Sanders Shines, Bullpen Sparks Baylor to Opening Weekend Sweep Over New Mexico State

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (3-0) completed its Opening Weekend sweep with a 7-3 win over New Mexico State (0-3) on Sunday afternoon at Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark.

The Bears out-hit the Aggies, 11-to-8, and shortstop Travis Sanders (RJr.) showed why he was a member of the All-Big 12 Preseason Team, leading Baylor with a four-hit performance in the victory; it was the second four-hit game of his career. 

Baylor’s bullpen, meanwhile, had a dominant outing, with four pitchers — Stefan Stahl (Sr.), Cayden Baker (RFr.), RJ Ruais (Jr.) and Luke DeVasher (Jr.) — combining for five scoreless frames. The pitching staff as a whole issued just one free pass, while the defense played a clean game without an error.

“The bullpen was outstanding in the last five innings of the game,” head coach Mitch Thompson told the Baylor Sports Media Network post-game.

He added, “Stefan Stahl was good. Baker comes in and does a great job. And then RJ and DeVasher were there at the end and were fantastic. We got what we wanted. We had some big at-bats and fought for the sweep — proud to get it today.”

After hanging a five-spot in the first inning of Saturday’s contest, the Bears scored three quick runs in the first inning on Sunday as Sanders lined a ground-rule double into the right field corner to lead off the game.

Second baseman Pearson Riebock (So.) laid down a bunt, but a throwing error by the pitcher allowed Sanders to score and Riebock to reach second. Right fielder Brady Janusek (Fr.) plated Riebock with an RBI single up the middle; Janusek went 2-for-4 in the victory.

Later in the inning, following a couple of free passes, left fielder Hunter Snow (Fr.) brought home a run on a fielder’s choice, giving Baylor a 3-0 lead. The Bears drew five walks and four hit-by-pitches in the victory.

“The biggest difference in the entire series this weekend was we won the freebie battle every day, and our guys didn’t give them up,” Thompson said. “We forced them to put the ball in play, and our defense was able to make plays.”

Wisconsin-Whitewater transfer and DIII National Champion Cade Hansen (Sr.) made his much-anticipated debut for the Green and Gold in the series finale, but was a bit iffy with command in his first start with the Bears.

Hansen ran into some trouble in the second inning, surrendering three straight singles, which led to two Aggie runs. New Mexico State added another run in the third inning to tie the game at three apiece.

Hansen exited after four innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs; he struck out two and didn’t issue a free pass on 70 pitches, 48 of which were strikes.

While Baylor’s bullpen cruised the rest of the way, the lineup didn’t see as much success until the sixth inning when first baseman Tyce Armstrong (RSr.) took a pitch off the shoulder with the bases loaded to give the Bears back the lead, 4-3.

In the following frame, catcher JJ Kennett (Jr.) came up clutch with an RBI double into the right field corner and third baseman Cade Dodson (So.) snuck a two-run single past the glove of the Aggie second baseman to extend Baylor’s lead to 7-3.

Kennett finished the contest 2-3 at the plate and scored two runs.

Final: Baylor 7, New Mexico State 3

W: Stefan Stahl (1-0) L: Jack Turner (0-1)

POTG: Travis Sanders (4-for-5, R, 2B)

What’s Next

The Bears (3-0) will finish their four-game homestand against Texas State (3-0) on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 4 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.