April 19, 2003

Box Score

WACO, Texas - In a slugfest day that included 41 runs and 45 hits, No. 23 Missouri outlasted No. 16 Baylor for a 23-18 win Saturday night at Baylor Ballpark.

Baylor (27-15, 9-8 Big 12) pitchers surrendered 22 hits, walked nine batters and hit five batters as Missouri (26-12, 10-6 Big 12) scored a season-high 23 runs.

Mizzou jumped on Baylor starter Abe Woody in the first inning, scoring five times. Woody hit each of the first three Tiger batters, then gave up a single off Trey Webb's glove to bring home the first run. After a popup, rightfielder Kyle Johnson blasted a grand slam to right-center to up the lead to 5-0.

The Bears responded with their biggest inning of the year in the bottom of the first. Baylor batted around, scoring eight times on eight hits. Josh Ford and Chris Durbin each hit two-run homers in the inning as the Bears took an 8-5 lead after one inning.

Woody walked the leadoff man, DH James Boone, in the second inning, prompting head coach Steve Smith to bring in Sean Walker (5-4) from the bullpen. Walker allowed Boone to score and gave up two runs of his own on a home run by Cody Ehlers as Missouri tied the game at 8-8.

The Tigers took the lead in the third off Walker, as catcher Brad Flanders homered and third baseman Zane Taylor drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Mark Saccomanno's solo home run in the fourth brought the Bears with one at 10-9, but Missouri batted around in the fifth and sixth innings to build a seemingly insurmountable lead. When Missouri tacked on three more runs in the seventh, the Tigers went on top by 12 at 23-11.

Trey Webb drove in two runs with a two-out single in the eighth, and the Bears batted around in the ninth off reliever Cody Ehlers, scoring five times to get within five at 23-18. Durbin homered off Ehlers to start the frame, but struck out against closer Travis Wendte in his second at-bat of the inning to close out the game.

Baylor surrendered 23 runs for the first time since the second game of a doubleheader on March 23, 1996, a 24-2 loss to Texas Tech in Waco. Like Saturday's game, that loss was also a television game. The Bears' 18 runs in a loss were their most since a 23-18, 12-inning loss to Oklahoma on March 11, 1996.

Durbin, Saccomanno and Kyle Reynolds each finished the day with three hits. Durbin drove in four and scored three times, including the two home runs. Reynolds and Ford each drove in three runs. Saccomanno extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games, tops on the team this season, while David Murphy hit safely for the 10th straight game.

Jayce Tingler and Ehlers each recorded four hits for Missouri, while shortstop Ian Kinsler and rightfielder Kyle Johnson each drove in five runs.

Andy Shipman (5-2) earned the win, tossing four innings of relief and allowing three runs on six hits.

The two teams will square off Sunday at 1 p.m. in the rubber game of the series.

NOTES: The game lasted three hours and 48 minutes, 10 minutes shy of the longest nine-inning in Baylor history... The Tigers' 23 runs scored were their highest total against a Division-I opponent since 1997, and against a conference opponent since 1996, the last year of the Big Eight... Durbin moved into second place on the Baylor charts with 114 career extra-base hits, two shy of Jon Topolski's school record.