Baylor Baseball Blows Late Lead against Kansas State on Sunday, Loses 7-5

MANHATTAN, Kansas – Baylor baseball (24-24, 6-15) lost the series finale against Kansas State (27-23, 8-13) on Sunday afternoon, 7-5. 

It was another ugly loss in a season full of ugly losses. The Bears led 5-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, but Matt Voelker blew the lead and gave up six runs to give the Wildcats a big come from behind win. 

Today started with a recurring theme from the weekend, the Bears got the leadoff runner aboard in the top of the first inning. This time via a Jack Pineda single to the shortstop. Jared McKenzie followed up his home run yesterday, with another towering two-run shot today. McKenzie lined the tenth pitch of the at-bat over the right-field wall to give him his second home run of the weekend and his ninth home run of the season. It was one of the best, if not the best at-bat from McKenzie all season. Baylor led 2-0 after the top of the first inning. 

Baylor Athletics

Kansas State cut the BU lead in half in the bottom of the first inning. Blake Helton walked the leadoff batter, Josh Nicoloff. Nicoloff eventually came around to score on an RBI single. Helton allowed three base runners in the first inning but did a good job mitigating the damage.

The Bears picked up another run in the top of the second inning to make it a 3-1 lead. A two-out double from Jacob Schoenvogel kept the inning alive. Then, Schoenvogel advanced on a passed ball and scored on an infield single from Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo.

A Kyle Nevin sacrifice-fly scored Tre Richardson to extend the BU lead to 4-1 in the third inning. The Baylor offense scored in each of the first three innings. 

In his second start after returning from injury, Helton was once again great. After that first inning blemish, he settled down and threw six scoreless innings. Helton finished the afternoon, going 7.0 IP, and allowed R, ER, 3 H, 4 BB, and 4 Ks on 92 pitches. It was undoubtedly his most impressive showing of the year. It was great to see him back out there competing on the mound. 

Baylor Athletics

Helton deals from the bump at KSU

Matt Voelker made his second appearance of the weekend and pitched in relief of Helton. An error on Jack Pineda allowed the Wildcats to find some momentum that had alluded them since the first inning. K-State picked up back-to-back singles to close in on the lead and make it a 5-2 ballgame.

The bases were loaded with one out when Nick Goodwin sent a grand slam over the right-field wall to give the Wildcats their first lead of the day at 6-5. Voelker allowed another solo shot before he was pulled from the game. Voelker entered the game with a 5-1 lead and left the game with a 7-5 deficit.

In the top of the ninth, the Bears had runners on first and second with two outs, but Alex Gonzales struck out to end the game. 

The loss today puts Baylor in eighth place in the Big 12 standings. At the time of writing this, the Bears are 1.5 games ahead of Kansas and have not yet secured a spot in the conference tournament that will happen in a few weeks at Globe Life Field. 

Final: Kansas State 7 - Baylor 5

W: Tyler Ruhl (4-2) L: Matt Voelker (4-6) S: Dylan Phillips (6)

POTG: Jared McKenzie 2-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor baseball (24-24, 6-15) returns home to Waco to finish the season on a four-game homestand, starting with Stephen F. Austin (14-33) on Tuesday night at 6:30 P.M.