Lamar sports information
WACO – A rally in the middle innings gave Baylor a late lead that held and gave the Bears a 6-3 win over the Lamar University baseball team and ended the Cardinals’ win streak before it could get to 16 games Wednesday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark in non-conference action.
The Cardinals (25-8) held a 3-0 lead in the middle of the fifth inning, but one run in the bottom of the fifth, two in the sixth and three in the seventh innings put Baylor on top 6-3 after seven frames.
The Bears (17-16) answered the a Lamar run in the fifth with one of their own in the bottom of the frame when leadoff hitter Steven McLean singled through the right side and scored Josh Bissonette, who reached on a leadoff single. They added two more in the sixth when a walk and back-to-back hits followed by a fielder’s choice scored Aaron Dodson and Bridge City graduate Matt Menard to tie it.
The big blow was in the seventh inning when Menard doubled home Darryn Sheppard and Dodson, both singled, to put Baylor on top 6-3. West Tunnell scored the first run of the frame when he was credited with a single to Stijn van der Meer at shortstop and scored on Sheppard’s single through the left side. Tunnell took second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a groundout from Kameron Esthay.
LU jumped up early with two runs in the first, which started with a single up the middle from van der Meer. The single extended his hit streak to 23 games and his on-base streak to 31 contests. Jake Nash doubled him home in the next at-bat with a laser to left center field. Bryndan Arredondo sent Nash to third with a grounder to third base and Reid Russell drove him in with a ground ball to second.
Van der Meer singled again in the fifth inning and sent home Chaneng Varela, who reached on a two-out single. Varela took second base on a walk to Brendan Satran.
Jimmy Johnson (6-1) suffered the loss, his first of the season, on three runs allowed from four hits and a walk. Jayson McKinley started the contest for LU and had two innings pitched with one hit and a walk allowed. Matt White relieved him and worked a scoreless third inning with just a hit allowed.
Brett Brown gave up a hit and run with one inning of work and Travis Moore followed for an inning with two runs allowed on four hits and a walk. Will Hibbs pitched the eighth for the Cardinals and was perfect with a punch out.
The Baylor bullpen was the key to game and worked the final four innings with just one hit and a walk allowed. Kyle Ott (3-2) grabbed the win with two perfect innings, and Andrew McInvale and Troy Montemayor each pitched a frame.
Van der Meer led the Cardinals, who accounted for only five team hits, with two hits in the contest. He had on RBI and scored another. Nash, Russell and Varela accounted for the others, and only eight Cardinals reached base. Baylor finished with 11 hits in the game, led by Esthay, Menard and T.J. Raguse- who all had two hits apiece.
A big series looms for the Cardinals at Vincent-B