Bats Struggle in Finale as Bears Drop Home Series to Houston, Lose 4-2

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (21-10, 5-7) dropped its series to Houston (18-13, 5-7) after falling 4-2 in the finale on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

Trailing 4-2 after two innings, relievers Grayson Murry (Jr.), Lucas Davenport (RSo.), Will Glatch (Sr.) and Gabe Craig (RSr.) combined to hang seven consecutive scoreless frames. Baylor’s offense, however, couldn’t get anything going across the final seven innings either.

The Bears recorded nine hits but left 11 runners on base and were 3-for-19 with runners on and 6-for-22 in advancement opportunities. Baylor was 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and totaled 12 strikeouts.

“We didn’t pitch well enough early and got ourselves behind and were chasing from the first inning on,” head coach Mitch Thompson said post-game. “I thought our bullpen was fantastic from the third inning on and giving us seven innings with one hit. They gave us a chance to get back into the game.”

Houston got the scoring started in the first inning following a leadoff single from second baseman Colby DeJesus (Jr.) and a fielding error from Pearson Riebock (Fr.) to put runners on second and third base with no outs.

The Cougars plated both runs in the frame to take an early 2-0 lead. Only five of Houston’s 14 runs over the weekend were earned.

In the bottom of the first, the Bears responded when shortstop Tyriq Kemp (Sr.) capped off an eight-pitch at-bat by driving a two-out single up the middle to score a run. Later in the frame, with the bases loaded, center fielder Ty Johnson (Sr.) weakly grounded out to second base.

The Cougars added two more runs in the second and had an opportunity to break the game open in the third inning, but Murry entered into the contest and got out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed. Murry tossed three scoreless frames and struck out two.

In the bottom of the second, second baseman Travis Sanders (RSo.) lasered a triple into the right field corner and came around to score on an RBI single from catcher Cortlan Castle (Sr.). Castle went 2-for-3 in Sunday’s loss.

Trailing 4-2, the Bears got the leadoff runner aboard in three of the next four innings but made nothing of it.

“We had some opportunities early in the game,” Thompson said. “We know they had Jean back there and that the plan was to bring him out, but we were hoping we could get it done before then. I was hoping we’d be playing with a lead instead of trying to chase.”

Facing the nation’s leader in strikeouts, lefty Antoine Jean (Sr.), the Bears had one final chance in the seventh inning to make the game interesting, but first baseman Jack Little (RSo.) struck out looking after being up 3-0 in the count, stranding two more runners.

Jean closed out the contest with three scoreless frames, earned the save and totaled eight strikeouts.

Final: Houston 4, Baylor 2

W: Chris Scinta (4-1) L: Stefan Stahl (1-1) S: Antoine Jean (3)

POTG: Grayson Murry (3 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 R, BB, 2 K, 10 BF, 45 TP, 29 ST)

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears (21-10) will conclude their five-game homestand against Texas State (14-16) on Tuesday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.