Late Blast Lifts Baylor Baseball Over Abilene Christian, 6-4

ABILENE, Texas – Baylor baseball (7-5) defeated Abilene Christian (7-5) by a final of 6-4 Wednesday night at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene.

A three-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning off the bat of freshman Casen Neumann lifted the Bears, as fellow rookie Mason Marriott shut the door for his third save of the year.

BU took the early lead thanks to a two-run double by Chase Wehsener in the top of the first, providing some quick run support for RHP Adam Muirhead, who was making his first career start.

ACU answered in the bottom half and trimmed the Baylor lead to 2-1, but the Bears responded with another run in the top of the second with an RBI groundout by Tre Richardson.

From there, things remained the same until the bottom of the seventh when the Wildcats knotted the score at 3-3. But in the top of the eighth, with two men on and one away, Neumann came to the plate for the Bears and delivered the go-ahead blast, the first of his career in just his second at-bat.

Hambleton Oliver (1-0) and Matt Voelker bridged the gap to Marriott, who once again came on for a four-out save. The rookie struck out the first batter he faced, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to put the lid on the win for the Bears.

NOTES

• Baylor improves to 14-2 all-time against Abilene Christian and 2-0 since the team has competed at the Division I level.

• BU is now 2-1 all-time in Abilene, though this was the first road meeting for the Bears and Wildcats since they moved to D-I.

• Baylor is now 46-15 in midweek matchups under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez, including a 3-0 mark in 2022. The Bears have won 10 of their last 11 midweeks, dating back to last season.

• BU is now 50-47 on the road during the Rodriguez era.

• Since being swept by Maryland, the Bears have won seven of their last nine games.

• Freshman 1B Casen Neumann delivered his first-career home run, a three-run blast in the eighth inning that put the Bears in front.

• Freshman RHP Mason Marriott collected his third save of the year.

• Junior 1B Chase Wehsener drove in two runs for his second multi-RBI game of the year.

• Wehsener and sophomore INF/OF Alex Gonzales tallied multi-hit games, their fourth and second such efforts of the season, respectively.

• Junior INF Jack Pineda extended his on-base streak to 15 games, dating back to the 2021 season.

Baylor Athletics

STAT OF THE GAME

3 – Freshman 1B Casen Neumann came through with a three-run go-ahead pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning that proved to be the game-winner.

TOP QUOTES

Head coach Steve Rodriguez

On Neumann’s go-ahead home run…

“I’m trying to find a way to put guys in spots where I think they have a chance to be successful. Harrison [Caley] was kind of struggling a little bit to try and get a ball elevated, and Casen [Neumann] does that really well. I know he’s only had one at-bat coming in to today, but that’s something that he’s done and I’ve seen that. I thought it was a good matchup for him and it turned out to be a great situation.”

On Marriott gaining confidence…

“He’s going out there competing and just pounding the zone. That’s what I like about him, is he’s not scared of the situation. For a freshman to be able to go out there and do that is really special. That’s what I’m really excited about for the future for him. He’s going to have opportunities, whether it’s as a starter or a reliever. But the fact that he’s not scared, he’s willing to go out there with his best stuff and lay it all out there, is great for our program.”

Freshman 1B Casen Neumann

On hitting his first-career home run…

“It felt really good. I’m always supporting the team and I finally got a chance to get out there. The only thought I had in my mind was to score a run for the team. I put the ball in play, got something I could hit to the outfield for an RBI, and got a little extra right there.”

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (7-5) returns home for a three-game series against Columbia (3-4), scheduled to begin Friday, March 11 at 3 p.m. CT at Baylor Ballpark.