Feb. 14, 2006
Box Score
WACO, Texas -- Zach Dillon, Kevin Russo and Beamer Weems each had three-run home runs as Baylor baseball overcame an early 4-0 deficit Tuesday night for a 17-4 rout of Texas-Arlington at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (4-0) are off to their best start since the 1993 squad opened with seven consecutive wins.
Baylor found itself trailing 4-0 with only two hits in the fifth inning. After back-to-back one-out walks by Kevin Sevigny and Chase Gerdes, Weems blasted his first career home run over the wall in left-center. That hit sparked the Bears' bats, which produced six runs in the sixth, five runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth.
The rally made a winner of Owen Reid (1-0), who held UTA scoreless on one hit with two strikeouts over 2.2 innings of relief in his first Baylor outing. Reed Woytek surrendered a hit in 2.0 scoreless innings, and Kerr Foster worked around a one-out single for a scoreless ninth.
UTA managed three runs on four hits and a Baylor error in the first inning. The Mavericks added another run in the fourth on three hits. Starter Randall Linebaugh surrendered the run in the fourth and then recorded a strikeout before giving way to Reid, who induced an inning-ending double-play to get the Bears out the jam.
After Weems pulled the Bears to within one run in the fifth, Baylor took command of the game in the sixth. Matt Sodolak scored the tying run on a wild pitch, and two batters later Gerdes beat out a bunt single to drive in the go-ahead run. Two batters later, Dillon hit the first pitch he saw over the wall in right-center to give Baylor an 8-4 advantage. Russo then walked and scored on a Seth Fortenberry triple.
Dillon added to his RBI total in the seventh, scoring two runs on an infield pop-up single that fell between the UTA catcher and pitcher. Russo followed with his first homer of the season to left.
Jeff Mandel added an RBI triple in the eighth; Paul Miles also had an RBI ground out, and Jake Rippee had an RBI single in the frame.
Linebaugh was touched for four runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout over 3.1 innings.
UTA starter Chris Taylor allowed two runs, both of which scored after he left the game on Weems' home run, on two hits and three walks with four strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
Dillon finished 2-for-3 with two runs, two walks and a career-best five RBI. Gerdes and Drew Bias added two hits each as 12 different Bears collected at least one hit.
Baylor returns to action this weekend, hosting California for a three-game series at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears and the Golden Bears meet Friday at 6 p.m. CST, Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
NOTES: Baylor leads the all-time series 67-28, including a 41-12 edge in games played in Waco. ... Baylor has now won 26 consecutive games when scoring at least seven runs and 14 consecutive games when hitting at least two home runs. ... The Bears' 17 runs were the most Baylor has scored in a game since plating 18 runs May 22, 2004, at Texas Tech. ... Russo extended his hitting streak to four games. He has hit safely in 11 consecutive games dating back to last season. ... Dillon has reached safely in 12 consecutive games dating back to last season.
