March 2, 2010

BYU 7, BAYLOR 5 Box Score | Quotes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 7 13 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 10 2 Pitching IP H R ER BB SO W - Hardesty (1-1) 5.0 6 2 2 2 5 L - Blank (1-1) 6.2 10 5 5 0 8 S - McKnight (1) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 Batting Leaders AB H RBI R BB HR BU - Campbell 5 2 3 0 0 0 BU - Vick 4 2 0 3 1 0 BYU -Relf 5 4 2 3 0 0 Notes: The Bears have trailed at one point in all eight games this season, and Baylor opponents have scored first in seven of those games ... Freshman Logan Vick has hit safely in all eight games this season ... Baylor's bullpen has allowed two earned runs in 24.1 innings over the season's first eight games ... Baylor started four true freshmen in the field, including shortstop Steve DalPorto and catcher Abel Baker, who were both making the first starts of their careers. BAYLOR BASEBALL CENTRAL • Baylor Athletics Experience • Baseball Media Almanac

WACO, Texas - Trent Blank struck out eight batters in 6.2 innings, but the Baylor offense didn't come to life until it was too late, as BYU knocked off the Bears, 7-5, Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.

BYU (3-4) got on the board in the top of the first when Bryce Ayoso knocked the last of three singles to score Brandon Relf. Baylor (4-4) answered quickly, plating a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first.

Logan Vick led off with a single and stole second base, then Joey Hainsfurther drew a walk and Max Muncy followed with a RBI single. Raynor Campbell drove in Hainsfurther with a bunt single to give the Bears their only lead of the night at 2-1.

BYU tied the game at 2-2 when Austin Hall led off the second inning with a single, stole second base and came around to score after advancing on a pair of groundouts.

The Cougars scored for the third consecutive inning and took the lead for good when Relf led off the third with a single, and Ayoso drove him in with a two-out double to give BYU a 3-2 advantage.

Blank (1-1) settled down and allowed only two hits while keeping the Cougars scoreless over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but the Baylor offense struggled against BYU starter Shawn Hardesty (1-1).

Brooks Pinckard's two-out single in the fourth inning was the first Baylor hit since Campbell's bunt single in the first, but the Bears were unable to bring him home. The Bears got back-to-back one-out singles from Hainsfurther and Muncy in the fifth, but Hardesty struck out Dan Evatt and got Campbell to fly out to end the threat.

That would be the last batter Hardesty would face, but he earned the win after holding the Bears to two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts over 5.0 innings. Blank took the loss; he allowed five runs on 10 hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over 6.2 innings - the longest outing of his career.

BYU added three insurance runs in the seventh. Dane Nielsen led off with a double, and two outs later, Relf doubled him home, chasing Blank from the game. Reliever Kevin Winter allowed an RBI single to Wolfe, and the Cougars took a 6-2 lead when Chris Slater dropped a fly ball in right field.

Relf led the Cougars at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBI.

The Bears got one run back without the benefit of a hit in the bottom of the seventh. Vick and Hainsfurther drew walks, and after Vick moved to third base on a flyout, BYU reliever Kevin Sloan was called for a balk, cutting the BYU lead to 6-3.

Winter worked a scoreless eighth, but the Bears were set down in order in the bottom half of the inning, and BYU added another run in the top of the ninth off Baylor reliever Tom Filip. It was just the second earned run allowed this season by the Baylor bullpen.

The Bears came close to rallying back in their last at-bat. Vick reached on a one-out single, hit a two-out single, and Evatt drew a walk to load the bases and bring the potential tying run to the plate. Campbell followed with a two-run single, but BYU called on reliever David McKnight, who got Abel Baker to ground out to end the game.

Muncy finished 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI, while Campbell went 2-for-5 and drove in three runs. Vick went 2-for-4, walked and scored a career-high three times.

Baylor returns to action Wednesday when it faces Louisiana Tech at 6:30 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.