BAYLOR BASEBALL: Bears Walk Off West Virginia in Big 12 Opener

[Caton, Rachel]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 23, 2019
BEARS WALK OFF WEST VIRGINIA IN BIG 12 OPENER
Davis Wendzel delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
For more information contact: Rachel Caton, 254-652-2061, Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu<mailto:Rachel_Caton at baylor.edu>

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – It took some bottom of the ninth heroics, but the Bears walked off West Virginia, 6-5, in the Big 12 opener on Friday evening at Baylor Ballpark.

Davis Wendzel waited until the big moment for his first hits of the day, driving home Nick Loftin who reached on a single to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a sac bunt to give the Bears (14-6) the 6-5 victory in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Bears were led on the day by Shea Langeliers, who was 3-for-4 , while Wendzel led the team with two RBIs.

The Bears were down early, as a two-run home run with two outs by Marques Inman in the top of the first put the Mountaineers up early. The Bears answered right back, however, plating two runs of their own, first on an RBI triple by Richard Cunningham and a second on an RBI ground out by Andy Thomas.

The Bears added one more in the bottom of the third on a Nick Loftin sacrifice fly, bringing home Josh Bissonette, who tripled to lead off the inning. The run put the Bears up for the first time on the day, 3-2.

Baylor starter Paul Dickens settled in after his first inning of trouble, and struck out a career-high nine batters in 6.0 innings of work. He put up zeroes in the second, third and fourth before hitting some trouble in the fifth inning. The Mountaineers plated three on a bases-clearing double by Inman, making it a 5-3 ballgame. Dickens put up one more zero before the Bears went to the bullpen. He allowed five runs on six hits, walking two and striking out a career-high nine.

Baylor’s bullpen shut things down for the next three frames, allowing the offense to make the comeback.

Jacob Ashkinos entered first in relief, and got the first two outs of the seventh before giving way to Ryan Leckich, who entered for the lefty-lefty matchup. Leckich ended up throwing 2.0 innings, allowing just 2 hits and striking out two. With two out and one on in the top of the ninth, Kyle Hill entered and got the out to give the Bears the ability to complete the comeback in the bottom half of the inning.

Offensively, the Bears chipped away at the deficit, adding one run in the seventh on a sac fly from Wendzel, making it 5-4, Mountaineers.

In the eighth, Shea Langeliers led off the inning with a single, took second on a balk and a sac bunt by Davion Downey put the game-tying run just 90 feet away with one out. At that point the Bears chased West Virginia’s ace, Alek Manoah, who gave way for reliever Sam Kessler. With two out, Bissonette singled to right to make it a tie ballgame.

In the bottom of the ninth against Kessler, the Bears manufactured the game-winning run. Loftin led things off with a single to right and Cunningham laid down a perfect sac bunt to put the game-winning run in scoring position. Wendzel took the 1-0 offering from Kessler back up the middle to plate the game-winning run.

Baylor reliever Kyle Hill earned the win to improve to 3-0 on the year, while Kessler took the loss for West Virginia, falling to 1-1.




NOTES

*The walk-off victory is the second of the year. First was on Feb. 16 in game one of the double header vs. Holy Cross, 8-5 victory in 10 innings off Bertelsman’s three-run homer.

*Four players had multi-hit nights, with Shea Langeliers leading the way with three hits, followed by Loftin, Cunningham and Bissonette with two apiece.

*Wendzel has now hit safely in 18 of 20 games on the year.

*Downey with HBP for the 10th time this season.

*The Bears have recorded an extra base hit in 19 of 20 games this season.

*Cunningham blasted his third triple of the year.

*Bissonette collected his third triple of the year.

*Langeliers was 2-for-2 in caught stealing attempts on the day, gunning down both. He has thrown out 8-of-9 would-be base stealers on the year.

*Dickens collected a career-high 9 strikeouts on the day.

*Since inserting Nick Loftin in the leadoff spot, the Bears have scored 47 runs on 75 hits in their last seven games. Loftin is 9-for-26 with 3 HR, 5 RBI and 7 runs scored during the stretch. The Bears are 5-2 in such games.

*Cunningham extended his on-base streak to eight games.

*Davion Downey extended his on-base streak to eight games.

*Jacob Ashkinos made his seventh relief appearance of the year.

*Ryan Leckich made his 11th appearance of the year on the mound.

*Kyle Hill made his 10th appearance of the year and earned his third win of the year.

*Dickens made his fourth start of the year and second-straight Friday night start.

*The Bears are now 2-2 in Big 12 opening games during Coach Rodriguez’s tenure and have won the last two.



STAT OF THE DAY
6-5 – The score of tonight’s walk-off victory is the same score as the Bears’ walk-off 11-inning victory over TCU to win the Big 12 Tournament title, the last time the Bears played a Big 12 foe. Fitting that that score is the same as today’s conference opener, where the 2018 Big 12 Tournament title was celebrated and the first 1,000 fans received replica rings.

QUOTES OF THE DAY
On how the team played today…
““I think our guys did a great job just putting the ball in play, making solid contact, we were able to get some free base runners home. Overall we were able to execute offensively today.”
            -Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

On Wendzel’s game-winning single…
“He [Davis Wendzel] has had some really good bats and really good swings most of the night. Put it this way, if he didn’t get it done, I knew there would be a really good swing attached to it.”
-Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez


WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will host West Virginia in game two of the series on Saturday, March 23 at 1:05 p.m. CT. It is Bark at the Park, where fans are welcome to bring their dogs to the ballpark and will receive a special Baylor dog toy.

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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