Bears' Blasts Not Enough to Topple Texas

Baseball 5/25/2006 12:00:00 AM

May 25, 2006

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - No. 6 Texas scored four runs in the second and seven runs in the fourth en route to a 16-8 pounding of Baylor in Thursday's pool-play action at the 10th Annual Big 12 Conference Tournament at Bricktown Ballpark. The Bears (34-24) have lost five straight after a season-long seven-game winning streak. Baylor has lost six straight against Texas (40-18) after defeating the Horns four consecutive times last season.

"Texas swung the bats very well," Baylor head coach Steve Smith said. "We didn't make pitches when we really needed to, and things got out of hand in that seven-run fourth. Offensively we were fine; but they answered our four with seven, and that was pretty much the ball game."

The loss eliminated Baylor from contention for Sunday's championship game. The Bears face Texas Tech at 10 a.m. CDT Saturday in the final day of pool play. The Baylor-Texas Tech game will be televised live on Fox Sports Net.

Smith said he does not feel that Baylor's losses to Nebraska and Texas in the Big 12 Tournament hurt the Bears chances of making the NCAA Tournament.

"I don't think anyone is going to cost themselves because of losses to Nebraska and Texas," Smith said. "If that's the case, then the league needs to reconsider having a tournament. We lost a one-run game to Nebraska, and one big inning killed us against Texas. No one else in the nation had to play those two teams."

Baylor cut into a 5-0 Texas lead with four runs in the bottom of the third on Beamer Weems' solo home run and Seth Fortenberry's three-run shot. It was the first time Baylor hit two home runs in an inning since May 22, 2004, when the Bears hit three round-trippers in the seventh inning against Texas Tech.

However, the Longhorns quickly regained control of the momentum with a seven-run top of the fourth. The inning featured eight consecutive Texas batters reaching base, including a stretch of six straight singles.

That inning forced starter Ryan LaMotta out of the game after 3.1 innings. LaMotta, who allowed only three runs in 22 career innings at the Big 12 Tournament prior to Thursday, was touched for a career-high 10 runs, six earned, on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts. His Big 12 Tournament record scoreless innings streak ended at 18.2 innings. LaMotta had not allowed a run since a three-run fourth inning against Nebraska in 2003.

Weems blasted a two-run homer down the line in left in the bottom of the fourth. It was his first career two-homer game and the first by a Bear since March 21 when Kevin Sevigny had two against TCU. It was Baylor's first two-homer game away from Baylor Ballpark since Josh Ford had two in the same 2004 game at Texas Tech.

Texas added two spots in the sixth and seventh innings, and Baylor got a Kevin Russo sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Fortenberry, who led off the ninth with a triple and scored on a Kevin Sevigny RBI single, finished 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. He was a double shy of the cycle. Fortenberry's triple was his 10th of the season, one shy of Jon Topolski's 1998 school record. He is one of only four players nationally with at least 10 triples and trails only Alcorn State's Marcus Davis, who has 12, for the national lead.

Chase Gerdes was 2-for-2 with two walks and a double.

Texas built its early 5-0 lead with a run in the first and four in the second. Drew Stubbs, who finished the day 4-for-5 with four RBI, capped the four-run second with a three-run homer to right.

The Horns finished with 20 hits on the day, the most allowed by the Bears since April 19, 2003, when Missouri tallied 22 hits. Texas' 16 runs were the most Baylor allowed to the Horns since a 16-2 loss April 5, 1986, at Austin.

Baylor now turns its attention to Texas Tech, looking to snap its longest losing streak since the 2004 team dropped four straight.

"We go into our next game to win it," Smith said. "Play to win the game, and that's not any different than today or yesterday."

It will be dueling southpaws Saturday as Baylor sends Cory VanAllen (6-5, 4.38) to the mound against Texas Tech's Colt Hynes (5-2, 3.09).

NOTES: Texas leads the all-time series 218-97-4. Baylor is 11-7 against Texas in neutral-site meetings, 9-3 in conference tournaments and 3-2 in the Big 12 Tournament. ... Baylor is 25-22 against Texas under Smith and 20-19 since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997. ... Kevin Russo extended his hitting streak to nine games, a career long for a single season. ... Thursday's loss snapped Baylor's 19-game winning streak when hitting at least two home runs. ... Fortenberry's triple was Baylor's 32nd of the season, tying the 1985 team for fourth in school history. ... Fortenberry joins Topolski, Kyle Todd (10, 1985) and Tony Huey (10, 1987) as the only players in school history to reach double figures in triples. ... Weems has six home runs on the season, the most by a Baylor freshman since Michael Griffin had seven in 2002. ... Thursday was LaMotta's 110th career appearance, one shy of Zane Carlson's school record. Baylor joins Florida, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami, Fla., as the only Division I teams to have two pitchers reach 110 career appearances. Baylor and Florida are the only teams to have teammates reach that plateau.

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