BSB Edged By No. 17 West Virginia, 5-4 - Baylor (2024)

W: Major, Aidan (3-2) L: Oliver, Hambleton (2-4) S: Reed, Carlson (5)

Bears surrender late lead and drop series opener

Game Recap: Baseball | 4/28/2023 11:40:00 PM

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
In a lot of ways, Baylor baseball played well enough and came through enough Friday night to knock off a 17^th-ranked West Virginia team that came into Waco fresh off a sweep of TCU.
Mason Marriott gave the Bears a quality start, allowing just one earned run in five innings. Hambleton Oliver was one pitch away from getting out of the eighth inning unscathed. And John Ceccoli and Casey Sunseri combined for four RBIs out of the Nos. 7 and 8 spots in the lineup.
But four errors led to four unearned runs as the Mountaineers (31-11, 9-4) came back to win it, 5-4, on Evan Smith's two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning in the series opener at Baylor Ballpark.
"West Virginia is a really talented team, very athletic," said Baylor coach Mitch Thompson, whose team fell to 15-27 overall and 6-13 in the Big 12. "When you give them as many free bases as we give a team (six walks and three hit batters), you're probably going to lose. And you're going to lose 5-4, if you compete really hard. That's the frustrating part."
Baylor's "gifts" started in the first inning, when Marriott hit Landon Wallace and walked Caleb McNeely after retiring the first two batters. Third baseman Jack Johnson dropped Marriott's pickoff throw when Wallace took off from second early, then Dayne Leonard came through with a two-run single on an 0-2 pitch to give WVU the early 2-0 lead.
The Mountaineers scored their only earned run in the top of the second, when Braden Barry doubled to left, moved to third when Sam White beat out an infield single and scored on Tevin Tucker's sac bunt.
Baylor got a run back in the bottom of the frame on Ceccoli's sacrifice fly after hits by Walker Polk and Johnson put runners on the corners with one out.
Sunseri, making his first start of the season, kept the score at 3-1 in the third when he threw out McNealy trying to score from third on Leonard's fly ball to shallow left field.
In the fourth, the bottom part of the Bears' order came through with a pair of two-out hits. Johnson, making his fourth-straight start in place of injured third baseman Hunter Teplanszky, lined a single to left and came around to score on Ceccoli's double down the right-field line.
"We've been hit hard by the injury bug, got several guys out that are big-time guys for us," Thompson said. "But Jack Johnson comes in the game and gets two hits, scores two run. Ceccoli came back and drove in two runs. And then Casey Sunseri with his big hit. You're talking about the 6, 7, 8 holes in the lineup tonight that drove in a lot of our runs. They gave us a chance."
Coming into the game with just one hit in 11 at-bats for the season, Sunseri came through in a big way with a double down the left-field line that plated Johnson and Cortlan Castle to give the Bears a 4-3 lead.
Oliver came out of the bullpen in the seventh, striking out McNeely with a pair of runners in scoring position. But a dropped fly ball by Sunseri in the eighth opened the door for West Virginia, which regained the lead with Smith's clutch two-out hit.
"The first thing you've got to do to win is you've got to keep from losing," Thompson said. "That's a really hard thing to learn, and it's a hard thing for a young team, an inexperienced team. It's just hard to win. To win, you just can't lose. And sometimes, you beat yourselves. West Virginia, when you crack the door for them, they're going to run you out of the ballpark."
The Mountaineers' bullpen retired the last nine Baylor batters in order, with Aidan Morris (3-2) getting the win and Carlson Reed recording his fifth save. They combined to strike out five of the last eight batters, with Reed getting pinch-hitter Cam Caley looking on a 3-2 off-speed pitch.
Game 2 is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, with Will Rigney (3-1, 3.80 ERA) getting the start for the Bears and opposed by West Virginia's Blaine Traxel (5-3, 3.44).

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (15-27, 6-13) dropped a narrow series opener to No. 17 West Virginia (31-11, 9-4) Friday night at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, 5-4.

The Bears took a 4-3 lead into the eighth inning, but surrendered a two-out, two-run double that put the Mountaineers ahead for good. Four of WVU's five runs were unearned, as BU committed four errors on the night.

Freshman C Walker Polk and redshirt freshman INF Jack Johnson each had two hits, while sophom*ore 1B John Ceccoli and junior INF Casey Sunseri each drove in two runs in the loss.

THE RUNDOWN
West Virginia struck first in the top of the first frame, as a two-out muffed throw erased what would have been an inning-ending caught stealing and instead set up a two-run single that gave the Mountaineers an early advantage.

In the top of the second, a WVU safety squeeze bunt made it 3-0 before Baylor plated its first run in the bottom half via a Ceccoli sacrifice fly.

BU got one more back in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Ceccoli's RBI double, bringing the Bears within one at 3-2.

Then in the sixth, Sunseri struck a two-out, two-strike double down the left-field line, scoring a pair of Bears and propelling Baylor to a 4-3 lead.

However, a BU fielding error in the top of the eighth extended a WVU rally that resulted in a go-ahead, two-run double as the Mountaineers reclaimed the lead for good at 5-4. Then, its bullpen worked three perfect innings and struck out five Bears to close things out in the series opener.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor falls to 14-15 all-time against West Virginia and 2-9 against ranked opponents this season.
• This is BU's second loss of 2023 when leading after the sixth inning.
• This marks the 17^th game this year that has been decided by two runs or less, and the 10^th one-run ballgame the Bears have played in 2023.
• Freshman C Walker Polk extended his on-base streak to 11 games with his first multi-hit game of the season.
• Sophom*ore C Cortlan Castle extended his on-base streak to seven games and hitting streak to six games.
• Sophom*ore 1B John Ceccoli collected his fourth multi-RBI outing of the year.
• Junior INF Casey Sunseri notched his first-career extra-base hit and first multi-RBI game of his career.
• Redshirt freshman INF Jack Johnson logged his first multi-hit game of the season.
• Junior RHP Anderson Needham pitched his 12^th scoreless outing of the year.
• Sophom*ore RHP Gabe Craig worked his 11^th scoreless appearance of 2023.
• Freshman LHP/OF Ethan Calder worked his fourth scoreless outing of the season.

STAT OF THE DAY
4 – Baylor scored four runs and allowed four unearned runs in the loss.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Mitch Thompson
On the lower part of the lineup coming through…
"We've been hit hard by the injury bug. We've got several guys out that are big-time guys for us. Jack Johnson comes in the game and gets two hits, scores two runs. And you've got to be proud of that. [John] Ceccoli came back out and drove in two runs. And then Casey Sunseri with his big hit. So, I think you're talking about the 6, 7, 8 holes in the lineup tonight that drove in a lot of our runs. They gave us an opportunity and they gave us a chance and that's good for them, man. That's what we're hoping from them."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (15-27, 6-13) returns for a chance to even the series with No. 17 West Virginia (31-11, 9-4) on Saturday, April 29, with a 2 p.m. first pitch at Baylor Ballpark in Waco.

To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.

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