Staying alive was the name of the game in Bricktown on Friday afternoon and that's exactly what Baylor did. The Bears overcame an early 1-0 deficit and then scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to send West Virginia packing.
Billy Fleming sent a solo home run over the left field fence to put the Mountaineers up 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Baylor's Brett Doe would return the favor in the top of the fourth when he sent the ball down the line and over the fence to tie the game. In the fifth Aaron Dodson went yard to put the Bears up 2-1.
The Mountaineers would tie the game back up in the bottom of the sixth when Taylor Munden scored the first non-home run score of the game when he came home on a Bobby Boyd sacrifice to right field. With just three innings remaining, and the season hanging in the balance, Baylor made their move as West Virginia's pitching faltered.
The Bears took advantage of two WVU errors and scored five runs in the seventh, off of three hits, to put some distance between them and the Mountaineers. They then iced the game in the bottom of the eighth when Logan Brown knocked a two-RBI triple to bring up the final score of 9-4.
Brown ended up 3-for-5 from the plate on the afternoon, with two RBI, while Baylor starter Nick Lewis fanned five batters.
The Bears will now face TCU at 9:00 on Saturday morning. They must beat the Horned Frogs twice on Saturday (second game would be at 4:00) in order to advance to Sunday's championship.