May 3, 2002

Box Score

WACO, Texas - Dallas Baptist's 11 hits and three costly Baylor errors combined to lead the Patriots past 15th-ranked Baylor 9-7 at Baylor Ballpark Friday night.

The Patriots (35-13) jumped on Baylor starter Justin Spooner early, roughing up the senior for three runs in the first frame. Dallas Baptist center fielder Josh Causey hit a two-run home run in the first to get the scoring started.

The Bears (32-17) cut into the deficit in the bottom of the first when center fielder Chris Durbin hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot off Patriot starter Michael Kashuba (9-2) that made it a 3-1 game.

Spooner, making just his fifth career appearance and his first career start, lasted 1 2/3 innings before junior Jared Theodorakos (3-4) came in midway through the second.

Dallas Baptist tacked on two more runs in the third on two singles and a walk, extending their lead to 5-1, but left the bases loaded when Theodorakos struck out the final batter of the inning.

The junior lefty settled down in the middle innings, and the Bears crawled back in to the game. Baylor got one run back in the fourth when Durbin scored on a Ross Bennett groundout, reducing the lead to 5-2.

The Bears evened up the game at 5-5 in the next inning. Paul Richmond's triple to left scored Michael Griffin for the first run of the frame, and Trey Webb's sacrifice fly to center made it 5-4. Tim Hartshorn followed with a screamer that just sailed over the right field wall to tie the game, his fourth homer of the year.

Things stayed that way until the seventh inning. Theodorakos walked the first two men he faced before being relieved by Paul Thorp. With men on first and second and nobody out, Patriot first baseman Chad Shindle bunted the ball towards first. The Bears' first baseman, Mike Huggins, collected the ball, but in attempting to get the force out at third, threw the ball into left field. Two runners scored on the play, giving Dallas Baptist a 7-5 advantage. An error on Baylor second baseman Paul Witt later in the inning allowed one more run to score, and Dallas Baptist second baseman Jared Guthrie's double pushed the lead to 9-5.

Durbin hit his second home run of the night in the eighth. His solo shot cleared the wall in left center and made it a 9-6 game. The junior's two bombs gave him six on the season and tied his career high for homers in a game, a total he reached once before in his career.

The Bears got one more run in the ninth when Huggins tripled and scored on a David Murphy sacrifice fly. Michael Griffin followed with a single, but Paul Richmond took a called strike three and Patriot closer Tommy Clark picked up his seventh save of the season when he got pinch hitter Josh Ford to fly to center, ending the game.

The Bears' loss snapped a 10-game winning streak at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears are now 23-4 at home on the season.

Baylor recorded only six hits on the night, but five of those were extra base hits (two triples and three homers). Griffin's base hit in the ninth was the Bears' only single.

The two teams will wrap up the series Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.