STILLWATER, Okla. – The sixth inning of
Baylor's Big 12 season opener proved to be pivotal as the Bears (10-13,
0-1) fell to No. 20 Oklahoma State (19-3, 1-0) on Friday afternoon at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
The game was a pitcher's duel until the sixth as
BU's Dillon Newman allowed just two base runners through five and OSU's
Jason Hursh allowed five with five strikeouts. Baylor's sixth started
off with a Nathan Orf single and Cal Towey double.
A promising start quickly turned into nothing as Duncan Wendel grounded
out to third on the first pitch, Adam Toth went down looking and Steve
DalPorto grounded back to Hursh.
In OSU's half of the sixth, a one-out HBP by Gage
Green and two-out single by Tanner Krietemeier gave the Cowboys their
best scoring chance. With cleanup hitter Zach Fish up, he smashed a
ball over the opposite field right field fence
for three runs.
"We had some chances but we didn't do a good job
when we had them," said BU Head Coach Steve Smith as Baylor left nine on
base to OSU's three. "Some of that you have to give credit to their
guy. I thought he pitched pretty well, as did
Dillon. The only real difference in the game was that pitch Fish hit
to right field. It was a mistake fastball and Fish stayed on top of
it. On a day like today with the way we were offensively, that's all they needed."
The Bears then went down in order in the seventh
and OSU added two more runs on a squeeze bunt and wild pitch to widen
the gap. BU threatened with two singles in the ninth, but again, did
not get the clutch hit needed to score and keep
the game alive.
Even though he was strong through five, Newman gave
up more than three runs for the first time all season in his six
starts. The five runs came on six hits and the HBP as he had four
strikeouts in seven innings, taking his first loss (3-1).
"The stat line doesn't do what Dillon did and how
he pitched justice, but that's how the game is," Smith said. "It
could've been a different story for him as well but we didn't get any
runs in."
Hursh earned the win (3-0) after throwing eight shutout innings while allowing five hits and a walk with eight strikeouts.
The teams continue their Big 12 opening series tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT and Sunday at 1 p.m. Saturday's pitching matchup features BU RHP Max Garner (1-3, 3.18 ERA) against OSU RHP Mark Robinette (1-0, 4.05 ERA) while Sunday's starters are
TBA.
