Baylor Baseball Falls to UTSA in Midweek Contest, 8-3

WACO, Texas – Baylor Baseball (2-6) lost its fourth consecutive game and fell to UTSA (7-2), 8-3, on Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.

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Baylor’s offense finished with eight hits on the evening and has not eclipsed ten hits since the Opening Day victory over Central Michigan.

Freshman RHP Blake Rogers had the best outing of his young career, throwing three scoreless frames before giving up four earned runs in the fourth inning.

Rogers struck out two and allowed five hits in 3.1 innings pitched.

However, two runs charged to Rogers came around to score on wild pitches from MCC transfer Jared Matheson.

Matheson finished allowing one earned run in two innings pitched and tied a Baylor individual record dating back to 1998 with four wild pitches in an outing.

“We’ve got to get away from giving up the big inning,” coach Mitch Thompson said after the game. “We give up the five spot, and then we’re chasing five again. It’s a lot different than chasing one, and it’s a lot different than chasing two. This far early in the season we’re giving up some five spots like they are growing on trees.”

In the bottom of the fifth, freshman Kolby Branch delivered a one-out RBI single up the middle to score sophomore Cortlan Castle.

“He’s played his tail off,” Thompson said of Branch. “He’s competing at the plate. He’s competing in the field. He’s becoming more vocal. I love what we’re getting out of Kolby.”

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Junior OF/LHP Kobe Andrade hit his first home run of the season in Tuesday’s loss.

Junior centerfielder Kobe Andrade added a solo home run in the sixth to cut the UTSA lead to 5-3.

RHP Anderson Needham threw two scoreless innings in relief, but the Roadrunners added three late runs to prevent the Bears from piecing together a comeback.

Baylor’s offense finished with eight hits and has not eclipsed ten hits since the Opening Day victory over Central Michigan.

“We’ve got to have some better at-bats,” Thompson said. “We’ve just got to keep working at it. Guys are disappointed, so we’re going to keep busting it, and we’ll see if we can make some headway this weekend.”

Final: UTSA 8 - Baylor 3

W: Drake Smith (1-0) L: Blake Rogers (0-1) S: Daniel Shafer (1)

POTG: Austin Stracener 3-3, SB

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor Baseball (2-6) is set to face Youngstown State (1-7) for a four-game series this weekend at Baylor Ballpark. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday night.