By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
FORT WORTH, Texas - Manufactured runs and a tough-minded pitching performance kept Baylor's baseball season alive.
The Bears eliminated Arizona - the team it lost to in Friday's opening game - with a 4-2, come-from-behind effort Sunday in the NCAA Fort Worth Regional. Baylor will place top-seed TCU at 7 p.m. Sunday. Should the Bears win that game, the regional title will be decided at 6 p.m. Monday.
Senior Willie Kempf said a week ago that he "couldn't pitch any better" as he blanked Texas A&M on three hits over seven innings in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship title game. Against the Wildcats, five of the first nine hitters hit safely, one was retired on a sparkling diving stop by second baseman Raynor Campbell and another on a sacrifice bunt.
So Kempf wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders. Instead of making the longest outing of his carreer, it didn't appear he would last past the third inning.
"I was fortunate we got out of the first couple of innings without getting hurt too badly, said Kempf, who allowed a two-run double by Alex Mejia, the No. 9 hitter in the Arizona lineup. "After that, I settled settled down and my arm got loose."
Kempf relies on his cut fast ball but he wasn't sharp with that pitch. He and catcher Gregg Glime started relying on the fast ball and using the cutter after getting ahead in the count. As the game progressed, Kempf's command of his cutter improved and Glime called a masterful game.
Arizona's Tyler Hale, making his first start of the season, was "effectively wild." Through the first six innings, Baylor had 10 fly outs.
"We didn't know what he was gonna throw," said Logan Vick, who had Baylor's only run-scoring hit - a single in the eighth that drove in the Bears' final run. "Willie was pitching his guts out and for him to keep 'em at two runs gave us some confidence. We're trying to play small ball."
More like tiny ball. Baylor's first run came via a single, a steal and two fly balls. The second from shortstop Landis Ware plated Max Muncy. The Bears tied it in the eighth when Vick walked, stole second and advanced to third on a ground out.
Campell, who had left five runners on base in three previous at bats, struck out … on a wild pitch that bounded near the Baylor dugout. Vick scored to tie it at 2-all.
In the eighth, Glime was hit by a pitch. A sacrifice, an intentional walk and an infield error created a bases loaded situation for Ware. His fly ball to right scored pinch runner Chris Slater. Vick's single made it 4-2.
Kempf allowed a lead off single in the ninth and was replaced by center fielder/closer Brooks Pinckard. After a strikeout, Arizona's Robert Refsnyder hit a double play grounder to Campbell at second, who took the ball off his lower lip … but it rolled to Ware for a force out. The final hitter lined out to center.
"We had a couple of really timely breaks," Baylor coach Steve Smith said, noting Campbell's strikeout that produced a run and his fat lip assist in the ninth. "The ball comes off his mouth and rolls right to the shortstop … We got a couple of lucky bounces."