May 10, 2006
Box Score
WACO, Texas - Seth Fortenberry was 3-for-4 with two RBI, and Chase Gerdes was 2-for-3 and tied his career high with four RBI as Baylor pounded Prairie View A&M 14-2 in midweek action Wednesday night at Baylor Ballpark. Baylor (30-19) reached the 30-win plateau for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons with the win over the Panthers (29-19).
Zach Dillon broke a scoreless tie with an RBI double in the bottom of the third. After Kevin Sevigny was hit by a pitch, Fortenberry laced a two-run triple down the line in right and later scored on a Prairie View A&M error for a 4-0 Baylor lead. It was Fortenberry's ninth triple of the season, good enough to tie for the national lead in that department. Fortenberry also has the fourth-best triple total in school history and is just two shy of Jon Topolski's 1998 school record.
Prairie View A&M got a pair of runs on a walk, a hit, a groundout and a passed ball in the sixth, cutting Baylor's lead in half. However, the Bears answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning, two runs in the seventh and seven runs in eighth. Baylor's seven-run eighth was its third seven-run inning of the season; the seven runs came on four walks, a hit batsman and two hits. Gerdes had the big hit, a bases-loaded triple to right.
Starter Tim Matthews (6-4) earned the victory on a predetermined pitch count. Matthews allowed two hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 4.0 scoreless innings. Cliff Springston was touched for two runs, one earned, on two hits and two walks over 1.1 innings. Jake Weghorst, Reed Woytek and Owen Reid recorded the final 11 outs, allowing only one hit and that a single off Weghorst.
Fortenberry recorded his team-leading fifth game this season with three or more hits. Ben Booker, Dillon and Gerdes added two hits each, while Booker had two RBI.
Prairie View A&M starter Matthew Chase (5-5) took the loss. He was touched for four runs, three earned, on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 3.0 innings.
Baylor returns to action this weekend, hosting No. 5 Nebraska for a three-game Big 12 Conference series at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears and the Huskers meet Friday at 7 p.m. CDT, Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
NOTES: Baylor leads the all-time series 2-0. Both meetings were at Baylor Ballpark and during head coach Steve Smith's tenure. ... Baylor is 12-4 in midweek games, including a 10-2 mark at Baylor Ballpark. ... Sevigny established a career high with three walks. ... Fortenberry and Gerdes both extended hitting streaks to four games, while Tim Jackson pushed his streak to three games. ... Baylor has won 23 home games this season, the most regular-season wins at Baylor Ballpark since the 2002 team won 25 home games.
