Omaha – Mike Pankratz’s first hit in almost two months gave Baylor a milestone victory and extended the Bears’ stay at the College World Series.
Pankratz blooped a 10th-inning RBI single over first baseman Andy Jenkins and just out of the reach of second baseman Chris Kunda to give the Bears their first victory in the tournament, 4-3 over Oregon State on Monday.
Coming into the game, Pankratz was batting .193 and his last hit was against Nebraska on April 24.
“That’s quite a slump, huh?” Pankratz said. “But if I had to have a two-month slump and that hit was going to allow us to go farther in the World Series and maybe having a shot at winning it all, that’s fine with me.”
Baylor, 0-5 previously in the CWS, extended its first appearance in 27 years by at least one day.
“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” Baylor coach Steve Smith. “When you have teams that are equally matched, as I think most all of these teams at this event are, the team that’s going to win is the one that gets the most breaks. That’s why we won today.”
Kevin Russo, a former athlete at Fairview High School, went 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored as the Bears (45-23) advanced to a matchup tonight against Tulane.
For the Beavers (46-12), it was a hard-luck ending to their first trip to Omaha since 1952.
Jeff Mandel (4-0) got the win after holding Oregon State to one hit in 4 2/3 innings of relief.
Josh Ford reached base safely leading off the 10th against Kevin Gunderson (6-4) after Beavers shortstop Darwin Barney couldn’t field a high-bouncing grounder. Ford advanced to second on a sacrifice before Reid Brees singled through the left side of the infield to put runners on first and third.
Pankratz, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, then hit an 0-1 pitch off the handle, with the ball coming to rest barely in the outfield grass.
“It’s tough to give up a hit and lose a ball game on a 50-foot single that’s floating in the air, but Jenkins couldn’t do anything about it,” Gunderson said. “I guess I would rather have had someone hit it over the scoreboard than give up a hit like that.”
Texas 5, Tulane 0
The Longhorns, riding the strong pitching of Kyle McCulloch (11-4), set a record with their 75th CWS victory.
In its fourth consecutive and record 32nd appearance overall at the CWS, Texas (53-16) passed Southern California’s mark of 74 victories.
Texas advances to a Wednesday night game against the winner of tonight’s Tulane-Baylor elimination game.
