Feb. 21, 2009
Box Score
WACO, Texas - J.B. Brown's bases-loaded RBI fielder's choice plated Nick Longmire with the eventual winning run as Pacific edged No. 8 Baylor 9-8 in the second game of the teams' three-game series Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. The series is now tied 1-1.
Baylor led 8-5 after Adam Hornung's seventh-inning, pinch-hit, two-run homer down the line in left. However, Pacific scored four runs with only one hit over the final two innings to rally for the victory. Two walks and a single loaded the bases in the top of the eighth. A sacrifice fly and a Baylor error pulled Pacific to within one run. Joey Centanni then tied the game at 8-8 with a first-and-third sacrifice bunt.
In the ninth, Longmire was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Mike Walker followed with a bunt, but Baylor pitcher Willie Kempf threw wide of the bag at second in effort to get Longmire. Kempf then hit Mike McKeever to load the bases. Brown followed with a potential double-play ball up the middle, but Brown beat Baylor shortstop Raynor Campbell's throw to first, allowing Longmire to score from third.
Kempf (0-1) took the loss, allowing two unearned runs on no hits and a walk with one strikeout over 1.0 innings; he also hit two batters.
Mike McCain (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth to pick up the victory in relief. Thomas Berolzheimer worked a perfect ninth to earn the save.
Pacific took an early lead with a four-run first off Baylor starter Shawn Tolleson. However, the Bears battled back to tie the game with a three-run third and a run in the fourth. Dan Evatt scored on an errant pickoff throw at first base in the fifth to give the Bears a 5-4 lead. Pacific answered immediately as Brown led off the sixth with a single and later scored on Ben Gorang's RBI fielder's choice.
Baylor recaptured the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Don Lambert led off with a single and later scored on Shaver Hansen's RBI single. Hornung's two-run homer in the seventh pushed the Bears' lead to 8-5.
Tolleson allowed five runs on six hits and five walks with two strikeouts over 6.0 innings. Pacific starter Cole Akins surrendered six runs, four earned, on 10 hits and no walks with three strikeouts over 5.1 innings.
Joey Hainsfurther was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI in his first career game for the Bears; Dustin Dickerson also had three hits with a double. Hansen and Evatt each had two hits.
Baylor and Pacific conclude the series Sunday at Baylor Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for noon CT. The Bears send right-hander Craig Fritsch (3-4, 4.80 ERA in 2008) to the mound. The Tigers counter with right-hander Hunter Carnevale (2-4, 7.91 ERA).
NOTES: The all-time series is tied 2-2. All four games have been one-run games. €¦ Baylor falls to 12-19 all-time against teams currently playing as members of the Big West Conference. €¦ Hornung's home run was the first pinch-hit homer of his career. €¦ Baylor has produced three pinch-hit homers in its last 34 games (since April 1, 2008). Prior to that stretch, the Bears had not accomplished the feat since May 22, 2002.
