McKinney Shows Promise in Debut but Baylor Baseball Drops Saturday Matchup to Oregon, 7-4
ARLINGTON, Texas – Baylor baseball (0-2) dropped its second contest of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown to Oregon (2-0), 7-4, Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Field.
In the defeat, Collin McKinney (RFr.) made his collegiate debut on the mound, but the bullpen spoiled an otherwise superb start. The Bears got out to an early 4-0 lead before the Ducks scored seven unanswered runs in the middle innings. Baylor’s offense had its opportunities to make things interesting late but struggled to plate runs, going just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
“It was another competitive ballgame, and we’re disappointed we didn’t come out on top,” head coach Mitch Thompson said after the loss. “We want to win, no question. There’s no substitute for winning. There’s no such thing as moral victories. You either win, or you don’t; it’s disappointing to lose, but if we wanted to schedule poorly, we could definitely [have done that].”
The scoring started in the top of the second inning when left fielder Gavin Brzozowski (So.) brought home designated hitter Hunter Simmons (Sr.) with an RBI ground out. Second baseman Mason Greer (Sr.) followed with a solo home run to right field, his first of the season.
The Bears added runs in both the third and fourth innings via RBI base knocks from third baseman Hunter Teplanszky (Jr.) and right fielder Enzo Apodaca (Jr.).
Meanwhile, on the bump, McKinney put together four solid innings of work and allowed just one hit. In the fifth, however, McKinney surrendered two base runners and was pulled with a rising pitch count (82) before having to face the heart of the order for the third time.
“I thought [McKinney] was good for his first time out,” Thompson said. “I think he showed a lot of promise and showed a lot of hope there – that was great for us and great for him.”
Instead, veteran righty Grant Golomb (Sr.) entered the ballgame in an attempt to mitigate the damage, but Oregon’s lineup instantly got things going with three RBI hits, including a double into left-center field from the Ducks' best hitter – 1B Jacob Walsh (Jr.).
McKinney’s ended the contest striking out five, walking two and allowing three earned runs and three hits across 4.1 innings on the mound.
With the game tied at four apiece going into the bottom of the sixth, Thompson called on lefty Jackson Elizondo (Fr.) out of the bullpen to make his first career appearance. Elizondo was pieced up by the Ducks and surrendered five hits and two earned runs across two frames.
“We didn’t pitch extremely well out of the bullpen,” Thompson said. “We’ll expect a little bit better out of [Golomb and Elizondo], but at the same time I don’t think they pitched bad, they gave up some two-out hits, two-strike hits and Oregon squared some balls up. [Oregon] is a really good ballclub.”
Despite a hot start and having multiple opportunities to score later in the contest, the Bears’ lineup picked up just two hits across the final five innings.
“We showed a lot of promising things [early]; we’ve just got to carry it through the later parts of the game,” Greer said postgame. “We started out hot, but in the sixth, seventh, eighth innings, we have to keep it going.”
Final: Oregon 7 - Baylor 4
W: Bradley Mullan (1-0) L: Jackson Elizondo (0-1) S: Logan Mercado (1)
POTG: Collin McKinney (3 ER, 3 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 4.1 IP, 82 pitches)
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor baseball (0-2) will cap off the Shriners Children’s College Showdown with a matchup against No. 9 Tennessee (1-0) at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at Globe Life Field.