Little Homers Twice, but Baylor Loses Series to Kansas State, Falls 14-4

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (15-7, 1-4) dropped its second consecutive series with a 14-4 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats (15-7, 5-0) on Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

In the defeat, the Bears were out-hit 16-to-9, were 3-for-18 with runners on and struck out 11 times. Kansas State took an early lead for the second consecutive game that Baylor couldn’t overcome. Across the first three innings in each of BU’s five games in conference play, the Bears have been outscored 25-to-2.

First baseman Jack Little (RSo.) went 2-for-4  with two home runs, marking the first multi-homer game of his career. Right fielder Enzo Apodaca (RSr.) went 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run; Apodaca has five extra-base hits over his last three contests.

“We’ve got to take some ownership too and understand that we’ve got to be better,” head coach Mitch Thompson said post-game. “We’ve got to compete better. When things don’t go our way, everything can’t go in the tank all at the same time.”

In the bottom of the first inning, Little sailed the first pitch he saw 401 feet over the left field wall for his fourth home run and second leadoff long ball of the season.

The Wildcats responded with eight straight unanswered runs, including a four-spot in the second inning. Kansas State chased Baylor’s starting pitcher, Bryson Bales (6Sr.), out of the game after just 1.2 frames on the mound. Bales surrendered four earned runs, three hits and two walks on 35 pitches.

In relief of Bales, righty Lucas Davenport (RSo.) tossed three innings and struck out three while allowing two earned runs and six hits.

Baylor didn’t get anything going on offense against Kansas State’s starting pitcher, Michael Quevedo (Sr.), until the sixth inning when Apodaca and Hunter Simmons (RSr.) both collected doubles. Later in the frame, center fielder Ty Johnson (Sr.) plated a run on an infield single.

Kansas State iced its series victory with three runs in the seventh inning off lefty Caleb Jameson (RSo.) and three more runs in the eighth off Patrick Hail (6Sr.) to extend its lead to 14-3. Baylor’s pitching staff combined to issue nine walks in the loss.

The Wildcats had four players with multi-hit performances, including star shortstop Maximus Martin (Jr.), who went 3-for-6 with two RBIs.

“We didn’t pitch well,” Thompson said. “We walked them too many times, and they made us pay. We walked them nine times on the day, and that’s not going to cut it. Our guys have the ability to throw strikes. We’ve seen them throw strikes, but we didn’t throw them today.”

Final: Kansas State 14, Baylor 4

W: Michael Quevedo (4-0) L: Bryson Bales (1-2)

POTG: Jack Little (2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 K)

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears (15-7, 1-4) will conclude their series against the Kansas State Wildcats (15-7, 5-0) at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 23, at Baylor Ballpark. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.