April 18, 2003

Box Score

WACO, Texas - Steven White struck out seven Tigers in seven innings and Baylor's offense continued to roll as the 16th-ranked Bears beat No. 23 Missouri 10-4 Friday night in the series opener at Baylor Ballpark.

Missouri (25-12, 9-6 Big 12) remains a half game ahead of Baylor (27-14, 9-7 Big 12) in the Big 12 Conference standings; the Tigers stay in fifth place, with the Bears in sixth.

Baylor jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning, but Missouri scored twice off White in the top of the second to take a brief 2-1 lead. With one out, White walked Tiger second baseman Jeremy Hernandez, then gave up a two-run home run to left fielder Ryan Hallo.

That lead lasted only half an inning, as Baylor batted around in the second and scored six times -- all with two outs -- to go up 7-2. After Mark Saccomanno led off the frame with a single, Missouri starter Justin James (6-4) struck out the next two batters. A single by Paul Witt opened the floodgates, however.

Chris Durbin and David Murphy each followed with back-to-back homers, and after two more singles, Michael Griffin tripled in two more runs. James escaped the inning with a strikeout of Saccomanno, but the damage was done.

Trey Webb's three-run homer off James in the fifth brought home the Bears' final runs of the evening. James lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing 10 runs (all earned) on 13 hits, both season highs.

White (5-2) lasted seven innings, his longest outing in over a month, and struck out seven. The senior walked five but only allowed two hits. Ryan LaMotta pitched the final two innings, giving up only a single hit in securing the victory.

White moved up three spots to second all-time in Baylor history in career innings pitched, passing Josh Scott, Jason Jennings and Burl Coker; with 316.0 innings, White trails only Kris Lambert (337.2). White also moved into fourth place alone with his 24th career win; only Coker (28), Jennings (27) and Justin Taylor (26) won more games at Baylor.

With his home run Friday night, Durbin passed Marty Crawford to move into third place in Baylor history for career total bases. Jon Topolski and Eric Nelson rank first and second, respectively, in that category.

Murphy went 3-for-5 on the night, extending his hitting streak to nine games. The junior has recorded three hits or more in each of the last four games and five times in the last six games. Saccomanno went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games, tying the top streak on the team this season.

Baylor and Missouri continue the series Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Rocky Mountain and Fox Sports Midwest.