May 21, 2006
Box Score
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Three runners caught stealing proved costly for No. 25 Baylor as the Bears dropped a 3-2 decision to Kansas State in Sunday's Big 12 Conference series finale at Tointon Stadium. Baylor (34-22, 13-14) suffered its first ever sweep at the hands of Kansas State (31-20-2, 8-17-2). The Bears also finished below .500 in Big 12 play for the first time ever; Baylor was the only team to have never suffered a sub-.500 season in Big 12 play before this season.
Baylor out-hit Kansas State 10-7 but could not get enough clutch hits to overcome an early deficit. Ben Booker was caught stealing on a missed sign with runners at first and second and two outs in the second. Kevin Russo and Seth Fortenberry also were caught stealing, and Baylor's batter followed with a single in both instances.
Kansas State jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single spots in the second and third innings. Joe Roundy led off the second with a hot-shot single past third baseman Drew Bias. After a pair of groundouts, Drew Biery scored Roundy with a triple to left. Tyler Link drew a one-out walk in the third and moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Brandon Farr followed with a sacrifice fly.
Baylor got a run back in the fourth on a Mike Pankratz RBI double, but the Wildcats were quick to answer in the bottom of the inning on Byron Wiley's RBI double.
Fortenberry led off the sixth with a single but was caught stealing. Tim Jackson followed with a single and scored on a Chase Gerdes RBI triple. After Pankratz was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners with one out, Beamer Weems popped out on a bunt attempt, and Bias grounded out to end the inning.
Russo reached on an error to start the seventh and moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt. However, he was stranded at third as the Wildcats retired the next nine batters to close out the game.
Chase Bayuk (7-2) earned the victory for Kansas State, allowing two runs on 10 hits and two walks with two strikeouts over 5.1 innings. Chase Mitchell worked 1.2 perfect innings in relief. Daniel Edwards pitched the final two frames perfectly with two strikeouts for his third save of the season.
Jeff Mandel (2-3) was saddled with the loss; he allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks with one strikeout over 5.0 innings. Jake Weghorst and Nick Cassavechia combined to hold Kansas State scoreless on two hits and a walk over the final 3.0 innings. Cassavechia got Baylor out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth and tallied two strikeouts over 2.2 innings.
Zach Dillon again led the Bears at the plate, going 3-for-4 on the day. Jackson was 2-for-4 and scored twice.
Dillon, who was 8-for-12 on the series, finished the season with a Baylor-record .421 batting average (40-for-95) in Big 12 play. He finished the season with the league's highest average in Big 12 play, becoming the third Baylor player to accomplish the feat (Chris Durbin, .385, 2002; Reid Brees, .404, 2004). Dillon is the fourth player in Baylor history to hit .400 or better in Big 12 play, joining Eric Nelson (1997, 1999), David Murphy (2003) and Brees (2004). Dillon also established a Baylor record with a .504 on base percentage in Big 12 play.
Baylor now turns its attention to the 10th Annual Big 12 Tournament, held next week at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The Bears will be in pool one along with top-seeded Texas, fourth-seeded Nebraska and eighth-seeded Texas Tech. Baylor faces Nebraska in Wednesday's first session. Times for Baylor's three pool-play games will be announced by the Big 12 office later Sunday.
NOTES: Baylor leads the all-time series 24-9, including an 8-7 advantage in games played at Manhattan. The Bears are 23-8 against Kansas State as Big 12 foes, 23-7 in regular-season meetings. ... Baylor has lost four straight at Tointon Stadium. ... Russo (seven games) and Dillon (five games) both extended hitting streaks.
