Feb. 28, 2016 Final Stats
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas -- Baylor baseball topped Stony Brook 6-5 on Sunday afternoon to complete a series sweep at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (4-3) let a 5-1 lead slip away but received a late home run by
West Tunnell to take down the Seawolves (1-5) for the third straight day.
For the third consecutive game, BU jumped out to an early lead with another multi-run first inning. Levi Gilcrease led off the game with a triple, and after a T.J. Raguse walk and steal of second, Darryn Sheppard stayed hot with a two-run single through the left side.
Stony Brook answered with a run in the second on a double by Johnny Caputo, but the Bears got that run back in the third. Following a Matt Menard one-out double and wild pitch, Sheppard drove him in with a sacrifice fly to center for a 3-1 lead.
In the fifth, Menard drove in two runs on a double to left-center after Josh Bissonette walked, Gilcrease singled and Raguse put them into scoring position with a sac bunt.
All was going well for Baylor until the seventh inning, when starter Nick Lewis ran out of gas and the bullpen struggled. With runners on first and second, an error at first base allowed a run to score and put another runner at third. Then a bunt single drove in the second run of the inning. BU brought in reliever Joe Heineman, who got a quick out but allowed a two-out, two-run triple to Jack Parenty that tied the game, 5-5.
However, Baylor was up to the task as pinch-hitter Tunnell blasted a two-out solo homer to right in the eighth for a 6-5 lead that stood.
BU reliever Andrew McInvale (1-1) earned the win by tossing a clean eighth inning with one strikeout. Troy Montemayor picked up his first save after allowing a hit with two strikeouts in the ninth. SBU reliever Chad Lee (0-2) took the loss, giving up one run on two hits and one walk with one strikeout in 3.2 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor earned a three-game sweep for the first time since Feb. 13-15, 2015, vs. No. 13 Cal Poly in Waco.
*Baylor is 389-169 all-time at Baylor Ballpark and 4-3 under Steve Rodriguez.
*Baylor and Stony Brook met for the first-ever time Friday, and BU leads the all-time series 3-0.
*Baylor finished its season-opening, seven-game home stand with a 4-3 record.
*Baylor scored 10 runs in the first inning of this Stony Brook series (6 Friday, 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday).
*Baylor combined for 21 two-out RBI in its three games vs. SBU (9 Friday, 11 Saturday, 1 Sunday).
*Darryn Sheppard went 10-for-14 (.714) with eight runs, one double, two homers, 11 RBI, one walk and one steal in the series.
*Sheppard went 1-for-3 with three RBI for his team-high fourth multi-RBI game, extending his on-base streak to six games and giving him a three-game hitting streak.
*Levi Gilcrease went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for his second multi-hit game of the season.
*Matt Menard had a career-high-tying three hits as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run for his second multi-hit game of the season and first multi-RBI game, giving him a three-game hitting streak.
*West Tunnell hit his first collegiate homer in his only at-bat of the game.
*T.J. Raguse stole his first career base and had a walk to give him a three-game on-base streak.
*Richard Cunningham had a walk to extend his on-base streak to seven games.
*Josh Bissonette had a walk to extend his on-base streak to six games.
*Andrew McInvale earned his first collegiate win with his first career scoreless inning.
*Troy Montemayor garnered his first collegiate save in his first attempt.
STAT OF THE GAME
0 -- The amount of times Baylor trailed in the three-game series vs. Stony Brook.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
"It was obvious that when we had some momentum offensively that our guys are swinging the bat really well, and then Stony Brook came back and tied it up, and all of a sudden things change. So I talked to our guys about just how important momentum is. We had a chance to make a couple defensive plays and we didn't make them, and that for us is a big situation for momentum in regards to making sure our offense is allowed to work. So we're more worried about playing against the game than we are any other team. We know that the teams we're going to be playing here are going to be pretty good so I'm just more concerned about how we're playing the game. We did a lot of good things in this series." -- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor hits the road for the first time as it travels to Huntsville, Texas, to face Sam Houston State on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
-BU-
