WACO, Texas – West Virginia dropped a 7-4 game at Baylor on Saturday afternoon in Waco, Texas.
In the middle game of a three-game weekend series at Baylor Ballpark, sophomore catcher/infielder Matt McCormick drove in four runs, but it wasn’t enough to avoid WVU’s fifth consecutive loss.
The Mountaineers (11-14, 3-5 Big 12) finished with four runs on five hits with three errors, while the Bears (21-10, 3-5 Big 12) tallied seven runs on eight hits with one error. BU plated four runs in a big fourth inning to take control of the contest.
Junior left-handed pitcher Adam Tulloch took the loss for West Virginia, his third of the year. He logged 3.1 innings of work, allowing six runs (three earned) on five hits, while striking out two. Baylor’s Jimmy Winston earned the win, while Luke Boyd logged the save.
The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. From there, McCormick smashed a three-run homer to right to give the Mountaineers a 3-2 lead in the top of the second. The big fly was his fifth of the year.
In the bottom of the frame, Baylor tied the game at 3 with a run. Later, McCormick went to work again, registering an RBI single through the right side in the top of the fourth. That gave the visitors its second, one-run lead of the day, prior to the Bears’ four-run fourth.
Of note, WVU didn’t register another hit following McCormick’s fourth-inning single.
After Tulloch’s exit, sophomore right-hander Skylar Gonzalez got the final two outs of the fourth, before sophomore left-hander Jake Carr was effective in three innings of relief. He walked three but didn’t allow a hit in 43 pitches.
Junior right-hander Madison Jeffrey also pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth. In all, the Mountaineer bullpen allowed just three hits in 4.2 innings.
Along with McCormick, redshirt junior catcher/outfielder Vince Ippoliti finished 2-for-3 at the plate on the day.
Next up, the Mountaineers and Bears close out the series on Sunday afternoon. Action begins at 12:30 p.m.
