Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score | Quotes
HOUSTON, Texas- Kendal Volz tossed seven shutout innings, and Willie Kempf used a triple play to preserve his first save of the season as No. 6 Baylor defeated ninth-ranked UCLA 5-1 in Saturday's second-day action at the Houston College Classic. Baylor (6-1) has won five straight, while UCLA (2-5) has lost five straight.
Volz (1-0) earned his first win since March 9, 2008, when he defeated Mississippi State in the first game of Baylor's last non-conference series of the season. He had gone 10 consecutive starts without a win, including six losses. Plagued by the Big 12's lowest run support of any pitcher with at least 10 starts last season, Volz was given his most runs of support since the Bears scored five runs in his start against Oklahoma State in last year's Big 12 opener.
Still, the Bears led only 1-0 when Volz completed his final inning of work - the seventh. Volz worked around trouble in each of his final four frames after facing the minimum in the first three innings. He recorded back-to-back strikeouts with a runner at third base to end the seventh.
Baylor pushed its lead to 3-0 with two runs on four hits and a pair of wild pitches in the top of the eighth. Brooks Pinckard and Shaver Hansen started the inning with consecutive bunt singles, and Joey Hainsfurther followed with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Hainsfurther scored on the second of Brendan Lafferty's two wild pitches.
UCLA made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Willie Kempf walked Niko Gallego to open the inning and then surrendered consecutive singles to Eddie Murray and Casey Haerther, the second of which scored Gallego. Cody Decker then lined into an inning-ending triple play. Baylor first baseman Dustin Dickerson made a diving snag on Decker's liner toward the right-side hole to start the triple-killing. It was Baylor's first triple play since April 27, 1996, at Rice.
The Bears added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Gregg Glime led off with a single, moved to second on Raynor Campbell's sacrifice bunt and scored on Brooks Pinckard's RBI single. After Pinckard moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt, Hainsfurther plated him with a single up the middle.
Volz scattered four hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He stranded six base runners, including five in scoring position and two at third. Kempf allowed one run on three this and two walks with two strikeouts over the final 2.0 innings for Baylor's first save of the season.
Baylor scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning and never trailed. Hainsfurther worked a one-out walk off UCLA starter Gerrit Cole, and Dustin Dickerson followed with a double to right-center. UCLA center fielder misplayed the ball in the gap, allowing Hainsfurther to score.
That play saddled Cole (1-1) with the tough-luck loss; he allowed only two hits but walked five against eight strikeouts over 6.0 innings.
Hainsfurther finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI; he also walked three times, reaching safely in all five plate appearances. Dickerson was 2-for-5, while Pinckard was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Baylor concludes its weekend at the Houston College Classic Sunday against No. 10 Rice. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CST. The Bears send sophomore right-hander Craig Fritsch (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound, while the Owls counter with freshman southpaw Taylor Wall (1-1, 8.53 ERA).
NOTES: This was the first-ever meeting between Baylor and UCLA. €¦ Baylor is 18-15 all-time against teams from the Pacific-10 Conference. €¦ Baylor is 9-8 all-time at the Houston College Classic. €¦ Baylor is 218-13 since the start of the 2002 season when leading after eight innings. €¦ Baylor's first-inning run was its first in a Volz start since the Bears scored two first-inning runs in his May 26, 2007, start against Oklahoma at the Big 12 Conference Championship. Volz had gone 15 consecutive starts without a first-inning run of support prior to Saturday's game. €¦ Baylor's five-game winning streak is the Bears' longest since a seven-game streak to start last season. €¦ Volz became the first Baylor starter to record a decision (win or loss) this season. €¦ Dickerson (six games) and Aaron Miller (three games) both extended hitting streaks, while Shaver Hansen saw his three-game streak end. €¦ Several former Bears were in attendance at Saturday's game, including Kip Wells (1996-1998), Justin Taylor (1999-2002), Kyle Reynolds (2003-2005), Chase Gerdes (2004-2007), Matt Sodolak (2006-2007) and Nick Cassavechia (2005-2008).
