Baylor Drops Big 12 Tournament Opener to Texas Tech, 11-4

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Baylor baseball fell in its opening game against No. 5 Texas Tech 11-4 in the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday inside Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The Bears (31-19) fell behind the Red Raiders (36-13), 8-0 early and could not climb back into the game.

Texas Tech scored in the first four innings and took control of the game early. The Bears got on the board in the top of the sixth with a double steal and throwing error to make it 8-1.

The Red Raiders tacked on another run in the home-half of the sixth to push the lead back to eight runs. Baylor trimmed the deficit in the top of the seventh after the first three batters reached to load the bases. Two batters later, second-year freshman Jared McKenzie doubled to left center to score two runs. Second-year freshman Tre Richardson followed with a ground out to score another and make it 9-4.

TTU added two insurance runs to make the eventual final, 11-4.

Cam Caley (2-2) was tabbed with the loss after throwing one inning, while Texas Tech’s Mason Montgomery (4-3) earned his fourth win of the season.

QUOTE FROM COACH ROD

“I think the big things were the walks and the free bases that we gave them. Obviously, they lead the game off with a home run and then we walk a couple more guys and we just couldn’t get our bearings underneath us. By the time we got guys on second base it was tough to score them, so we tried to be aggressive, tried to get guys in scoring position and we were able to get a couple of runs across but we just didn’t have the fire power early on.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears will have another morning game with a 9 a.m. CT start time with Kansas State. Baylor won the series against the Wildcats (31-22) on May 7-9 in Waco.