Rigney lifts Baylor Baseball past Oklahoma in Series Finale, 5-3

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (12-20, 4-8) clinched its second Big 12 series win of the season with a 5-3 defeat of Oklahoma (17-16, 3-6) Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

The victory marks BU’s first series win since mid-March over Kansas State. 

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Freshman SS Kolby Branch went 2-3 with two doubles and two RBIs in Saturday’s victory.

The Bears currently sit tied for last in the conference with a 4-8 record halfway through Big 12 play but hold the tiebreaker over OU.

“It’s important to always play well here at home,” coach Mitch Thompson said after the win.

“When you’re [at home], you need to win. This was big for us. Halfway through the conference schedule now, this is where we’re at … We’ve got to keep getting better, but this was a good week for us.”

On Saturday, freshman shortstop Kolby Branch led Baylor’s offense with his thirteenth multi-hit game of the season. Branch went 2-3 at the plate with two RBIs and two doubles.

Junior Will Rigney was on the bump Saturday for BU and was excellent. Rigney finished the afternoon with a season-high five innings pitched. The 6-foot-6 righty surrendered only one run, six hits and one walk and struck out five on 80 pitches.

“I’m just happy with the team,” Rigney said after the game. “I feel like in the past years; those are games we would let slip away. And I feel like that was a big-time win … We came out, and we played good and grinded and got it done.”

Baylor got on the board in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI double down the left-field line from Branch. The freshman phenom leads the team in both doubles (12) and RBIs (28).

Branch came around to score the following at-bat on an RBI groundout from junior left fielder Hunter Simmons to put BU up 2-0.

With the bases loaded in the third, freshman designated hitter Walker Polk delivered a 2-RBI single through the left side to extend Baylor’s lead to 5-0.

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Baylor’s bullpen combined to allow only two earned runs in four innings of relief.

Oklahoma launched solo home runs in back-to-back frames to cut Baylor’s lead to 5-3 through seven innings.

Sophomore righty Gabe Craig added an inning of scoreless relief, and junior Hambleton Oliver closed out the ninth to record his third save of the season.

“The bullpen won it today,” Thompson said. “That’s really how the game went … We got out early, we held on, and the bullpen pitched, and we played defense. We didn’t beat ourselves, and that’s a pretty good formula for winning.”

Final:  Baylor 5 - Oklahoma 3

W: Will Rigney (3-1) L: Will Carsten (1-2) S: Hambleton Oliver (3)

POTG: Will Rigney 5 IP, 6 H, R, ER, BB, 5 K, 80 pitches.

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor baseball (12-20) will look to stay in the win column with a trip to Dallas Baptist (22-9) Tuesday. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Horner Ballpark, and the game will be streamed on DBUPatriots.com.