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<h1 align="right" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:right"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">BAYLOR</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">ATHLETIC
COMMUNICATIONS – February 23, 2020</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">BEARS DROP RUBBER MATCH TO ORAL ROBERTS, 4-2</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<b><i><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">The Bears will finish out their eight-game homestand on Wednesday, Feb. 26 vs. UTRGV.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">For more information contact:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Rachel
Caton, (254) 652-2061,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:Rachel_Caton@baylor.edu"><span style="color:#954F72">Rachel_Caton@baylor.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">WACO, Texas
</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">– The Bears dropped the rubber match to visiting Oral Roberts, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The Bears (4-3) mustered two runs on five hits, with Mack Mueller launching his first long ball of the season, a solo shot in the fifth inning. Four of the Bears’ five runs came
from Jared McKenzie and Nick Loftin, who each had two hits apiece. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Both starting pitchers, Hayden Kettler for the Bears and James Notary for Oral Roberts (4-3), were cruising through the first three frames, both just facing one batter over the
minimum. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">In the fourth inning, the Golden Eagles got on the board first, as Jordan Wiley launched a solo home run, his third home run is the last two days. They then added two more to
jump out to a 3-0 lead on back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Mueller, who made an outstanding grab to end the top of the fifth inning, tried to jump start the Bears’ offense with a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the inning, putting
the Bears on the board and score at 3-1. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">In the sixth inning, Jared McKenzie led things off with a single and Ricky Martinez got him to second on a sac bunt. From there, Notary spiked one in the dirt and catcher Tanner
Lindsly was unable to recover it and McKenzie flashed the wheels, coming around from second to score, pulling the Bears within on, 3-2.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">ORU added one more run in the eighth inning to make the score 4-2.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The Bears brought the game-tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings, but were unable to breakthrough against Oral Roberts’ closer Kaleb McCullough.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Baylor starter Hayden Kettler took the loss, falling to 1-1, while ORU starter James Notary earned the win to improve to 1-1. McCullough earned his third save of the year.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C00000"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">NOTES</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The Bears are now 25-22 all-time against ORU<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">CF Jared McKenzie extended his hitting streak to seven games (he has reached safely in all seven games on the year).
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Six of Jared McKenzie’s seven games have been multi-hit performances, including a two-hit performance today.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">McKenzie and Nick Loftin accounted for four of the Bears’ five hits on the day with two hits apiece.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The other lone hit on the day was a solo home run by Mack Mueller.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">C Andy Thomas extended his reached based streak to 10 games, stemming back to the 2019 season.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">OF Mack Mueller extended his on-base streak to eight games, going back to 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">OF Mack Mueller launched his first home run of the season, a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning. It is his third career home run as a Bear.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">RHP Luke Boyd made his second-straight appearance, after earning his first career save yesterday. He again faced the minimum with two strikeouts in today’s appearance.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">RHP Logan Freeman made his fourth appearance of the season and his second appearance in as many games.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">LHP Tyler Thomas made his four appearance of the year and second appearance in as many games.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Starter RHP Hayden Kettler made his second start of the season and threw 5.0 innings, tying his outing last Sunday.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">RHP Jacob Ashkinos made his second appearance of the year.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:0in;mso-add-space:auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">For the second-straight game, the Bears only walked one batter.
<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C00000"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">QUOTES OF THE DAY FROM HEAD COACH STEVE RODRIGUEZ
<br>
</span><i>On what ORU starter James Notary was doing…</i><br>
</b>“Now I’ll tell you what he did a good job. He didn’t walk anybody, he threw a lot of strikes mixing up his pitches and changing zones up and down. I just thought he did a really good job and we couldn’t get anything started. We had guys on base with two
outs, but we couldn’t do anything to kind of manufacture around it. We got a big home run from Mack [Mueller] and were able to get a guy in on a wild pitch.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>On what Andy Thomas is doing behind the plate…</i><br>
</b>“He is a veteran, he’s an older guy and that’s one of the things. He came in here one of the best catchers out of high school in the country. And we knew who he was, he just had a guy that unfortunately was a difference maker behind the plate in front of
him. And now is his time, and so I’m very proud of him continuing to work hard and the effort that he’s showing us, he’s a really talented young man and I’m glad he’s getting to show that.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C00000"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">WHAT'S NEXT</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The Bears remain at home to finish off their eight-game homestand as they host UT Rio Grande Valley at 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">-baylorbears.com-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">__________________________________</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;color:black"> </span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#154734">Rachel Caton</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"> | Associate Sports Information Director</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">O: 254-710-3784 | C: 254-652-2061</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://baylorbears.com/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="160" height="44" style="width:1.6666in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D5EA65.38F626B0" alt="cid:image001.png@01D5070F.1E7C3CA0"></span></a><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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