WACO, Texas — Columbia Baseball (4-5 0-0 IVY) used an offensive explosion of 10 unanswered runs over the final five innings to notch an 11-4 win in the second game of a doubleheader at Baylor (8-6 0-0 BIG 12), which they split with the Bears, dropping the first game 3-0 in the opening game of the weekend series at Baylor Ballpark.
 
The win was Columbia's first against Baylor and first against a BIG 12 opponent in program history.
 
Columbia's offensive output in the second game came from a 2-4 4 RBI night by Tyler MacGregor and a 2-5 1 HR 2 RBI performance from Hayden Schott.  Columbia was able to pad its lead over the five innings thanks to outstanding pitching from Saajan May (1-0), who threw 5.1 innings only giving up three hits and no runs after coming into the game in the third inning to eventually get his first win of the season.
 
"It was a nice bounce back game after being shutout and the team showed a lot of resilience," said head coach Brett Boretti.  "We had a real good comeback in game two after being down early.
 
"Saajan May pitched very well and gave our offense a chance to climb back into the game and the offense did a real good job adding onto the lead after we grabbed it.  The defense continues to be very steady as we made only one error in 18 innings today. 
 
"We are excited to get back to the park tomorrow and try to a win series."
 
Overall, in both games, Columbia got solid pitching and in the first game Sean Higgins (1-2), despite taking the loss, gave the Lions five quality innings and Brandon Madrigal added three scoreless innings to keep Columbia in that game.  But the strong pitching of Baylor's Tyler Thomas kept Columbia's bats quiet during the opening game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 1): Higgins took the bump to start the game, and he would battle for five innings, giving up a pair of runs in the first and one in the third.  Those runs came on a fielder's choice RBI and an RBI single to right in the first and an RBI single up the middle in the third.
 
After those opening three frames, Higgins kept Baylor from adding to its lead and would give way to Madrigal in the sixth.  Mardrigal, who was coming off a scoreless 2.0 innings pitched at Davidson in his previous outing, put together another scoreless outing, putting up a solid line of 3.0 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 K.
 
Madrigal's work out of the pen kept Columbia in the game, but in this game the Columbia bats were kept silent by Baylor's Thomas.  The Baylor lefty put up a line of 8.0 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 7 K and kept Columbia off balance all day with a terrific breaking ball and fastball to counter it.
 
The great outing from Thomas meant that despite Columbia's great pitching for eight innings, the Lions couldn't mount a comeback and dropped the opening game, 3-0.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME 2): Shortly after the conclusion of the opening game, Joe Sheets took the bump to start the second game of the doubleheader.  The Bears would get to Sheets early, scoring two in the second and two more in the third, before May came in to shut the door with two outs in the third.
 
May, the eventual winning pitcher, would go on to toss five plus scoreless innings, allowing the Columbia bats to take over the show.
 
Columbia did score a run in the third, thanks to a leadoff single from Griffin Palfrey.  Palfrey would eventually come around to score on an Andy Blake RBI double, but after four innings of play the Bears held a 4-1 lead, a lead they would lose over the next five innings.
 
Palfrey again led off the inning with a hit, this time he took the first pitch he saw into center field for a leadoff double to set the table.  Miles Blackwell, who started behind the plate for the second game, smacked a single of his own in the next at-bat to put runners on the corners with no outs to open the frame.
 
Blake would draw a walk to load the bags and up to the plate strolled MacGregor.  Due for a big hit, MacGregor delivered smashing a one out three RBI double to center field to clear the bases and tie the score at 4-4.
 
In the sixth, the Lions would take the lead thanks to another double, this time from Anton Lazits who smacked one down the left field line.  He would be plated by an RBI single from Skye Selinsky and it put the score at 6-5 in favor of the Lions.
 
Columbia would blow the score open and take control of the game in the seventh, scoring four runs on three hits and it got started by a Jacob Phelps single up the middle.  He would advance to second on a wild pitch and eventually come around to score on another MacGregor RBI double.
 
Baylor would go to the bullpen and bring in a fresh arm, but the new Bears pitcher could not slow down the offensive onslaught that the Lions had begun. 
 
With MacGregor on second and a walk from Cole Hage, up stepped Schott and he would smash one between second and first and into right field.  Baylor's rightfielder would allow the ball to scoot under his glove and with Schott on his giddy up from out of the box he, along with MacGregor and Hage, would come around the score. 
 
Schott got an RBI on the hit, as his run and Hage's runs were ruled to have scored on the error by the Baylor rightfielder, but the damage had been done regardless and the Lions now held a commanding 9-4 lead heading into the final two frames.
 
The Lions would add two more runs over the final two innings, with the final run coming from a Schott solo home run to center acting as a cherry on top to Columbia's solid comeback win and dominating pitching performance that earned them an 11-4 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
 
GAME NOTES: Columbia scored 10 or more runs for the first time since May 1, 2019 … For the first time since Apr. 21, 2019 the Lions had at least five doubles in a game … This was the second game that MacGregor had at least two RBIs in a game, finishing with four … Over his last two outings, Madrigal has thrown five scoreless innings giving up only two hits … May's last two outings have gone for a combined 8.1 innings pitched giving up zero runs over that stretch … Over the last five games, the Lions have only committed three errors.
 
UP NEXT: Columbia will look to take the weekend series tomorrow, Sunday, Mar. 13, when they take the field against Baylor with first pitch at Baylor Ballpark set for 4 p.m. EST.
 
FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Baseball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsBaseball), Instagram (@culionsbaseball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).