Baseball Rallies to Win Season Opener, 3-2

Friday, February 17

Baylor Ballpark

4:05 PM

Baylor

Oral Roberts

Baseball Rallies to Win Season Opener, 3-2

2/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

2
ORAL ROBERTS
(0-1) Rank: NR

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	6	0
0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	X	3	6	1

Box Score | Photo Gallery | Highlights

Waco, Texas • Attendance: 2,681

3
BAYLOR
(1-0) Rank: NR

STATS COMPARISON
Runs	2	3
AB	32	28
Hits	6	6
RBI	1	3
BB	3	7
SO	5	2
LOB	6	8

	STAT LEADERS
Cho	2	H	2	Muncy/Ludy
None	--	2B	1	Towey/Ludy
None	--	3B	--	None
None	--	HR	--	None
None	--	RBI	2	Ludy
None	--	SB	--	None

PITCHING	IP	H	R	ER	SO
W - Blank (1-0)	3.1	1	0	0	1
L - Liguori (0-1)	0.0	0	2	2	0
S - Newman (1)	1.0	0	0	0	2

POSTGAME NOTES
Max Muncy extended his on-base streak to a career-high-tying 19 games ... Muncy had his 44th career multi-hit game and Josh Ludy had his 22nd career multi-hit game and 13th career multi-RBI game ... Josh Turley has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 16 of 17 career starts ... Turley's streak of 10 consecutive starts of at least 5.2 innings came to an end ... Turley has allowed only two earned run in his last 19.1 innings, dating back to May 26, 2011 ... Freshman Adam Toth made his collegiate debut, batting ninth and playing right field; he went 0-for-3, but was twice retired on diving catches in the outfield ... Trent Blank improved his career record to 9-4 and picked up his fifth career win in relief ... Baylor leads the all-time series against Oral Roberts 21-19, including a 17-13 edge in games played in Waco ... Baylor improved to 11-7 in season openers under head coach Steve Smith ... The Bears are 9-3 when opening the season at home during the Smith era ... Baylor was 3-22 last season when scoring three or fewer runs ... Four of the five runners that scored in the game reached base on walks ... All six of Baylor's hits came from the first four batters in the lineup ... Nathan Orf recorded his first hit as a Bear after sitting out last season as a transfer from Illinois-Chicago.

Feb. 17, 2012

WACO, Texas - Baylor took advantage of four walks to rally for two runs in the eighth inning, and the Bears held on for a 3-2 win over Oral Roberts in the 2012 season opener at Baylor Ballpark on Friday.

Josh Ludy's RBI double tied the game at 2-2, and after an intentional walk to Logan Vick loaded the bases, pinch hitter Michael Howard brought in the game-winning run with a walk in his first career plate appearance.

"I thought we played a good ball game," 18th-year head coach Steve Smith said. "We could have easily lost the ball game, but we didn't. We came from behind and found a way to win it, got a couple of good at-bats when we really needed them, particularly the one with Ludy."

The Bears got solid relief work, as Trent Blank and Dillon Newman combined to hold ORU scoreless on one hit over the final 4.1 innings. Blank picked up the win with 3.1 innings of relief, and Newman earned his first career save by retiring the side in order with two strikeouts in the ninth.

"That's the difference in the game, our (bullpen) beat their (bullpen)," Smith said. "Trent pitched like a senior right-handed pitcher that's got pretty good stuff and keeps the ball down. We played defense behind him, the guys on the left side did a nice job."

Baylor starter Josh Turley held ORU to a pair of unearned runs in 4.2 innings of work, but Oral Roberts starting pitcher Drew Bowen kept the Bears off the board in his 5.0 innings on the mound.

The Golden Eagles plated a pair of unearned runs in the fifth after a throwing error by Max Muncy attempting to get the lead runner at third on a bunt. Blank came on with two outs in the inning and induced a groundout to strand a pair of runners, and the Bears cut the deficit in half in the sixth when Ludy brought in Cal Towey with a RBI single.

Towey went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks, while Muncy reached in all four plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and one run scored. Ludy had two hits and two RBI, and Nathan Orf had the Bears' only other hit.

Kevin Cho was the only ORU player with multiple hits, as he went 2-for-3. Reliever Lars Liguori took the loss after walking the only two batters he faced in the eight. Towey and Muncy both fell behind 0-2 to Liguori before working walks, and both eventually came around to score.

The series resumes at 2 p.m. Saturday, as Baylor sends Max Garner to the mound for his first career start. Oral Roberts is expected to start sophomore right-handed pitcher Alex Gonzalez.