March 12, 2016 Final Stats
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas -- Baylor baseball lost a 5-3 decision to San Diego on Saturday evening at Baylor Ballpark in the Baylor Baseball Battle. The Bears (6-8) held a 3-1 lead through five innings but were unable to hang on as the Toreros (9-7) fought back for a late-inning victory.
The Bears jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning as Richard Cunningham was hit by a pitch with one out to start the rally. After a Darryn Sheppard single and wild pitch that moved both runners into scoring position, Kameron Esthay grounded out to second to score the game's first run. A passed ball then allowed Sheppard to trot home for a 2-0 lead.
San Diego answered with a run on a walk, single, wild pitch and productive out by Daniel Gardner, but BU retaliated in the fourth with back-to-back doubles from Sheppard and Esthay for a 3-1 edge.
Unfortunately from there out, the Bears offense struggled while the Toreros picked up the pace. In the sixth, USD tied the game on an RBI double by Hunter Mercado-Hood and RBI single by Kevin Collard.
In the eighth, a two-out double by Jerod Smith led to a run as Jeff Houghtby drove him in with a single up the middle. USD added insurance in the ninth, again with two outs. After a leadoff single and wild pitch, Mercado-Hood singled to make it a 5-3 Toreros lead.
USD reliever Nathan Kuchta (1-0) earned the win, allowing no runs and just one hit with five strikeouts in three innings. BU reliever Kyle Ott (1-2) took the loss, giving up one run on two hits with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 389-172 all-time at Baylor Ballpark and 4-6 under Steve Rodriguez.
*Baylor is 0-3 on its current and season-long eight-game home stand.
*Baylor trails the all-time series against San Diego 2-0 as the teams met in Waco for the first time -- USD topped BU 8-0 on March 2, 2014, in San Diego in the teams' first-ever meeting.
*Baylor has scored at least one run in the first inning six times this season in 14 games -- the Bears had won each of their last three games when scoring in the first frame and have scored 14 first-inning runs in 2016.
*Justin Arrington has a career-high six-game hitting streak.
*Darryn Sheppard has a four-game on-base streak as he posted his team-high-tying fourth multi-hit game of the season.
*Kameron Esthay has a three-game hitting streak as he notched his third multi-hit game of the season and first multi-RBI game.
STAT OF THE GAME
5 -- The amount of runners left on base by Baylor and the amount of runs scored by San Diego.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
"[BU starter Drew] Tolson competes, and that is one of the great things about him. When I went out there his pitch count was just getting a little high. He did exactly what we wanted him to do today." -- Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor continues its season-long eight-game home stand and Baylor Baseball Battle with a 12:05 p.m. CT contest vs. San Diego on Sunday before playing New Mexico State at 4:05 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest. Sunday's pitchers have yet to be announced.
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