Final Stats

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" Baylor baseball earned an 8-3 win over Dallas Baptist to kick off a split series on Thursday evening at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (9-12) used a pair of three-run frames to topple the Patriots (14-7).

BU fell behind 2-0 early in the second inning, but had an answer right away as T.J. Raguse led off the bottom half with a double. A Levi Gilcrease sacrifice bunt later, Josh Bissonette plated Raguse on a ground out.

Baylor took the lead for good in the third inning with the first of its two three-run innings. Kameron Esthay led off with a single, Darryn Sheppard walked and Aaron Dodson laid down a sac bunt. Raguse drove in Esthay on a fielder's choice ground out, and then scored on a Gilcrease double. Bissonette roped a two-out single up the middle to score Gilcrease and give BU a 4-2 edge.

DBU had an answer in the fourth with a solo home run by Darick Hall to cut the lead to one run, but the Bears had a bigger response in the sixth. Richard Cunningham led off with a walk, and after a pitching change and Steven McLean sac bunt, Esthay grounded out for an RBI. Sheppard then reached on an error, Dodson singled and Raguse delivered once again with an RBI single through the right side. A wild pitch scored the third run of the inning, giving Baylor a 7-3 lead.

The Bears added to the lead in the seventh on a one-out double by Justin Arrington and two-out RBI single by McLean.

BU reliever Joe Heineman (2-1) earned the win, allowing two hits and a walk with three strikeouts in three scoreless innings. DBU starter Hall (3-2) took the loss, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout in three innings.

NOTES
*Baylor is 392-175 all-time at Baylor Ballpark and 7-9 under Steve Rodriguez.

*Baylor leads the all-time series vs. DBU 47-25, 35-17 in Waco and 10-8 in Dallas but had lost two straight in the series ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" the Bears are 1-0 under Steve Rodriguez in the series.

*Kameron Esthay has a career-high 10-game hitting streak as he posted his team-high-tying fifth multi-hit game of the season with a career-high-tying three hits.

*Aaron Dodson has a career-high seven-game on-base streak.

*Steven McLean has a career-high seven-game on-base streak.

*Josh Bissonette has six-game on-base streak as he post his second multi-RBI game (2).

*Richard Cunningham has a five-game on-base streak.

*Darryn Sheppard has a career-high-tying four-game hitting streak.

*T.J. Raguse has a four-game hitting streak as he posted his first collegiate multi-hit game (2) and second multi-RBI game.

*Levi Gilcrease has a three-game on-base streak.

*Justin Arrington notched his third multi-hit game (2) of the season.

*Kyle Hill made his first collegiate start as he allowed three runs on two hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings in a no-decision.

*Joe Heineman has four straight scoreless appearances as he tied a career high with 3.0 innings pitched.

*Kyle Ott has four straight scoreless appearances as he tied a career high with 1.2 innings pitched in relief.

STAT OF THE GAME
3 ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" The amount of runs scored by Baylor in the third and sixth innings and the amount of runs Baylor gave up in the game.

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"I thought our guys did a great job of answering back, getting one run, and then coming back and getting three. It makes it a lot better when you're able to know that you're in the game right away offensively." ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor continues its split series with Dallas Baptist this weekend with the remaining two games in Dallas as Friday's game will start at 6:30 p.m. CT and Saturday at 2 p.m. The pitching matchups will feature BU LHP Daniel Castano (2-2, 3.94 ERA) vs. DBU LHP Colin Poche (2-0, 1.17 ERA) Friday and BU RHP Drew Tolson (1-1, 4.80 ERA) vs. DBU LHP Sean Stutzman (2-0, 3.07 ERA) Saturday.