Baseball Tops Xavier, 7-3 on Friday Night
WACO, Texas – Thanks to a four-run eighth inning, Baylor baseball defeated Xavier at Baylor Ballpark on Friday night. The Bears (8-4) defeated the Musketeers (3-5) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
The offenses were slow to start for both sides, until second-year freshman Jared McKenzie used an RBI-ground out to put BU up 1-0 in the third inning.
Later on in the fifth, first baseman Chase Wehsener hit an RBI-double, to double the Baylor lead to 2-0.
Xavier responded with three runs in the top of the sixth to take the brief 3-2 lead, but Baylor tied things up in the home-half with an RBI-double courtesy of third baseman Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo.
In the eight, the Bears made a run with an RBI-single from Cardoza-Oquendo to give BU the 4-3 advantage. Baylor was not done, as a wild pitch allowed fifth-year senior Andy Thomas to score from third. Later in the frame, an RBI-single from in true freshman Cam Caley’s first collegiate at-bat and another RBI-single from Wehsener allowed Baylor to solidify their lead at 7-3, the eventual final.
In a relief effort, fifth-year senior Logan Freeman (1-1) earned his first win of the season after throwing two scoreless innings, while Xavier’s Dorsey Chatham (0-1) was tabbed with the loss. Baylor starter Tyler Thomas had a solid outing with six innings pitched, while allowing three runs, two earned and striking out nine batters. His nine strikeouts tied his career high that he set last Saturday against Memphis.
NOTES
• Tyler Thomas tied his career high with nine strikeouts for the second-consecutive week.
• Cardoza-Oquendo tied his season-high with two, which resulted in two RBI.
• The Bears recorded their second- highest strikeout total for the season with 13.
• Baylor has won six games in a row, tying its longest win streak since 2019.
• Freeman picked up his third career win at Baylor.
QUOTE FROM COACH ROD
“When you have a chance to win ugly, it’s a good sign your guys are grinding. Things didn’t really go great tonight, in some respects, but at the same time I really liked how our guys continued to push, continued to fight. We executed in some big situations and we were able to get some runs across the board. Overall, it’s a great team win on different aspects. It wasn’t pretty, but I’m never going to apologize for a win.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The two sides will do it all again tomorrow for the second game of the series at 3 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.