Baylor Baseball Wins Series over Cincinnati, Beats Bearcats on Saturday, 9-2

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (10-17, 5-7) clinched its second Big 12 series victory of the year with a 9-2 win over Cincinnati (16-13, 4-5) Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

Right-handed pitcher Collin McKinney (RFr.) was masterful on the bump for the Bears. He had the best outing of his young collegiate career, retiring 14-straight batters and striking out a career-high 10 Bearcats. Cincinnati's lone run off McKinney in a season-long 6.1 frames was unearned.

Baylor Athletics

3B Hunter Teplanszky (Jr.) went 3-for-4 with three RBIs in Saturday’s series-clinching win.

Baylor’s batting order, on the other hand, exploded for 13 base knocks and nine runs. Four Bears had multi-hit performances – Enzo Apodaca (RJr.), Hunter Teplanszky (Jr.), Zach Mazoch (So.), Cortlan Castle (Jr.). Teplanszky led the charge with a three-hit, three-RBI performance. All nine of Baylor’s starters reached base in the victory.

“You lose Thursday night and come back and win a good ballgame on Friday and come back out here today and dominate that game, 9-2 – that’s a big-time win for our guys,” head coach Mitch Thompson said after the win.

“It shows a heart, shows a lot of fight and shows a lot of character – those are all things you can build on. It was fun for them to play this weekend. They played well, and winning is more fun than losing.”

In the top of the first inning, McKinney walked Cincinnati’s leadoff hitter, and first baseman Tommy O’Connor (Jr.) blooped a single into left field that originally looked destined to go foul before the wind grabbed the ball and brought it back into play.

Afterward, a throwing error on shortstop Tyriq Kemp (Jr.) allowed the leadoff hitter to come around and score to give the Bearcats an early 1-0 lead.

Baylor struck back in the bottom of the first to regain the lead on a two-run double down the right field line from Teplanszky. On the series, Teplanszky was 6-for-12 at the plate with seven RBIs and four extra-base hits.

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Collin McKinney (RFr.), RJ Ruais (Fr.) and Drew Leach (RJr.) combined to surrender just two hits to a talented Cincinnati lineup on Saturday.

The Bears kept their foot on the gas with a four-spot in the second, capped off with an RBI double off the batter’s eye in center field from Wesley Jordan (Jr.). Jordan is now second on the team in batting average () and third in runs batted in (15). Center fielder Ty Johnson (Jr.) and Teplanszky also added RBI singles in the frame.

“Having run support right away definitely got the momentum going in the right direction,” McKinney said postgame. “It was a good recipe for a win. [Getting ahead in counts] is extremely helpful. When you can put [opponets] in that type of situation, it makes them susceptible to [striking out], and you can use your whole arsenal to get them out.”

In the third, Apodaca plated a run with an RBI single of his own into left field to score Kemp and give Baylor a 7-1 lead. All seven of the Bears' runs came in the first three frames. Over the series, Apodaca picked up four hits and reached base in nine of his 14 plate appearances.

In relief of McKinney on the mound, lefty RJ Ruais (Fr.) closed out the seventh but put two aboard in the eighth and was pulled in favor of veteran right-handed pitcher Drew Leach (RJr.). One run was able to cross for Cincinnati, but Leach was able to mitigate the damage by striking out the side.

With a runner on first and two outs in the eighth, second baseman Daniel Altman (Sr.) crushed his first home run of the season and first long ball of his BU career over the right field wall to extend Baylor’s lead to 9-2.

Final: Baylor 9, Cincinnati  2

W: Collin McKinney (2-3) L: Nathan Taylor (5-1)

POTG: Collin McKinney (6.1 IP, H, R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 2 HBP, 22 BF, 93 pitches)

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor baseball (10-17) will return to action on Tuesday night to take on Houston Christian (8-18) at Baylor Ballpark. The first pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.