WACO, Texas — After erasing a four-run deficit, West Virginia allowed the go-ahead run to score on a throwing error by Jackson Cramer in a 5-4 loss at Baylor on Friday night.
Taylor Munden, Justin Fox and KC Huth had two hits each for the Mountaineers (9-9, 1-3 Big 12), who stranded 10 baserunners, including the potential tying run in the ninth.
Logan Brown had a two-run single for Baylor (8-13, 0-1), which had lost 11 of its last 12 games including a sweep at TCU last weekend.
“It wasn’t played all that great,” West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. “Errors by both teams cost each team some runs. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes that we usually don’t make.”
After Aaron Dodson’s RBI single in the first, the Bears made it 4-0 in the second inning against WVU starter Connor Dotson (0-2). Logan singled home two runs through a drawn-in infield and Duncan Wendel added a sacrifice fly.
Dotson regained command long enough for West Virginia to tie the score in the top of the sixth, but Darryn Sheppard’s leadoff bunt single created trouble in the bottom half. Dotson left after five-plus innings, allowing eight hits and five runs, three earned.
After Shane Ennis relieved for WVU, Kameron Esthay bunted over Sheppard. Steven McLean followed with a ground-out to third and Sheppard tried to advance, drawing a wild across-the-diamond throw from Cramer.
The Mountaineers didn’t do much against Baylor’s bullpen combo of Joe Kirkland (3-1), who tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and Sean Spicer, who struck out two batters in the ninth for his third save.
“We just got to where we were swing-happy and late in the game we swung at a lot of pitches out of the zone,” Mazey said. “That’s probably the way to pitch to us. If you pitch to us in the zone we’re going to hit it, if you pitch out of the zone we’re pretty aggressive.”
Trailing 4-0, Munden doubled to open the third and scored on Brad Johnson’s single against Bears starter Daniel Castano.
Shaun Corso’s sac-fly and RBI singles by Munden and Huth knotted the game in the sixth.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m., with the Mountaineers sending Ross Vance (2-1) up against Baylor’s Austin Stone (0-2). The game will be broadcast on FOX College Sports.