March 15, 2004
Box Score
Waco, Texas - The Baylor Lady Bears avenged a 2-1 loss to Houston earlier in the season by sweeping a pair of games from the Cougars in action today at Getterman Stadium. Baylor defeated Houston 2-0 in the first game and rallied for a 4-3 victory in the nightcap.
With the wins, Baylor moves to 24-6 on the season and has won 17 of its last 18 games. It is the second best record after 30 games in Baylor history, as the 2002 version of the Lady Bears started the season 25-5.
The Lady Bears secured a pair of milestones in the opening game win, as Baylor pitcher Cristin Vitek became only the second pitcher in school history to record 500 career strikeouts when she struck out Kristen Glowacz in the top of the first inning.
Lisa Ferguson then set a record of her own as she retired the Cougars in the final three innings for her sixth save of the season, establishing a new single season save record for the Lady Bears.
Overall, it was the ninth shutout on the season, and the second time this year Ferguson and Vitek have combined to hold the opposition scoreless.
The duo received all the runs they needed when Baylor scored two in the bottom of the fourth to grab a 2-0 lead. Kelly Osburn led off the inning with a triple to right field and scored when April Luce lined a single into right. Luce scored on Kim Wilmoth's two out hit to give Baylor a 2-0 edge.
Vitek moved her record to 14-3 on the season, tossing four innings, allowing only three hits while striking out six.
Ferguson worked the final three innings without allowing a hit to secure the save and the game one victory.
Six separate Baylor batters recorded hits in the game as the Lady Bears defeated starter Crystal Briscoe, whose record dropped to 6-3 on the season with a loss.
In order to win the second game, the Lady Bears would need a pair of rallies against Houston ace Jenny Johnson.
Houston grabbed an early 2-0 lead, as the Cougars managed two runs in the top of the first inning off of Ferguson. An Arelis Ferreris single up the middle ended the scoring in the ending as Jamie Adams scored from third to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
The deficit could have been larger; however, Kelly Levesque threw out Kristen Glowacz on the play at home with a perfect strike from center field to keep the Cougar lead at two.
The Lady Bears immediately cut into the lead in the bottom of the first, as Harmony Schwethelm scored on a Chelsi Lake single with two outs to make the score 2-1.
After holding the Cougars scoreless in the second, Baylor grabbed the lead in the bottom of the inning with two runs. Carrie Leerberg scored on a throwing error by Glowacz to tie the game before Kim Wilmoth scored on a Danelle Arnold grounder to first to give Baylor the lead.
The Cougars managed to rally with a run in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game, setting up a dramatic finish.
After retiring the Cougars in order in the top of the seventh, Pomes singled to center field to open the bottom of the inning and represented the winning run.
In hopes of shutting down the Lady Bears, Houston re-entered Johnson at pitcher as Amber Daniel came into the game for Baylor as a pinch runner.
In a steady rain, Arnold came to the plate and sent the first pitch from Johnson into the left-center field gap, easily scoring Daniel from first and giving Baylor the 4-3 victory.
Vitek came into the game in relief of Ferguson and picked up her second victory of the day, allowing only one hit in two innings of work to move to 15-3 on the season.
Briscoe took her second loss of the day for the Cougars, allowing one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Wilmoth continued her hot hitting for Baylor, going two for three in the game with a triple. Leerberg also added two hits for the Lady Bears.
Baylor will return to action tomorrow, as the Lady Bears travel to Huntsville, Texas, to take on Sam Houston State in a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.
