Go Bears!
GO Bears!
Go Bears!
Road Woes Continue as No. 25 Bears Fall at K-State
Bears manage just three hits in 4-2 loss in series opener.
C Zach Dillon had two of Baylor's three hits Friday night at Kansas State, including his fourth home run of the season.

C Zach Dillon had two of Baylor's three hits Friday night at Kansas State, including his fourth home run of the season.

May 19, 2006

Box Score

MANHATTAN, Kan. - No. 25 Baylor managed just three hits in a 4-2 loss to Kansas State in Friday night's Big 12 Conference series opener at Tointon Stadium. The loss snapped a season-long seven-game winning streak for the Bears (34-20, 13-12), who dropped to 7-13 this season on the road and 3-10 in Big 12 road games.

The game started well for the Bears as Kevin Russo worked a nine-pitch at bat into a double to left-center. Russo moved to third on a Zach Dillon fly ball and scored on Seth Fortenberry's sacrifice fly.

However, Kansas State (28-21-2, 6-17-2) starter Brad Hutt did not allow much else the rest of the night, retiring 17 of 18 batters after Russo's double. Baylor did not get another base runner until Fortenberry was hit by a pitch with one out in the fourth, snapping a streak of 10 consecutive outs by Hutt. Baylor did not get its second hit until a Dillon single up the middle with two outs in the sixth.

Kansas State tied the score with a run on two hits in the bottom of the second. Barrett Rice doubled to right-center with one out and later scored on Drew Biery's two-out, two-strike single through the right side. Kansas State took a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Brandon Farr led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Joe Roundy bouncer up the middle.

The Wildcats stretched their lead in the seventh as a bases-loaded Russo fielding errors allowed two runs to score. It was the first error in conference play for the left side of Baylor's infield since the April 2 series finale at Texas Tech. It was just Russo's third error of the year in Big 12 play and snapped an overall streak of 15 consecutive errorless games for Russo.

Baylor starter Ryan LaMotta (6-5) suffered the tough-luck loss, allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 6.2 innings.

 

 

Hutt (7-4) finished with a career-high nine strikeouts over 8.1 innings, retiring nine straight after Dillon's sixth-inning single. Dillon snapped that run in the ninth, lining a one-out home run down the line in right. Ben Hornbeck closed out the game, retiring Fortenberry and Mike Pankratz on six pitches to record his first career save.

Baylor and Kansas State continue the series Saturday at 2 p.m. CDT. The Bears send southpaw Cory VanAllen (6-4, 4.37) to the mound, opposite Wildcat right-hander Adam Cowart (5-7, 3.39).

NOTES: Baylor leads the all-time series 24-7, including an 8-5 advantage in games played at Manhattan. The Bears are 23-6 against Kansas State as Big 12 foes, 23-5 in regular-season meetings. ... Baylor has lost two straight at Tointon Stadium. ... Fortenberry and Chase Gerdes both saw eight-game hitting streaks end; Gerdes' run was a career long. ... Russo (five games) and Dillon (three games) both extended hitting streaks.