Texas baseball sweeps Baylor as Ivan Melendez continues to feast on opposing pitching

To Baylor's credit, the Bears didn't avoid Ivan Melendez.

Five times on Sunday, Melendez stepped into the batter's box at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. And five times, Baylor pitched to the Texas slugger.

More often than naught, that decision didn't pay off for the Bears. Melendez went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and three runs scored in the Longhorns' 13-4 win. Two of his hits were home runs.

Those big swings helped No. 10 Texas (30-13, 9-6 Big 12) finish off the series sweep of Baylor.

"We lost a few to Tech, Kansas State — we had to get back on board," Melendez said. "That was definitely much needed."

Melendez's two-run blast in the first inning, which gave Texas a 2-1 advantage, nearly hit a moving truck that was driving on the street beyond the left field fence. And Melendez's solo shot in the sixth put Texas up 10-4.

Melendez now has 21 homers on the season. Only Kyle Russell (who hit 28 homers in 2007) and Kody Clemens (24 in 2018) have hit more homers in a single season at Texas.

"I get a bunch of ats on Twitter, Instagram, everybody sending me all these crazy stats of Longhorn history, Kyle Russell and stuff like that," said Melendez, who's also hitting .401 with 61 RBIs. "I just try not to pay mind to it. Our main focus is to win and that's what I try to do every day."

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Despite all of his accomplishments, Melendez has not been intentionally walked once this season. On Sunday, he saw 14 pitches from four different pitchers.

His first-inning blast occurred with a teammate on first base, but that base was open when he singled in two runs in the fourth inning and homered in the sixth. In the eighth, a wild pitch on a 2-1 offering to Melendez moved UT runners to second and third base. Baylor kept attacking before Melendez eventually drew a full-count walk.

So why do teams keep throwing to him? Melendez has been surprised to see some pitches, but he added that "I'm not Babe Ruth, I'm just a normal college guy."

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He noted that it doesn't hurt to have Murphy Stehly hitting behind him in the cleanup spot. Stehly hit his 12th home run of the season on Sunday, and his .408 average would be tied for fifth place in the UT record books if the season ended today.

"If I'm hitting well, then he's going to get his pitches and obviously he can do a lot of damage," Stehly said.

Texas coach David Pierce noted that the Longhorns are also getting production out of the second (Austin Todd), fifth (Silas Ardoin) and sixth (Skyler Messinger) spots in the lineup. Ardoin is hitting .314 with eight home runs.

"Now you look at Murph, you just can't pitch around Ivan to get to him, and Silas is just as hot," Pierce said. "It's one of the best three-four-fives that I've seen in awhile."

Texas scored 46 runs over the course of its weekend sweep. Melendez homered four times. Messinger, Ardoin and Douglas Hodo III each went deep twice. Stehly, Todd, Trey Faltine and Kimble Schuessler all clubbed one baseball over the fence.

Texas now has 78 home runs this season. The school record is 81.

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Key play: Trailing 9-2, Baylor (20-20, 4-11) scored twice in the sixth inning and chased Texas starter Lucas Gordon and reliever Jared Southard from the game. With two outs and the bases loaded, Pierce called for Luke Harrison to face Jack Pineda.

That set up a matchup between a left-handed arm and a left-handed bat. Pineda took a good hack at a 1-2 pitch from Harrison, but Dylan Campbell ran down the fly ball at the left field wall.

Notable number: 2. Baylor scored two of its runs on passed balls charged to Ardoin. Gordon, who threw both of the pitches that got away, still earned the win. He allowed five hits and three earned runs over 5⅓ innings.

Up next: Texas (30-13) will travel to Edinburg on Tuesday for a game against Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Earlier this month, the Longhorns beat UTRGV by eight runs in Austin.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Ivan Melendez's two homers help Longhorns pound Baylor, sweep series