Baylor Baseball Evens Series Against Cincinnati With 8-6 Win

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 29, 2024

Baylor Baseball Evens Series Against Cincinnati With 8-6 Win
Apodaca, Mazoch, Teplanszky combine to drive in seven runs for BU in Friday victory
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (9-17, 4-7) evened its series against Cincinnati (16-12, 4-4) on Friday night with an 8-6 victory at Baylor Ballpark.

The Bears used a three-run home run from junior infielder Hunter Teplanszky and multi-RBI games from redshirt junior outfielder Enzo Apodaca and sophomore catcher Zach Mazoch to build a six-run lead over UC and held on after an eighth-inning grand slam drew the Bearcats within two.

Baylor starter junior righty Mason Marriott worked 4.1 innings, allowing eight hits and two runs, walking three and striking out four. He left with a pair of runners on and one out in the fifth, holding a 5-2 lead. Sophomore southpaw Ethan Calder entered in the fifth in relief of Marriott, and despite allowing a bloop single to load the bases, escaped the jam with a strikeout and a foul pop up.

Calder worked three innings before allowing the one-out grand slam in the eighth. He allowed seven hits and struck out two. The sophomore stretched his streak to 16.2 straight scoreless innings before surrendering the homer.

The Bears turned to Kobe Andrade in relief with one out in the eighth, owning an 8-6 lead. Andrade worked out of the frame with two quick outs and tossed a scoreless ninth to earn his first-career save.

THE RUNDOWN
The Bears struck first in the bottom of the first inning, plating three runs on Teplanszky's second homer of the year. After Apodaca’s leadoff walk was erased on a hard-hit double play liner, junior outfielder Wesley Jordan drew a walk and senior infielder Daniel Altman legged out an infield chopper. Teplanszky then turned on a 1-1 offering from UC starter Tommy Boba, sending it over the right-field fence for his second blast of the year.

UC answered in the top of the second, getting a one-out double off the wall in right-center field from Hunter Jessee. Catcher Alec Jones then bounced a one-hop single into right field to score Jessee and cut the lead to 3-1.

Baylor added to its lead in the fourth with a two-out, two-run double from Apodaca, who worked the count full before lacing a two-bagger down the right-field line, scoring fifth-year senior infielder Mason Greer and junior infielder Tyriq Kemp, who each reached on one-out free passes.

The Bearcats rallied in the top of the fifth, getting a leadoff single from Kerrington Cross and a walk from Josh Kross. Josh Hegemann bounced a single into left field that allowed Cross to score from second and cut the lead to 5-2.

The Bears added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth, getting a one-out double from Altman, who shot a line drive down the opposite-field line. After a line-drive out from Teplanszky, Mazoch pounded an RBI single into right, allowing Altman to motor home for a 6-2 BU lead after five complete.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bears plated two runs on three hits to take an 8-2 lead. Junior outfielder Ty Johnson led off with a triple off the center-field wall, scoring on Jordan's sacrifice fly to deep in the gap in left-center field. Teplanszky then doubled to push Altman, who was hit by a two-strike pitch, to third. Mazoch scored Altman with an RBI single into left field.

The Cats got back in the game in the eighth with a grand slam from Kross, his 11th homer of the year, scoring a trio of UC singles to cut the lead to 8-6. That’s when Andrade came on to retire all five that he faced, sealing the deal and evening the weekend series for the Bears.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor improved to 4-7 in league play with its first win over Cincinnati in program history.
• The Bears are now 9-0 when leading after seven innings in 2024 and 26-3 when leading after seven under second-year head coach Mitch Thompson.
• BU notched its 13th inning of the season with 3+ runs after scoring three in the bottom of the first.
• Redshirt junior OF Enzo Apodaca logged his team-leading fifth multi-RBI game of the season.
• Apodaca collected his team-leading eighth double of the season and extended his hitting streak to five games.
• Junior OF Ty Johnson hit his second triple of the season.
• Junior OF Wesley Jordan extended his team-leading on-base streak to 18 games.
• Senior INF Daniel Altman recorded his seventh multi-hit game of the season.
• Junior INF Hunter Teplanszky belted his second home run of the year and eighth of his career.
• Teplanszky tallied his eighth multi-hit game and second multi-RBI game of 2024.
• Teplanszky also extended his on-base streak to 10 games.
• Sophomore C Zach Mazoch notched his second multi-hit and second multi-RBI game of the year.
• Sophomore LHP Ethan Calder inherited two runners and didn’t allow them to score. For the year, he has inherited nine runners and allowed just two to score.
• Calder ran his scoreless innings streak to 16.2 before allowing a run on the night.
• Calder improved to 2-1 on the year and 5-1 in his career.
• Senior LHP Kobe Andrade earned his first-career save, shutting the door with 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
• It marked Andrade’s seventh scoreless appearance of the year, and fourth-consecutive.

STAT OF THE DAY
1-15 – Baylor collected its first victory in 16 times after being out-hit by its opponent (15-9).

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On the win…
“We put the three-spot up in the first and everyone remembers [Hunter] Teplanszky’s home run, it was big, but it doesn’t happen if [Daniel] Altman doesn’t beat out the infield hit. That’s a big deal man. Just playing the game the right way and running a hard-90, then all of a sudden the next guy goes big fly. You look back at this game, it seemed to be in control but all of a sudden it was 8-6 and we needed every one of them [runs]. I’m glad we continued to add on. I thought we took good at-bats throughout the night and I thought our pitching was good.”

On his confidence in throwing Ethan Calder for extended outings…
“He is an ultra, ultra-competitor. I mean, we’re throwing him right now one time a week, and we’re extending him out there and he’s given us options. We could throw him into the rotation if we wanted to, or we could use him just like we’re using him now in leverage situations. He’s pitching big innings for us on Friday nights and that’s what he’s been doing the last couple of weeks. He’s been fantastic and he’s given us everything he’s got.”

Junior Infielder Hunter Teplanszky
On his home run in the first inning…
“Obviously putting up runs in the first is huge. It gets the dugout going and the lineup going. That one felt good. Danny [Altman] extending the inning, beating out the infield single to even give me a chance to do that right there. Our offense came to play today, the whole team came to play today. We wanted to roll on that energy, kind of where we left off in the bottom of the ninth last night and get rolling early so we didn’t have to wait all game.”

Sophomore Left-Handed Pitcher Ethan Calder
On getting the win…
“Oh, it’s big. The second game of the series is swing day. You lose the first one, you win the second one, you’re right back in it. Sunday’s, or tomorrow is Saturday, those are the battle days. So we’ll be ready to go.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor (9-17, 4-7) goes for the series win against Cincinnati (16-12, 4-4) in Saturday’s rubber match. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.

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_3013098966]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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