Final Stats

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas - Baylor (9-13, 2-3) claimed a series win in its Big 12 home opener with a 10-4 decision over West Virginia (9-10, 1-4) Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears used a season-high, five-run first inning to grab the lead and never looked back.

Trailing 2-0 before even batting after BU starter Austin Stone walked a pair home in the top of the first, the Bears bounced back in a huge way with their most runs in an inning all season.

BU's five-run bottom of the first started with three straight singles from Logan Brown, Levi Gilcrease and Duncan Wendel, who scored Brown on his hit. Mitch Price delivered the go-ahead smash as he doubled to right-center to score a pair. An out later, Jonathan Ducoff had an RBI infield single. Then Kameron Esthay capped the scoring in the frame with a two-out RBI triple.

Baylor reliever Kody Hessemer filled in for Stone to get the final out of the first and left the bases loaded. He put up a zero in the second but WVU got to him in the third with two straight two-out RBI hits.

Again, the Bears had an immediate answer as Joe Sabatini hit a two-run triple and Esthay followed with an RBI single in the bottom of the third for an 8-4 lead.

Sabatini and Price struck again with insurance runs as Sabatini hit an RBI double in the seventh and Price did the same in the eighth.

Hessemer (1-0) earned the win in relief, allowing two runs on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 4.2 frames. Troy Montemayor was also stellar in relief as he posted 2.2 scoreless innings while allowing three hits and two walks with one strikeout. Brad Kuntz finished the game with a perfect ninth, picking up one strikeout, as he made his season debut after recovering from last year's Tommy John surgery. WVU starter Ross Vance (2-2) took the loss, surrendering eight runs on eight hits and one walk in three innings.

NOTES
*Baylor is 374-157 all-time at Baylor Ballpark, 8-3 this season and has won 15 of its 20 home series since 2012, including all three this season (No. 13 Cal Poly, 3-0 | Kent State, 2-1 | West Virginia, 2-0).

*Baylor is 11-7 in Big 12 home opening games with its last win coming on March 16, 2012, vs. Texas Tech, and the Bears are 13-5 in Big 12 home opening series with wins in their last three.

*Baylor owns a 490-552-4 record against current members of the Big 12 Conference and a 270-212 all-time record in regular season play.

*Baylor leads the all-time series against WVU 4-3 overall and under Steve Smith and 4-1 in Waco.

*Baylor is 223-148 in March under Steve Smith and 3-8 this season.

*Baylor's five-run first inning marked the most runs the team has scored in an inning all season.

*Logan Brown has a hit in his last four games.

*Duncan Wendel has reached base in his last eight games, has a hit in his last four and had his third multi-hit game.

*Redshirt freshman Kameron Esthay had his first career triple, third multi-hit game and third multi-RBI game - had a career-high three hits.

*Mitch Price notched his second multi-RBI game and multi-hit effort of the season while tying a career high with three hits.

*Joe Sabatini had his second multi-RBI game of the season with a career-high three driven in and first multi-hit game.

*Freshman Jonathan Ducoff had his fourth multi-hit game.

*Kody Hessemer tossed a career-high 4.2 frames in relief and posted a career-high four strikeouts.

*Brad Kuntz made his first appearance since April 25, 2014, against Kansas as he had Tommy John surgery in his left elbow shortly after that game.

STAT OF THE GAME
3 - The amount two-out RBI by Baylor in the game.

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"They kicked it a couple times, they had a chance to get out of the inning on a double play, but that's what they're talking about. What we're talking about are some pretty good at-bats and hitting the ball hard. We haven't had two-out RBI doubles maybe all year and we got two of them in this game. I just like the way that guys who hadn't been getting a lot of time because of injuries and stuff like that were able to get in, and create, for all intents and purposes, in a makeshift lineup. I went ahead and kept [Kameron] Esthay in the lineup today even with the lefthander on the mound, and he comes up and scorches it a couple times. That doesn't always happen, but that's what needs to happen. When you've got guys down, you need guys to step up and that's what happened today." - Baylor head coach Steve Smith

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor finishes its series vs. West Virginia tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Southwest. The scheduled pitching matchup is BU RHP Drew Tolson (0-4, 4.45 ERA) vs. WVU RHP Chad Donato (2-3, 1.74 ERA).