No. 19 Baylor Softball Splits Friday Doubleheader at Aggie Classic

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 19 Baylor Softball split a pair in its Saturday doubleheader, taking down Purdue, 6-1, in the first game before falling to No. 7 Texas A&M, 10-7, in game two Friday night at Davis Diamond.

THE RUNDOWN

GAME ONE

After allowing a leadoff-single from Purdue in the top half of the first, starting pitcher Lexie Warncke and the Baylor defense sat the next three Boilermakers down in order.

Turiya Coleman walked in the bottom of the first, but it was Purdue who struck first when they scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the second. Baylor quickly answered with a six-spot in the bottom of the inning.

To kick off the scoring was Amber Toven who launched her first homerun of the season over the wall in straightaway center. Following the homerun, freshmen Faith Piper and Averie Waddell smacked back-to-back infield singles to put two on before they advanced to second and third on a wild pitch.

Wanting in on the RBI action, Brooklyn Carter and Presleigh Pilon notched singles of their own, Carter bringing home two and Pilon bringing home one. With the 4-1 lead, Turiya Coleman rocketed a double to left center, barely missing a home run of her own to send home Pilon. The sixth run of the inning came home after a single from Abi Flores advanced Coleman to third who scored on the throw.

The Bears shut out the Boilermakers for the next five innings, only allowing two more hits.

GAME TWO

Baylor came out on fire in game two against the No. 7 ranked Texas A&M Aggies, loading the bases with one out in the top of the first after three-straight singles from Pilon, Coleman and Flores. The Bears' first run of the game came home after Toven reached on a fielding error that scored Pilon.

Sitting the Aggies down in order in the bottom half of the first, Lillie Walker who made her first start in the Green and Gold, forced three straight groundouts.

The Bears added runs to the board in the top of the second inning with a two-out rally started by Carter. After a single up the middle from the centerfielder, Pilon singled and advanced to second on the throw when Carter came home to score when the Aggies didn’t make the throw home.

After a walk issued to Coleman, Flores singled up the middle scoring Pilon when a fielding error was made by the Aggies catcher to make it a 3-0 game. Dawson then rocketed a two-RBI double to right centerfield to extend the Bears’ lead.

After another 1-2-3 inning for the Bears defense in the bottom of the second, the Aggies got a run back in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-1 ballgame.

Trying to add insurance runs in the fourth the Bears tacked on two more to the score on a groundout and single up the middle from Toven.

Baylor allowed its walk of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but it was erased with a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.

Texas A&M fought their way back in the fifth inning, placing four runs on five hits to narrow the Bears’ lead to 7-5.

The Aggies continued the hot comeback in the bottom of the sixth, plating five more runs to take the 10-7 lead, courtesy of a sacrifice fly, a two-RBI double and a two-run homerun.

Baylor’s Shaylon Govan, who has missed most of the season-opening tournament due to graduate school class, drew a walk in the bottom of the seventh but that would be all for the Bears as they fell, 10-7.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bears had seven starters record a hit in game one
• Lexie Warncke pitched a career-tying 5.0 innings with four strikeouts
• Amber Toven hit her first home run of the season against the Boilermakers
• BU out-hit Purdue 7-4 in game one
• Presleigh Pilon went 3-for-4 against Texas A&M scoring two runs
• Brooklyn Carter and Abi Flores each had a multi-hit game against the Aggies
• Karynton Dawson and Flores led the way with two RBIs each
• The Bears totaled 11 hits against the Aggies
• Lillie Walker made her first start as a Bear, pitching 4.0 innings

UP NEXT

The Bears will close out their time at the Aggie Classic with a doubleheader against Utah State and Villanova starting at 11:30 a.m. CT at Davis Diamond.