Larry Weisman, USA Today sports writer for 25 years, says: “I found myself thinking of E.L. Baylor has now won four straight against the Mavericks, dating to 2001.Voted Goodreads #3 best baseball novel of all timeĪ sweeping historical novel set in the 1888 dawn of professional baseball when Blacks were banned, umpires were routinely beaten, and the game shifted from a collegial pastime of gentlemen to a nasty fight to the death by gritty Irish immigrants. Murphy led the Bears with three hits, his team-leading sixth multi-hit game of the year. NOTES: David Murphy and Michael Griffin each extended their season-long hitting streaks to eight games. The Bears will host their first weekend series of the season when they host seventh-ranked Southern California beginning Friday at 6 p.m. UTA finally got on the board with two outs in the ninth inning when pinch-hitter Scott Williams' single to right off Russell Reichenbach scored the Mavericks' only runs. Griffin followed that with an RBI single that scored Murphy and made it a 7-0 advantage for the home team.īaylor sophomore Sean Walker relieved LaMotta in the seventh and gave up just one hit and no runs in two innings of work. David Murphy's single to left plated Paul Witt, and Durbin scored his second run of the game when catcher Josh Ford reached base on a throwing error. The Bears opened the floodgates in the seventh with three consecutive singles to open the frame. LaMotta gave up no runs on one hit while striking out three and walking one.

Fellow freshman Ryan LaMotta (2-0) followed McCormick and picked up the win by throwing two near-perfect innings out of the bullpen.

McCormick gave up no runs on two hits, while walking one and striking out three. A towering solo home run to left by Michael Griffin, his third of the year, led off the fourth inning and extended the Baylor lead to 4-0.īaylor freshman Mark McCormick threw a solid four innings in his first collegiate start.

The scoring continued for the Bears in the third when centerfielder Chris Durbin followed a leadoff walk to Paul Witt by smacking his second home run of the year over the left-center field wall, just to the right of the batters' eye in straightaway center. Bennett had reached on an error by UTA third baseman Ryan Roberts to lead off the inning. UTA (4-6), meanwhile, had only six hits and made three errors which helped the Baylor cause.īaylor's scoring got underway in the second inning when designated hitter Zach Dillon roped a double to left field that scored first baseman Ross Bennett, giving Baylor the early 1-0 advantage. The Bears (5-3) pounded out 12 hits en route to winning their first home game of the year and fifth in six games. WACO, Texas - Baylor's bats remained hot as the ninth-ranked Bears cruised to a 9-2 victory over Texas-Arlington Tuesday night here at Baylor Ballpark.

At The Bat by Del Leonard Jones