Jordan Collects Three Hits as Baylor Rounds Out Homestand with 9-4 Victory over SFA

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (7-1) rounded out its eight-game homestand with a 9-4 victory over Stephen F. Austin (4-5) on Tuesday evening at Baylor Ballpark.

Left fielder Wesley Jordan (Sr.) helped propel the Bears to the win with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate — his fourth three-hit game of the season. Baylor earned double-digit base knocks (10) for the fifth time this year and reached base 10 times via walks handed out by SFA.

The Bears’ pitching staff combined for nine strikeouts and limited the Lumberjacks to just four hits. In the later innings, Baylor combined to retire 14 straight SFA batters.

“Our guys can hit — day-in and day-out, just seeing them mash baseballs — our whole lineup hits the baseball so hard, and you know they’re going to put runs up,” right-handed pitcher Grayson Murry (Jr.) said postgame. “Our job as pitchers is to go out there and keep putting up zeroes.”

In the first inning, Baylor took an early 2-0 lead after back-to-back run-scoring base knocks from right fielder Enzo Apodaca (RSr.) and Jordan. Apodaca and Jordan are tied for the team lead with 10 RBIs apiece.

The Bears looked poised to strike again in the second inning with no outs and the bases loaded but only came away with one run following a sacrifice fly from shortstop Tyriq Kemp (Sr.). Kemp finished the game 1-for-2 at the plate; he leads the team with a .520 batting average.

A pair of hit-by-pitches and errors from infielders Jack Little (RSo.) and Travis Sanders (RSo.) helped get the Lumberjacks on the board in the fourth inning. After combining for six errors through the first six games, the Bears have tallied six miscues across the last two games.

Later in the frame, Bailey surrendered a bases-clearing double to second baseman Kevin Duran (Jr.), giving SFA a 4-3 lead. None of the runs were earned, however. Bailey finished the evening after tossing five innings and striking out a career-high seven batters while allowing three hits.

“I thought he threw the ball really well. He threw pitches for strikes. In the fourth inning, we kicked a couple of balls on defense, and he hit a couple of guys with two strikes while trying to make a pitch,” head coach Mitch Thompson said of Bailey. 

“All of a sudden, it did turn into a little bit of the stinker. They get the big three-run double, but sending him back out there in the fifth and watching him go strikeout, strikeout, strikeout says a whole lot. It was a great way for him to end the game.”

Baylor broke the game open with a four-spot in the sixth inning and regained the lead, 7-4. Jordan, as well as designated hitter Hunter Simmons (RSr.) and center fielder Ty Johnson (Sr.), all delivered RBI base knocks in the frame.

“The team was confident we were going to win this game, so it was just about getting the job done when I needed to,” Jordan said.

The Bears added two more runs in the eighth inning. Pendergrass picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and Caleb Bergman (Jr.), pinch-running for Simmons, stole home on a wild pitch.

Murry and Paris Junior College transfer lefty Caleb Jameson (RSo.) combined for 3.2 scoreless frames out of the bullpen. Veteran right-handed pitcher Drew Leach (RSr.) entered the ballgame for the first time this season and got the final out.

“I was impressed by all of our pitchers that went out there today,” Thompson said. “I thought Grayson Murry was good. I thought Caleb Jameson was good. It’s good to see those guys be good again and start to be able to believe that the consistency is going to be there and that every time you run them out there, they can give you some quality innings. I thought Drew Leach was throwing the ball well too.”

Final: Baylor 9, Stephen F. Austin 4

W: Grayson Murry (1-0) L: Hayden Tronson (0-2)

POTG: Wesley Jordan (3-for-5, R, 2 RBI)

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears (7-1) will travel to Arlington to take on No. 9 Oregon State (5-2) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, at Globe Life Field. Saturday’s contest against Ohio State (1-5) is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday, and Sunday’s finale is scheduled for 3 p.m. against Auburn (8-1). All three games will be streamed on Flo College.