Baylor Baseball Tops No. 21 TCU, 7-3, in Series Finale

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 20, 2022

Baylor BSB Tops No. 21 TCU, 7-3, in Series Finale
Bears salvage weekend set with 14-hit performance
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (10-9, 1-2) salvaged its series against No. 21 TCU (14-5, 2-1) by winning a 7-3 ballgame at Baylor Ballpark on Sunday.

The Bears’ offense stayed hot, racking up 14 hits and scoring in five different innings to claim victory in the series finale.

BU put the first run of the game on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single by Chase Wehsener. The Bears followed it up with two more in the bottom of the second, as Jack Pineda singled home a run and later scored with an eye-popping slide on Tre Richardson’s base hit.

A 3-0 lead was all Will Rigney needed, as he matched his career high with 5.1 innings of scoreless work, allowing just two hits and notching five strikeouts in collecting his first collegiate win. The Baylor offense added another run in the bottom of the fifth after Richardson doubled and crossed the plate following two wild pitches.

A sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh put TCU on the scorecard, but BU was quick to respond with two runs in the bottom half as Wehsener tallied his second RBI of the day and Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo followed suit with a sacrifice fly.

Back-to-back solo homers for the Frogs in the top of the eighth cut the Baylor lead to 6-3, but the Bears tacked on an insurance run in their turn at the plate as Richardson once again doubled in Pineda.

In the ninth, Hambleton Oliver came on to shut things down and picked up his first-career save in the win.

NOTES
• Baylor improved to 11-10 against TCU under seventh-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
• BU gathered its fifth win of the season against a ranked opponent.
• The Bears followed up a season-high 17-hit game with 14 in the series finale, their second-highest output of 2022.
• This was Baylor’s seventh game of the year with double-digit hits. The Bears have done so in three of their last four ballgames and four of their last six.
• BU tied a season-high with four extra-base hits as a team.
• Will Rigney earned his first-career win, matching a career-high with 5.1 scoreless innings and five strikeouts.
• Hambleton Oliver got the save, the first of his career.
• Jack Pineda posted his ninth multi-hit game of the season, a team high. He has recorded two hits in five of his last six games.
• Pineda also collected two stolen bases, adding to his team high of eight on the year.
• Tre Richardson tallied his seventh multi-hit and fourth multi-RBI game. He also tied a career high with two doubles.
• Chase Wehsener recorded his fourth multi-RBI game of the year. He has driven in four runs over his last four games.
• Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo notched his fourth multi-hit game of 2022, while Harrison Caley delivered his third multi-hit effort.

STAT OF THE GAME
4 – Baylor salvaged its weekend series against No. 21 TCU with a four-run win and produced four extra-base hits in the game, matching a team-best in 2022.

TOP QUOTES
Head coach Steve Rodriguez
On the continued offensive production…
“How about it, even after the frustration of yesterday, to get right back in and watch the offense continue to pound the baseball and continue to work the basepaths and executing, that was just really fun to watch. You could just tell our guys were playing with a lot of freedom, a lot of excitement, and the hard work has paid off. I know they’ve been frustrated early. They’re wanting to put up a lot of great numbers and do a lot of great things, and I think that once you hit rock bottom you need to get back to basics. That’s just what they’ve done. You can see the reaction on the basepaths and on the field has really paid off for them.”

Sophomore RHP Will Rigney
On getting a late strikeout to cap off his outing…
“It was huge. I think it was [TCU’s Brayden] Taylor that I struck out, and he’s a great hitter. I got him out twice on a slide. Me and Coach Strauss were both on the same page. Wanted to throw the slider again. I think he’s one of, if not the best, pitch callers in the country. It felt like we were on the same page all day.

Junior INF Jack Pineda
On his impressive slide to score a run…
“Yeah, I thought I got in there. You know, I’m just trying to fight for every run. Instincts took over, I guess. I don’t practice that. Just don’t get tagged, that’s the only thing that’s on my mind. I think there are some pretty cool pictures.”

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor (10-9) welcomes UTSA (12-7) to Baylor Ballpark on Tuesday, March 22, for a midweek contest at 6:30 p.m. CT.

For the latest news on the Baylor baseball team all season long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.

-BaylorBears.com-


__________________________________

Max Calderone | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (BSB, FB, EQ)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_1620964394]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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