April 23, 2006
Box Score
WACO, Texas - Jake Rippee's pinch-hit sacrifice fly capped a four-run ninth inning as Baylor rallied for a 9-8 victory over Texas A&M in Sunday's Big 12 Conference series finale. With the win, Baylor (25-16, 9-9) claimed the series victory two games to one and moved into a fourth-place tie with Kansas in the Big 12 standings. Texas A&M (20-23, 4-14) dropped its fourth consecutive conference series.
This is the second consecutive season in which Baylor has rallied from multiple-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Texas A&M. Last season, the Bears trailed 8-0 after the top of the third and 9-7 entering the bottom of the ninth only to score three unearned runs for the victory.
Sunday, the Bears got things going with four consecutive one-out hits. Beamer Weems and Seth Fortenberry started the rally with consecutive singles up the middle. Zach Dillon followed with another single up the middle, plating Weems and pushing Fortenberry to third.
Kevin Sevigny then hit a Texas Leaguer down the line in right that first appeared to be headed for foul territory. However, a 15 mph south wind that blew most of the game helped Sevigny's ball, pushing it fair by a matter of feet and scoring Fortenberry and pinch runner Matt Sodolak.
After intentional walks to Tim Jackson and Kevin Russo, Rippee, who had not been to the plate since a pinch-hit walk April 11 against Rice, came through with a fly ball deep to left-center. Texas A&M center fielder Kyle Colligan, who made several highlight-reel catches throughout the game, tracked down the ball in the alley but had no chance to get Sevigny at home.
It was Baylor's third win this season when trailing in the ninth. It was the first time the Bears overcame a deficit of more than one run in the ninth since erasing a 7-5 hole against Tulane in last year's College World Series.
The ninth-inning rally made a winner of reliever Tim Matthews (4-4), who allowed one run on four hits and no walks with one strikeout in 4.1 innings. Matthews spelled starter Jeff Mandel, who was touched for seven runs on seven hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
Waco High School graduate Hart Herring (0-1) was saddled with the loss. Herring entered the game to face Sevigny and surrendered the game-winning sacrifice fly.
Texas A&M built a 4-0 lead with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. Baylor got a run back in the third on a Dillon RBI fielder's choice. The Bears took the lead with a four-spot in the fourth. Chase Gerdes scored the first run with a sacrifice fly, and Weems followed with a three-run homer to left.
That lead was short-lived, though, as the Aggies got three runs in the top of the fifth, all with two outs. Adam Hale walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Colligan's single through the left side. Josh Stinson followed with a two-run homer to right-center, putting Texas A&M ahead 7-5.
In the ninth, Hale gave the Aggies what appeared to be enough insurance with a solo homer just over the glove of a leaping Gerdes to the right of the batter's eye in center.
Weems finished the day 4-for-4 with two runs, three RBI and a walk. Sevigny was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
Texas A&M starter Matt Ueckert left the game after 4.0 innings; he allowed five runs on five hits an two walks with one strikeout. Kyle Nicholson relieved for 4.1 innings and kept the Bears at bay until the three consecutive singles in the ninth. Nicholson was touched for three runs on four hits and two walks with one strikeout.
Baylor concludes a four-game home stand with a pair of midweek games, hosting Texas Southern at 6 p.m. CDT Tuesday and McNeese State at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The McNeese State game is a schedule addition to replace one of the games from the Feb. 17-19 series against California, which was cancelled due to inclement weather. Fans holding tickets from the California series will be able to use those tickets for Wednesday's game.
NOTES: Texas A&M leads the all-time series 139-112-1, but the Bears have won seven of the last nine meetings. Baylor holds a 72-66 advantage in games played in Waco. The Bears are 20-12 against the Aggies as Big 12 foes, 19-11 in regular-season meetings during that time. Baylor is 23-15 against Texas A&M under head coach Steve Smith. ... The two games in the series at Baylor Ballpark drew a total attendance of 9,085, the largest two-date series attendance in Baylor Ballpark history. Sunday's attendance of 3,912 was the third-largest crowd this season and the 28th-largest in the facility's history. ... Dillon has reached safely in 25 consecutive games and in 29 straight Big 12 contests. ... Dillon and Sevigny both extended hitting streaks to seven games; Sevigny's streak ties his career long. Weems has hit safely in three straight, while Gerdes saw his four-game streak end. ... Ben Booker did not play, ending his consecutive games played streak at 40. Russo has Baylor's longest active games played streak; he has started all 111 games of his Baylor career.
