with a home run as No. 8 Baylor rallied to defeat Prairie View A&M 4-3 Wednesday night at Baylor Ballpark. This was the first-ever meeting between Baylor (26-14) and Prairie View A&M (25-22) in baseball.Prairie View A&M led 2-1 entering the bottom of the fifth. Michael Griffin led off with a double down the line in left, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Kyle Reynolds sacrifice fly. In the sixth, the Bears took the lead with a run on two hits. Mike Pankratz led off with a double to right-center and then scored on a Kevin Sevigny single to right.
Baylor added an insurance run in the seventh on a Zach Dillon first-and-third bunt single that scored Reynolds, who walked to lead off the inning. That run proved to be the difference as Jabari Wimbs doubled to lead off the top of the ninth and later scored on a Marcus Crockett groundout.
After hitting the next batter, Baylor reliever Tyler Bullock got Anton Daley to ground out to shortstop Paul Witt, ending the rally and notching his first save of the season.
Freshman right-hander Randall Linebaugh, the third of four Baylor pitchers on the night, earned the victory. Linebaugh (1-0) allowed two hits and no walks with a career-high five strikeouts in 4.0 scoreless innings. Sean Walker started for the Bears but lasted only 2.2 innings; he allowed one run on one hit and walked three with two strikeouts. Andy Pape pitched the next 1.1 innings and was touched for one run on two hits and three walks with one strikeout.
Baylor took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Josh Ford ripped a 2-1 Terry Salter offering over the wall just to the left of the batter’s eye in center for his fifth home run of the season.
That lead stood until the third when the Panthers scored a run without the benefit of a hit. After Walker hit Anthony Dickson and walked Crockett with two outs, Pape issued walks to the first two batters he faced to score a run. Prairie View A&M took a 2-1 lead in the fourth as Bryan Gonzalez doubled down the line in right and later scored on a Dickson RBI single.
Joshua Terrell (3-3) suffered the loss for the Panthers, allowing one run on two hits in 1.0 innings of relief. The Panthers used four pitchers on the night and each allowed one run.
Kevin Sevigny matched Ford’s night, also going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a double. Griffin extended his hitting streak to five games.