BAYLOR BASEBALL : No. 17 Bears Drop Series Opener to Oklahoma, 7-5

[Caton, Rachel]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 12, 2019

No. 17 BEARS DROP SERIES OPENER TO OKLAHOMA, 7-5
The Bears battled back from a six-run deficit to bring the game-tying run to the plate.
For more information contact: Rachel Caton, 254-652-2061, Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu<mailto:Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu>


THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – The No. 17 Bears battled back from a six-run deficit in the fifth inning to bring the game-tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Bears were unable to complete the comeback, falling 7-5 to visiting Oklahoma in game one of the series on Friday evening.

The Bears (22-10, 6-3 Big 12) also outhit their opponent for the second-straight contest, but were unable to get the big hit to break things open. Overall, the Bears collected nine hits to Oklahoma’s seven on the day.

Offensively, the Bears were led by Shea Langeliers, who launched his second home run of the year , along with Cole Haring, who also had two hits on the day.

On the mound the Bears were hurt by leadoff or one-out walks, as all three came around to score. The defense also had two uncharacteristic errors.

Starter Jimmy Winston was not his usual sharp self, allowing five runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts in three-innings of work. Tyler Thomas followed and had the longest relief appearance of the season, finishing with 2 runs (1 earned) on 1 hit with three walks and four strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Hayden Kettler put up two zeroes in his first outing out of the pen this year. Daniel Caruso closed things down for the Bears in the ninth to keep things close for the offense.

The Bears struck first, as Chase Wehsener delivered a sac fly in the bottom of the second inning.

However, the Sooners (26-10, 6-4 Big 12) answered with a big five-run inning, as the they plated five runs on four hits/

Leading 5-1 after the third, the Sooners took advantage of a one-out walk and a leadoff walk in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, bringing home another one in each inning, making it 7-1 Sooners.

The Bears were not going to go down easily, however, and cut into the lead after a two-run Langeliers home run pulled the Bears within four, 7-3. The Bears chased Oklahoma’s starter, Cade Cavalli with one out in the sixth.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Bears once again cut into the lead off reliever Zack Matthews. The Bears took advantage of two passed balls and a wild pitch after a leadoff single to plate one run and added a second on an RBI single from Nick Loftin, pulling the Bears within two.

In the top of the ninth, with one on and one out, the Bears went to the pen for Daniel Caruso, who dialed up a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning, giving the Bears a shot in the bottom half.

Andy Thomas delivered a one-out RBI double and the Bears were in business, as the game-tying run came to the plate against Oklahoma’s closer, Jason Ruffcorn. However, Ruffcorn got back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

NOTES
*Shea Langeliers blasted his second homer of the year, this time a two-run shot.

*The first seven batters in the lineup each had at least one hit on the day.

*For the second-straight game the Bears outhit their opponent, but were not able to get the big hit to break open the game.

*Langeliers and Cole Haring led the way with two hits apiece, while Langeliers drove in a team-high two runs.

*Nick Loftin had 1 RBI on the day, as did Chase Wehsener.

*Jimmy Winston made his fifth start of the year. This outing was his shortest, going 3.0 innings, allowing 5 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.

*Tyler Thomas made his eighth appearance of the year and third out of the pen. It was his longest relief outing as he went 3.0 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 1 hit with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts.

*Hayden Kettler made his sixth appearance of the year and first out of the pen and was effective, throwing 2.1 shutout innings, scattering 2 hits.

*Daniel Caruso made his 16th appearance of the year, throwing 0.2 innings with 1 strikeout.

*Langeliers, A. Thomas and Mack Mueller each drew two walks apiece, tying their season-most walks in a game.

*All three leadoff or one-out walks on the day came around to score. Those represented 3-of-5 walks issued on the day.


*Since inserting Nick Loftin<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=49> in the leadoff spot on March 10, the Bears have scored 129 runs on 215 hits in their last 19 games. Loftin is 30-for-83 with 5 HR, 19 RBI and 20 runs scored during the stretch. The Bears are 13-6 in such games.

*Nick Loftin extended his season-long on-base streak to 19 games.

*Davis Wendzel extended his on-base streak to 13 games.


STAT OF THE DAY
9 – The Bears outhit Oklahoma on the day, besting their 7 hits with 9.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
On tonight’s game…
"I thought the whole game we were having really good bats, we hit some balls hard and had some unlucky lineouts. Shea [Langeliers] comes up, it’s a hard ball down the line and their guy just makes a great play. You know, you have to tip your hat to them at some point. I thought our guys did a great job at being patient, putting the ball in play and playing hard. The biggest issue was we made a couple of errors that ended up costing us a couple of runs and the lead off walks didn’t really help us either.”
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears and Sooners meet up for game two of the series at 3:05 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 13 at Baylor Ballpark.

For tickets to home games, visit: https://baylorbears.com/sports/2018/9/11/tickets.aspx. For updates on the program follow @baylorbaseball on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.



-baylorbears.com-



___________________________________
Rachel Caton | Associate Sports Information Director
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-3784
C: 254-652-2061

[cid:image001.png at 01D3533B.25DEF160]<http://www.baylorbears.com/>


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