Baylor Baseball Drops Series Finale To Kansas
WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball lost an 8-5 series rubber match to Kansas on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (12-9, 3-3) were playing from behind all game, and threatened late, but the Jayhawks (15-9, 2-4) were able to finish off the series win.
A sloppy first two innings for Baylor led to four Kansas runs. BU had three walks, a hit batter, two errors and single in the first inning that allowed KU to score two runs. Then in the second inning, the Bears had a leadoff error, two singles, walk and another error that pushed two more runs across the plate.
Nick Loftin led off the game for BU with a home run, but the Bears didn’t score again until the fifth inning. BU got a run back in the fifth after KU hit a two-run homer as Shea Langeliers walked with two outs, Davis Wendzel singled and Langeliers scored on a wild pitch.
The Jayhawks countered with two runs in the eighth on a walk and four singles.
The Bears had a chance in the ninth. Davion Downey led off with a single, Hunter Seay followed with a single, Loftin scored Downey on a single and Cunningham scored Seay on a double. An out later, Wendzel had a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 8-5 with two outs but that was all the closer the Bears could get.
KU starter Ryan Zeferjahn (4-1) earned the win, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings. BU starter Tyler Thomas (0-2) took the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on one hit and three walks with one strikeout in one inning.
“I knew [in the ninth Kansas] was scared because we had some guys coming up who can move the ball out of the park. One of the things I’m really happy about is that regardless of what happened throughout the whole game, our guys came out against one of the best closers in the conference and started putting some damage on him. You could look over at their dugout and see they were beginning to panic. I give credit to our guys for coming out and thinking we just need to get some hits.” – Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
The Bears return to action Monday at 6:35 p.m. vs. Prairie View A&M at Baylor Ballpark.