WACO, Texas – No. 21 Baylor (8-6) lost a pair of games to Kent State on Saturday in the Baylor Invitational. The Lady Bears will face No. 10 Louisiana at 10 a.m. Sunday in the consolation game.
GAME 1: KENT STATE 1, BAYLOR 0
Kent State’s ace, Andrea Scali, started on the mound for the Golden Flashes and allowed just two hits to go with 11 strikeouts in seven innings of work. Coming into Saturday afternoon’s contest, she was 3-0 on the season with a 0.00 ERA.
Lou Gilbert recorded Baylor’s first hit against Scali in the bottom of the first inning.
Madi O’Neal had Baylor’s second hit of the contest in the sixth inning. In that inning, Baylor loaded the bases with no outs, but Kent State was able to get out of the frame unscathed.
Kent State took its 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Baylor defense kept the Golden Flashes from plating any more runs.
Regan Green and Madison Lindsey combined for 10 strikeouts.
GAME 2: KENT STATE 6, BAYLOR 5 (8)
After Kent State took an early 3-0 lead, Baylor fought to tie the score and force extra innings. Hannah Thompson got the scoring started for the Lady Bears in the top of the fourth with a solo home run.
An inning later, Baylor’s offense continued to fight back. After Ana Watson led off the frame with a walk, Andrea Scali re-entered for Kent State. With two outs, Taylor Ellis reached base safely on an error by Scali, and Watson scored. Kassidy Krupit and Nicky Dawson followed with singles up the middle to score Ellis and cut Kent State’s lead to one.
The Lady Bears tied things up in the sixth inning when a double by Watson scored Hannah Smith. Baylor took the lead a few batters later when Goose McGlaun singled to center field to score Watson.
Kent State tied the game up at five in the bottom of the sixth, and after quick work by both defenses, the game went into the eighth inning where the tiebreaker rule was enforced, allowing each team’s leadoff batter for the frame to start on second base. The winning run for Kent State crossed home plate off a single to right center field in the bottom of the eighth inning.
HIGHLIGHTS
Andrea Scali entered Saturday with a 0.00 ERA. After allowing one hit with 12 strikeouts on Friday against North Texas and two hits with 11 strikeouts Saturday afternoon against Baylor, Scali allowed three runs off five hits with three strikeouts in four innings of work against the Lady Bears Saturday evening.
Ana Watson and Hannah Thompson each went 2-for-3 at the plate with one RBI each.
Lou Gilbert and Madi O’Neal were the only Lady Bears to record a hit in each game.
STAT OF THE GAME
2 – Number of home runs Hannah Thompson has hit this weekend.
TOP QUOTE
Glenn Moore on the day…
"Rough outcome. I thought the effort was good this game. We fought like crazy, but the reality is we're not a good team right now. We're not playing to our ability, and we have the ability to be a good team. It's not an effort issue. I'll take the blame and we'll get back to work on some things. I still believe the things that are beating us are things they did when they were 10 and 12 years old. They're just kind of folding under the pressure right now. Repetition and practice are the only things that can turn us around. Tomorrow is a new day, we get another opportunity against a top-10 team. We'd love to be playing for the championship but we have an opportunity to get better.”
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor battles No. 10 Louisiana at 10 a.m. Saturday in the consolation game of the Baylor Invitational at Getterman Stadium.
