Baylor's Eighth Inning Rally Downs Kansas, 9-8

March 27, 2010

Box Score in PDF Format

WACO, Texas –

Junior left fielder Jimmy Waters went 3-for-5 with his fourth home run of the season, but it was not enough. Baylor third baseman Joey Hainesfurther’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning plated the winning run as the Bears erased a one-run deficit in the inning to earn a 9-8 win over Kansas Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

BU evens the three-game series with a come-from-behind win, improving to 13-8 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12. Kansas snaps a three-game winning streak and drops to 14-9 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

Baylor’s two-run rally offset KU’s go-ahead run in the top of the eighth. With one out in the inning, the Jayhawks loaded the bases with a single and back-to-back hit by pitches. Senior Robby Price, who homered earlier in the game, hit a sacrifice fly to center field giving KU an 8-7 advantage.

However, the Bears led off their half of the eighth with a double by Greg Glime and a triple by Landis Ware to tie the game, setting up Hainesfurther’s sacrifice fly.

Much like Friday afternoon’s game, Kansas jumped out to an early lead on the strength of an RBI single by Tony Thompson, and a two-run triple by Brandon Macias in the first two innings. However, just like Friday, Baylor answered with five runs in the third inning.

Kansas tied the score in the seventh with solo home runs off the bats of Price and Waters.

Waters led the offense with three hits in the game, while Price, Heere, Thompson and Macias had two a piece.

Senior Travis Blankenship suffered his second loss of the season, despite pitching 3 2/3 innings of quality relief. The left-handed reliever held the Bears to just one run on two hits through his first three innings of work, before he ran into trouble in the eighth.

Kansas will look to earn its first-ever series win at Baylor Ballpark Sunday in the finale of the three-game set at noon. The game can be heard via internet broadcast at www.kuathletics.com.