Baylor baseball (18-35) claimed its series-opening contest against CSU Bakersfield (18-29) Thursday night at Baylor Ballpark, 10-3.

Junior RHP Grant Golomb turned in a career-best relief outing, going five innings without allowing a run and striking out five to tie his career high.

The Bears took advantage of some CSUB miscues and scored four runs on wild pitches and passed balls. Another four runs crossed the plate via either a sacrifice fly or RBI fielder's choice, while sophomore C Cortlan Castle's two-run single was the only RBI hit on the night for BU.

THE RUNDOWN
Baylor wasted no time in getting on the board, as the 'Runners' starter walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, setting up a run-scoring passed ball and RBI sac fly from redshirt freshman OF Gavin Brzozowski.

After a two-run homer tied it for Bakersfield in the top of the second, the Bears responded with a pair of runs of their own in the bottom half, including sophomore INF Hunter Teplanszky's RBI fielder's choice and a sacrifice fly from freshman INF Kolby Branch that made it 4-2.

The Roadrunners pulled within one thanks to an RBI single in the top of the fourth, but it would be all zeros the rest of the way for the visitors as Golomb came on and retired the first 11 he faced.

BU broke it open with a three-spot in the sixth, thanks in part to two run-scoring wild pitches and another sacrifice fly, this time from redshirt freshman INF Jack Johnson. Another three runs in the seventh put the game out of reach, as Castle knocked in a pair and another wild pitch plated BU's 10th run of the night.

Golomb was nails the rest of the way, having only allowed one hit and later worked around a pair of walks in the ninth to collect his third win of the season.

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (18-35) returns to face CSU Bakersfield (18-29) in Friday's game two, set to begin at 6:30 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark in Waco.