Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Baylor
Tech Baseball Beats Baylor 6-5, Wins Series
May 13, 2001 | Baseball
May 13, 2001
WACO, Texas - Paul Thorp walked in the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to give the Texas Tech Red Raiders a 6-5 win over the Baylor Bears on Sunday afternoon at the Baylor Ballpark in front of 3,205 fans.
The win clinches the No. 2 seed for Texas Tech (39-16-1, 19-10-1) in next week's Big 12 Tournament and will be the highest seeding since Tech was the No. 1 seed in 1997 after winning the regular season championship. Texas Tech will face the Oklahoma Sooners at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in the first game of the tournament. The Sooners will be the No. 7 seed after losing a weekend series to Oklahoma State.
Baylor drew first blood in the game thanks to a two-run homer by center fielder Chris Durbin that gave the Bears an early 2-0 lead. Mike Huggins, who came into the game hitting .714 over the series, hit a solo home run to give the Bears a 3-0 lead going into the top of the second.
Texas Tech responded with four runs of its own thanks to a three-RBI double by freshman left fielder Brent Fossum and an RBI single by Kerry Hodges. Tech put up another run in the top of the fourth on an RBI sacrifice by Fossum that plated Austin Cranford.
Baylor, who scored all their runs on homer runs, got solo homers from Matt Williams in the bottom of the fourth and David Murphy in the seventh. Baylor pitcher Paul Thorp walked home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning when he issued the free pass to shortstop Gera Alvarez plating Austin Cranford. Baylor elected to load the bases by putting Jason Rainey on first to set up the double play but Thorp was unable to hold up Baylor's end of the deal giving Tech a lead heading into the bottom of the inning.
Senior Blake McGinley (3-3) picked up his third win of the season by retiring three of the final four batters on strikeouts including the game winning strikeout of Baylor standout Kelly Shoppach.
Note: Texas Tech has won the conference series with all three Texas Big 12 schools for the first time since 1994.
