Lady Bear SB Goes 1-1 in First Day of Baylor Invitational
WACO, Texas – No. 21 Baylor (8-4) split its first two games of the Baylor Invitational on Friday. The Lady Bears finished with five extra base hits on the day. Taylor Ellis and Hannah Thompson each had a home run and a double to go with four and three RBIs respectively.
GAME 1: BAYLOR 5, NORTH TEXAS 2
Sidney Holman pitched all seven innings for the Lady Bears as she gave up two runs off eight hits with nine strikeouts and a walk. She was two shy of her career high in strikeouts (11 vs. Iowa, 2017).
Baylor trailed 1-0 after the first inning but took a 2-1 lead when Taylor Ellis hit her first home run of the season.
Two innings later, it was Hannah Thompson’s turn to hit one out of the park as her first homer of the year put the Lady Bears up 5-1.
GAME 2: LOUISIANA 5, BAYLOR 2
Earlier in the day, Louisiana run-ruled Kent State, 21-1. Behind Madison Lindsey and Regan Green in the circle, the Lady Bear defense held the No. 10 team in the country to five runs. Louisiana finished the game with 10 runners left on base.
The Ragin’ Cajuns had a 3-0 lead into the middle of the fourth inning before Taylor Ellis knocked in her third and fourth RBIs of the day with a double deep into the outfield.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Lady Bears gave North Texas pitcher Hope Trautwein her first loss of the season in the circle (4-1).
Baylor combined for 10 hits on the day with only six total left on base.
Baylor is 6-0 when the opponent scores two runs or less.
STAT OF THE GAME
12 – Consecutive games Nicky Dawson has reached base safely, marking a new career high for her.
TOP QUOTE
Glenn Moore on the pitching vs. Louisiana…
“I told (Madison Lindsey) in the dugout and in front of the team that (Louisiana) has been putting up ungodly amounts of runs and hits. She as a freshman went out there and held her own and went toe to toe with them for the most part. She pitched a good game, but didn’t pitch a great game. I just want her to know how good she can be if she can do that right now against that lineup. I’m excited about what she did. Coach Newman mixed her pitches really well and she responded well. She worked ahead in the count much more than she did and so did Sidney earlier. We made some big strides this week in pitching. We’ve got to get better but we made some big strides there.”
Glenn Moore on Taylor Ellis...
“I have to give a shout out to Taylor Ellis because the kid is just a competitor. It doesn’t matter if she’s down two strikes or has a bad call on her. She just competes. She comes up with a lot of what we might call garbage hits. We used to call them garbage hits, but now she’s hitting balls out of the park and off the wall and big hits in key situations, so it’s fun to see her game grow the way it has.”
Taylor Ellis on her day…
“I got a rise ball in. I was looking in, and the pitcher had been working me away. I was continuing to fight those pitches off. I was looking for that pitch all day and I was happy to capitalize on that one.”
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor takes on Kent State at 12:30 p.m. Saturday before facing an opponent to be determined at either 3:00 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. Saturday as part of the Baylor Invitational semifinals.