Baseball Falls in Crazy 10-5 Contest to No. 17 Tennessee
HOUSTON – Baylor baseball (5-5) dropped a 10-5 contest to No. 17/16 Tennessee on Saturday at the Shriners Children’s College Classic in Houston.
The Bears stole seven bases, including a whopping six in the first inning, their most in a single game since Feb. 25, 2011. However, the Volunteers’ offense proved to be too much for BU, out-hitting the Bears 12-7 and tallying six extra-base hits on the day.
Baylor jumped out to a hot start, putting up four runs in the top of the first behind two hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch. Jack Pineda, Tre Richardson, Kyle Nevin and Antonio Valdez each stole bases, including a pair by Pineda and Valdez, in the opening frame.
But Tennessee would answer right back with four runs of its own in the bottom half, knocking around BU starter Jake Jackson. Jackson wouldn’t escape the third, as the Vols added one in the second and another four in the third to chase the Baylor starter.
Things were quiet until the sixth, as BU lefty Kobe Andrade kept UT in check. An RBI double by the Volunteers made it 10-4, but that would be all as Baylor relievers combined to go the final 5.1 innings allowing just four hits and the one run.
The Bears got one back in the seventh as Richardson and Valdez pieced together singles, then Chase Wehsener turned around a 99 mile-per-hour fastball to score the final run of the afternoon.
Baylor, now 1-1 on the weekend, with close out its tournament against No. 7/8 in Sunday’s nightcap.
NOTES
• Baylor is now 1-1 all-time against Tennessee, as this was the first matchup against the Volunteers under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
• The Bears fall to 7-4 at the Shriners Children’s College Classic under Rodriguez with their five-game winning streak at the tournament having snapped.
• BU is 16-19 in neutral site contests in the Rodriguez era.
• Baylor’s seven stolen bases were its most in a single game since Feb. 25, 2011 vs. Georgia.
• BU swiped six bags in the top of the first inning.
• Antonio Valdez tallied his second multi-hit game of the season and first multi-RBI outing with two.
• Chase Wehsener notched his first multi-RBI game of the season with two.
• Jack Pineda stole a career-high three bases.
• Pineda extended his on-base streak to 13 games, dating back to the 2021 season.
• Valdez stole a career-high two bags.
STAT OF THE GAME
7 – Baylor stole seven bases, its most in a single game since 2011.
TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On today’s game…
“I think, just from a pitching standpoint, we were kind of just throwing the ball down the middle of the plate. We really weren’t working side-to-side. When you have a physical team, a talented team like Tennessee, they’re going to take advantage of that and they did. I thought our offense did a pretty good job of just constantly competing. I thought there were some opportunities where we could have scored a few more runs and we just needed another hit. But, you have to tip your hat to [Tennessee], they played a great game.”
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (5-5) closes out its weekend at the Shriners Children’s College Classic with a 7 p.m. CT tilt against No. 7/8 LSU (9-1) on Sunday, March 6, at Minute Maid Park.