Sanders Hits Walk-Off Homer as Baylor Beats Houston Christian, 3-2

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (20-8) extended its midweek winning streak to seven games with a walk-off 3-2 win over Houston Christian (17-9) on Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.

Facing a 1-2 count with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, second baseman Travis Sanders (RSo.) smoked a solo home run — his second of the season — over the right-center field wall to give the Bears their first walk-off victory since 2023.

“It was a special team win; everybody came together and it was fun,” Sanders said post-game. “Coming into the ninth inning in a big spot, I saw two fastballs, went into my two-strike approach, let it get deep, put a good swing on it, and the baseball gods came through.”

In the rare midweek bullpen duel, six different Baylor arms saw time on the mound in the contest. The pitching staff combined for six punchouts and only issued two free passes; both of Houston Christian’s runs came via poor defense.

Shortstop Tyriq Kemp (Sr.) had three of Baylor’s nine hits and scored a run. The Netherlands native is 10-for-17 at the plate across his last four games. First baseman Jack Little (RSo.) went 1-for-3 and collected two RBIs in the victory.

“That was a nailbiter,” head coach Mitch Thompson said. “We didn’t play exceptionally well. We didn’t swing the bats exceptionally well. We didn’t play exceptional defense. To be honest, I was worried about it. … I thought we pitched the ball really well, and we did enough situationally to get it done and it was fun to see Travis hit that one out and walk it off.”

Left-handed pitcher Bryson Bales (6Sr.) opened the contest on the bump after being removed from the weekend rotation prior to the series against No. 23 Arizona.

Bales looked to regain his confidence, but almost ran into some trouble in the third inning before getting HCU’s clean-up hitter, Parker Edwards (Sr.), to sharply ground out with the bases loaded to end the frame.

Bales finished the outing, striking out two and allowing three base runners across three scoreless innings on 52 pitches — 30 of which were strikes.

Kemp continued his hot streak at the plate with a leadoff single in the fourth inning. Designated hitter Hunter Simmons (RSr.) followed Kemp’s base knock with a single of his own through the left side. Simmons has reached base in 34 straight games, dating back to the 2023 season.

Later in the frame, Little got the Bears on the board with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt just past the right of the pitcher’s mound to score Kemp.

In the sixth inning, Baylor faced a similar situation with Kemp and Simmons aboard, but Pearson Riebock (Fr.) flew out to center field and Little went down looking. The Bears left seven runners on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Baylor’s lineup was short-handed on Tuesday without veteran outfielders Wesley Jordan (Sr.) and Ty Johnson (Sr.), who both were out due to injuries but are expected to be back for this weekend’s series against Houston.

Right-handed pitchers Andrew Petrowski (RSr.) and Patrick Hail (6Sr.) followed Bales out of the bullpen and combined to throw four scoreless innings.

“We pitched and that was the beauty of it,” Thompson said. “I thought Bryson Bales was great. I thought Petrowski and Hail gave us really good innings — four of them, by the way.”

In the top of the eighth inning, HCU’s Edwards weakly grounded a ball to third base, but Hunter Teplanszky (Sr.) made an errant throw, putting runners on second and third base with two outs.

On the following at-bat, first baseman Katcher Halligan (Sr.) tied the game at one apiece with an RBI single off right-handed pitcher Will Glatch (Sr.), but the run was unearned.

In the bottom of the eighth, Baylor regained the lead when Little shot an RBI single through the left side to score Enzo Apodaca (RSr.) from third base. The previous at-bat, Houston Christian intentionally walked Riebock in order to face Little.

“Jack’s pilot light is running full at that point in time,” Thompson said. “He’s going to compete. You don’t have to worry about him, and that was a big hit.”

Glatch stayed out for the ninth inning and appeared to be in line to get the save. With two outs and a runner on first, HCU center fielder hit a high fly ball to left that Gavin Brzozowski (RSo.) overran, allowing the Huskies to tie the game at two.

Final: Baylor 3, Houston Christian 2

W: Will Glatch (2-1) L: Nick Ferazzi (1-1)

POTG: Tyriq Kemp (3-4, R, 2B)

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears (20-8, 4-5) will continue their five-game homestand with a weekend series against the Houston Cougars (15-12, 3-6) starting Friday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.