March 5, 2006

Box Score

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Tim Jackson's first-inning, three-run double gave Baylor a lead starter Tim Matthews never relinquished as the Bears defeated No. 16 Long Beach State 4-2 Sunday at Blair Field. With the win, Baylor (9-3) wins the series against Long Beach State (10-7) two games to one. It marked Baylor's first series win over the Dirtbags in five tries.

After a hit batter and two walks loaded the bases, Jackson laced the first pitch he saw off the base of the wall in left-center to clear the bases.

Long Beach State got a run back in the second on a Jose Hernandez solo homer. The Beach pulled with one run in the third as Matt Cline was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and then advanced two bases on consecutive groundouts.

That was as close as the Dirtbags would get, though, as Tim Matthews retired 18 of the next 20 batters after Cline was hit by a pitch to lead off the third. Matthews (1-0) pitched 8.0 innings, facing one batter in the ninth, and scattered six hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Jeff Mandel gave the Bears an insurance run in the sixth, lacing a two-out RBI single up the middle.

The Dirtbags made things interesting in the ninth. After a Danny Espinosa leadoff single, Matthews gave way to Mandel for his fifth save of the year, third of the week and second of the series. Mandel induced a pop out off the bat of Evan Longoria and then got Brandon Godfrey to ground into a game-ending double play.

Beamer Weems had two of Baylor's five hits on the day.

Baylor returns to action Tuesday, completing a five-game road trip with a single game at Texas-Arlington. First pitch between the Bears and the Mavericks is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST at Clay Gould Park.