I have found my favorite term to describe Bayor's offense: relentless. Earlier in the season, they beat up on college aces Adam Plutko (UCLA) and Andrew Heaney (Oklahoma State), but tonight they faced possibly their best foe to date in Michael "Fozzy Bear" Wacha. So what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Baylor wins.
Wacha's final result for the game was not terrible - 2 Runs in 5.2 IP - but he gave up 9 Hits and a Walk to a Baylor lineup that had him scratching for every out. By the 6th Inning, Wacha was gassed (and at around 120 pitches) and had to be pulled out of the game. With Wacha gone, the Bears broke through with the deciding runs in the top of the 8th. So how many innings did the Bears have men on base? All of them. There was not a single clean inning for the Ags. With that many opportunities to score, the RBI hits will fall eventually.
Nathan Orf was the real standout with a 3-3, RBI, Run, and Walk night. Muncy was only 1-4, but he got robbed of a homer early in the game and had some really impressive at-bats, including an 11 pitch marathon against Wacha early on. Every one of Baylor's starters had at least one hit. As the radio announcer said during the pregame, Baylor is currently hitting a conference leading .317 as a team. Good stuff.
On the mound, Josh Turley was his usual impressive self. He fought through various defensive miscues to go seven strong innings and give up 3 Runs, only one of which was earned. Max Garner came on for the two-inning save and didn't allow a run.
Player(s) of the Game: Everyone. Turley, Garner, the offense as a whole. Everybody was awesome.
I am going to add something tonight, though. It won't become a staple, but I think it's important.
Goat of the Night: The Defense. There were way too many errors and misplays. Turley pulled the team through, and the offense made up for their mistakes in the field, but those bad plays can cost a team.
If the Bears can take the series by winning one of the next two games, they will have a death grip on the Big 12 Regular Season Championship. They will also sit comfortably among the top five teams in the nation. As the Baseball America article I linked to stated, that will give the Bears a good chance to get a top 8 seed for the NCAA Tournament and a clear path to the College World Series. Sic 'em Bears!