Baylor Remains Winless, Drops Final Game of Shriners Showdown to No. 9 Tennessee, 11-5
ARLINGTON, Texas – Baylor baseball (0-3) dropped its third and final contest of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown to No. 9 Tennessee (2-1), 11-5, Sunday night at Globe Life Field.
The Bears got out to an early lead against the Volunteers before the talented Tennessee batting order took advantage of several defensive mishaps and free passes handed out by the Baylor pitchers.
After the Vols went ahead 6-3 in the top of the third inning, the Bears were unable to ever regain the lead, forcing Baylor to leave Arlington with no wins and three losses on its record.
“We have to get better,” head coach Mitch Thompson said after the loss. “I think the disappointing thing about tonight was that you’re playing such a good opponent … you can’t help them, you can’t make silly mistakes defensively, and we gave them too many opportunities, and it ends up costing us multiple runs throughout the course of the game, I thought that we did compete, but that’s to be expected. This competing thing is to be expected.”
Baylor struck first in the bottom of the first inning when designated hitter Hunter Simmons (Sr.) crushed an RBI double into the left-center field gap. Later in the frame, second baseman Mason Greer (Sr.) brought Simmons home with an RBI fielder’s choice to give the Bears an early 2-0 lead.
In the second, catcher Harrison Caley (Sr.) lined a solo shot into left field for his first career home run. An inning later, center fielder Ty Johnson (Jr.) roped a two-RBI triple into left-center field.
“I think the positive that we can take out of this weekend is that we competed,” Johnson said after the loss. “We’re going to go into the rest of the season battle-tested because we were thrown right into the fire, and we competed our tails off against some of the best teams in the nation. I’m proud of us for that, and I’m excited to see what this can do over the rest of the season.”
Jared Matheson (Sr.) started on the bump for the Bears Sunday. After a relatively shaky first inning, the dam broke in the second when the Vols nine-hole hitter and right fielder, Kaveras Tears (RSo.), launched a three-run homer into the outfield bleachers. It was the lone hit Matheson allowed, but in just two innings of work, the veteran righty handed out three passes.
Tennessee regained the lead in the fourth, 6-3, and never looked back, adding three more runs in the inning off of lefty Kobe Andrade (Sr.), including a two-RBI triple from the Vols star third baseman Billy Amick (Jr.).
In the fifth, lefty Mason Green (Fr.) made his first collegiate appearance and entered into a no-out, bases-loaded jam but was able to navigate the rest of the frame unscathed. Green had the best debut of any Baylor freshman out of the bullpen this weekend, surrendering just one earned run across two innings of work.
“Coming in the ballgame with the bases loaded, nobody out [and saying], ‘Hey son, this is your first college outing, go get ‘em.’ And for him to pitch out of that [situation] was fantastic,” Thompson said of Green’s debut.
The Volunteers extended their lead to 11-5 with a run off of reliever Ethan Calder (So.) in the seventh.
Baylor had opportunities but wasn’t able to plate any runs over the final six innings. The offense struggled with runners in scoring position all weekend and went 2-for-12 with runners on and 1-for-7 with RISP in Sunday’s loss against Tennessee.
“We just have to keep our energy up,” Johnson said of the batting order tailing off toward the end of games. “We’re definitely capable of being a great offensive team that averages seven or eight runs a game. We just have to stick to our approaches, not get too big or do something different when the other team responds.”
RJ Ruais (Fr.), another lefty making his collegiate debut, tossed 1.1 scoreless innings on the mound.
“I’m super proud of the way [Green and Ruais] competed,” Johnson said of the young arms who made their debut Sunday. “Their first college outing was in a big league park against a really good opponent, and they competed well. I’m super proud of them.”
Final: Tennessee 11 - Baylor 5
W: Nate Snead (1-0) L: Kobe Andrade (0-1)
POTG: Mason Green (ER, R, H, BB, K, 2.0 IP, 27 pitches)
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor baseball (0-3) will return to Waco for its home opener against Lamar (2-1) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.