eight games after blasting his team-leading second home run of the year.
• Junior INF Hunter Teplanszky matched his career high with three RBIs and posted his fourth multi-hit game of the year.
• Redshirt junior INF Will Pendergrass doubled twice to tie his career high and produced his second multi-hit game of 2024.
• Senior INF Daniel Altman recorded his third-straight game with a hit and an RBI.
• Redshirt junior OF Kade Fletcher drove in two runs for the first time in his career.
• Junior C Cortlan Castle notched his second multi-hit game of the season.
• Sophomore OF Caleb Bergman tallied his first multi-hit game of the year.
• Junior RHP Mason Marriott matched his season-long with 5.2 innings on the mound and struck out eight.
• Redshirt junior RHP Patrick Hail recorded his second scoreless outing and picked up his first win as a Bear.

STAT OF THE DAY
15 – Baylor posted a season-high 15 hits on the night as all nine starters hit safely.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On Mason Marriott’s start…
“The fun part about Mason was watching him compete with the bases loaded and nobody out. He got out of it and gave up only one run. It’s fun to see him [do that] and then take it back out there and go the third, fourth, fifth and sixth [innings]. We just didn’t want to run him out of pitches too many. I’m real proud of his effort.”

On the seven-run sixth inning…
“We had the gates open up. [Cortlan] Castle gets a single, we steal second base, we get a push bunt from [Caleb] Bergman, now here we go. And the swings got better. We slowed [the ORU pitcher] down a little bit and took good swings throughout the lineup.”

Junior RHP Mason Marriott
On working out of the jam and gaining confidence…
“It was big for us, just being able to have confidence in myself, even though I was in a tough jam. Just keep attacking, keep doing what the coaches are saying, throw the pitches that were called and just having faith in my stuff. I got more comfortable up there, so it was just kind of making a quick adjustment to get going.”

Junior INF Hunter Teplanszky
On seeing everyone in the lineup step up…
“That was awesome to see. Those guys got their opportunity and they took advantage of it. As a group, in the dugout, you love to see that because it gives everybody confidence. Everybody’s fired up for those guys.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (2-7) goes for the series win over Oral Roberts (4-5) on Saturday at Baylor Ballpark, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.

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_3142371750]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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