March 6, 2005

Box Score

WACO, Texas - Mark McCormick tallied a season-high eight strikeouts and Reid Brees drove in three runs as No. 14 Baylor defeated Long Beach State 7-1 Sunday to salvage the final game of the three-game series. With the victory, Baylor (8-6) put an end to a six-game Long Beach State (11-7) winning streak and a seven-game LBSU streak in the series.

Meanwhile, the Baylor bats got to Long Beach State starter Jared Hughes early. Kyle Reynolds singled up the middle with one out in the first, stole second and then third on a wild pitch. Josh Ford followed with a scorching single off Hughes' shin, scoring Reynolds.

Brees pushed Baylor's lead to 3-0 with a first-pitch leadoff home run to left in the fourth. The Bears drove Hughes from the game in the fifth with three more two-out runs. Chase Gerdes led off the frame with a triple to right-center, his second three-bagger in as many games. After Hughes struck out the next two batters and walked Ford, Zach Dillon doubled to left-center, scoring both base runners. Brees then doubled off reliever Cody Evans to plate Dillon.

Long Beach State did not scratch the scoreboard until the top of the seventh, scoring a run on two-out RBI single off the bat of Brandon Godfrey.

The Bears answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh as Dillon followed a Ford leadoff double with a single; the two scored one batter later on a Brees double and a Dirtbag fielding error.

McCormick allowed one run on four hits and four walks over 6.1 innings and allowed only five balls out of the infield. Ryan LaMotta allowed one hit and a walk with two strikeouts over 1.2 innings before giving way to Tyler Bullock, who yielded a walk and a hit with two strikeouts in the ninth.

Hughes (1-1) was touched for five runs on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4.2 innings.

Brees finished the day 3-for-4, while Gerdes, Ford and Dillon had two hits each. Eight of Baylor's nine starters hit safely on the day.

Baylor returns to action Tuesday, hosting Northwestern State for a 6 p.m. CST first pitch at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears send right-hander Sean Walker (1-1) to the mound against a Northwestern State club that was named national team of the week by CollegeBaseballInsider.com last week.

NOTES:  Long Beach State leads the all-time series 9-3. ... Sunday's game matched the largest margin of victory in the series history. Long Beach State posted a 7-1 victory in the 2003 series finale. ... Dillon (five games), Michael Griffin (five games) and Ford (four games) all extended hitting streaks, while Kevin Russo saw his career-long four-game streak end. ... McCormick posted his first victory since a 5-0 shutout of Texas A&M at home March 20, 2004. In eight starts since then, McCormick was 0-3 with five no-decisions. In four of the no-decisions, Baylor trailed when he left the game and rallied to win. In the other no-decision, he left with a lead but the Bears lost the game. ... Sunday also was the fewest runs McCormick allowed in a start since the Texas A&M shutout. ... Ford recorded the 200^th hit of his career Sunday. ... Ford also was hit by a pitch for the 23^rd time in his career Sunday, moving into a fourth-place tie all-time at Baylor with Ross Bennett (2000-03). ... Reynolds recorded his fifth and sixth stolen bases Sunday, eclipsing his 2004 career high of four in a season.