April 22, 2006
Box Score
WACO, Texas - Zach Dillon was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and Seth Fortenberry blasted his team-leading seventh home run of the season as Baylor defeated Texas A&M 4-1 in Big 12 Conference action Saturday night at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (24-16, 8-9) halted a four-game losing streak in Big 12 play with their sixth victory over the Aggies (20-22, 4-13) in their last eight meetings.
The game drew a crowd of 5,173, the third-largest attendance in Baylor Ballpark history. It was the third sellout in the facility's history (5,000 seating capacity) and the second in the past nine days.
Baylor took control of the game with a three-run first inning. Dillon got the scoring started with an RBI double to left-center, and Fortenberry followed with a two-run homer to right. Two batters later, Kevin Sevigny reached on an infield single that got past Texas A&M pitcher Austin Creps. On the play, Creps sustained a knee injury and was forced to leave the game.
Texas A&M brought in reliever Anthony Vasquez, who got out of the first and worked through several tough spots in the middle innings to keep the Aggies in the game. Vasquez held the Bears to one run on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 5.2 innings.
However, Baylor starter Cory VanAllen was too tough, holding the Aggies to one run on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 6.1 innings. Texas A&M's lone run came in the sixth on a Spencer Jackson two-out RBI single through the right side.
"Cory was able to keep the ball down and get a lot of ground-ball outs," Baylor head coach Steve Smith said. "Every time we left runners on base, Cory just went out there and put up zeroes. He didn't get discouraged that we weren't giving him six or seven runs of support."
VanAllen (5-4) left the game with runners on the corners and one out in the seventh after a Ben Booker error on a potential inning-ending double-play ball. The error was not costly, though, as Jake Weghorst entered the game and induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of pinch hitter Jake Vasquez.
Baylor immediately responded with a run the bottom of the inning. Weems led off with a double down the right-field line and moved to third on a Kevin Russo fly out to deep right. Dillon followed with an RBI single up the middle through a drawn-in infield.
The Aggies never threatened again as Weghorst pitched a perfect eighth. Nick Cassavechia notched his fourth save with a scoreless ninth, allowing only a one-out infield single.
Fortenberry, who also had an bunt single, finished the night 2-for-4. Weems and Kevin Sevigny also had two hits each.
Creps (3-4) was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Baylor and Texas A&M conclude the series with Sunday's 2 p.m. CDT finale. The Bears send right-hander Jeff Mandel (0-1, 3.62) to the mound. Southpaw Matt Ueckert (4-1, 3.73) is the expected starter for the Aggies. It will be just the second start of the season for both pitchers.
NOTES: Texas A&M leads the all-time series 139-111-1, but Baylor holds a 71-66 advantage in games played in Waco. The Bears are 19-12 against the Aggies as Big 12 foes, 18-11 in regular-season meetings during that time. Baylor is 22-15 against Texas A&M under head coach Steve Smith. ... Mike Pankratz made his first start of the season and went 1-for-3 with an infield single. ... Dillon has reached safely in 24 consecutive games and in 28 straight Big 12 contests. ... Dillon and Sevigny both extended hitting streaks to six games. Gerdes also extended his hitting streak to four games.
