Baylor Ballpark- Picture courtesy of Donald J Boyles
The Baylor Bears welcomed in three teams to take part in the Baylor QTI Classic. The night cap on Saturday featured #15 Baylor take on #13 UC-Irvine with the first game of the day featuring South Alabama and Alabama-Birmingham which was won by UAB 13-8.
On the mound for Baylor sent their Pre-Season All American Kendall Volz and UC-Irvine sent Christian Bergman to the hill. With a very strong southern breeze blowing through Baylor Ballpark leading to a slugfest. In the bottom of the first inning, first baseman Dustin Dickerson got a pitched that he liked and lined it over the RF Fence just over the center fielder Cory Olson for a solo shot.
In the top of the 2nd, UC-Irvine countered when Ryan Fisher hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot over the center-field wall to knot the score at 1-1.
Baylor scored a single run in the second and an unearned run in the third to take a 3-1 edge but UCI punched back with a solo home run by Brock Bardeen in the fourth, his third home run of the tournament and eighth RBI in two games. The Anteaters caught the Bears in the seventh on a clutch double by Deragisch to drive in Fisher and put runners on second and third with one out. However Baylor reliever Logan Verrett got out of the jam and held the Anteaters scoreless in the final 2.2 innings to pick up the win (4-0).
Baylor first baseman Dustin Dickerson’s RBI single in the ninth scored the game-winning run to lift the Bears past No. 5 UC Irvine, 4-3, Saturday at Baylor Ballpark. The loss dropped the Anteaters to 6-4 on the season while Baylor climbed to 9-2.
It was a great night to be out at the ball park as I will be back for the first game on Sunday between UC-Irvine and South Alabama.
