Baseball Outlasts Sam Houston State 4-2 in 12 Innings

Tuesday, April 10

Huntsville, Texas

6:30 PM

Baylor

15-16

Sam Houston State

23-9

Baylor

Sam Houston State

Baseball Outlasts Sam Houston State 4-2 in 12 Innings

4/10/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 10, 2018

Final Stats

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

With the bullpen throwing seven straight scoreless innings and twice stranding the winning run on third base, Baylor baseball (15-16) snapped a three-game losing skid and defeated Sam Houston State, 4-2, in 12 innings Tuesday night in Huntsville.

Freshman Davion Downey drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and then brought home the go-ahead run in the 12th with a two-out RBI single through the right side that plated Davis Wendzel after a pair of walks.

"I was just trying to stay back. Honestly, I was just trying to score Davis," said Downey, who struck out looking in the 10th with a chance to push across a run. "It was a tough situation. All of us have been struggling with the bats. I guess it just woke up and snuck through a hole and Davis scored."

Closer Troy Montemayor (1-1) worked around a single and walk in the 11th, striking out pinch-hitter Josh Biles with the winning run on third, then worked a clean 1-2-3 12th to nail down the victory. Baylor was swept in its last two Big 12 series and had lost seven of eight going into Tuesday's game.

"It's a testament to these guys that they have not given up," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "As a coach, those are things that make you proud is when there's a never-give-up attitude, just keep the energy going. As long as we're playing, we still have a chance to win. That was really fun to watch."

Baylor got a good start out of freshman Tyler Thomas, who gave up just one run on two hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings. But, it was the bullpen that proved to be the difference.

The Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Downey followed up hits by Andy Thomas and Shea Langeliers with a sac fly to right.

Sam Houston (23-9) struck back with two runs in the fifth on back-to-back, two-out RBI singles by Ben Haefner and Hunter Hearn off reliever Joe Heineman after Thomas issued his fourth walk of the game.

Over the last seven innings, the bullpen gave up just four hits and two walks while striking out 10. The Bearcats threatened in the 10th when Darien Simms led off with a walk and moved to third on a pair of groundouts, but Kyle Hill struck out Hearn.

"Just a great testament to our bullpen," Rodriguez said. "They came in and just shut the door down and did a phenomenal job in some white-knuckle situations. It allowed our offense to continue to scrape and claw and then fight for that hit."

Trailing 2-1, the Bears came through with the tying run in the eighth, when pinch-hitter Levi Gilcrease led off with an infield single, moved up to second on a wild pitch and scored on Thomas' two-out RBI single to center.

Baylor loaded the bases in the ninth when reliever Kyle Backhus hit two batters and walked Nick Loftin, but Richard Cunningham struck out to leave the runners stranded.

In the 12th, Wendzel and Langeliers walked to put the go-ahead runner in scoring position, then Downey came through with the winning hit off Colin Cameron (1-1).

"You have another at-bat," Downey said. "Just keep being on time with your swing and eventually it will fall into place."

The Bears wrap up a season-long, seven-game road trip with a three-game series this weekend at Memphis (10-23), which finishes a two-game series at Arkansas State with a 6:30 p.m. game Wednesday in Jonesboro, Ark.

THE RUNDOWN
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Baylor baseball fought hard for a 4-2 win in 12 innings over Sam Houston State on Tuesday evening at Sanders Stadium. The Bears (15-16) scored in the eighth and 12th innings to take down the Bearkats (23-9).

BU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning after an Andy Thomas single and Shea Langeliers double led to sacrifice fly by Davion Downey. However, SHSU bounced back in the fifth with two runs on a walk, error and two hits.

The Bears knotted the game in the eighth, though. Levi Gilcrease led off with a pinch-hit single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Following an intentional walk to Davis Wendzel, Thomas singled up the middle to tie the game.

Each team then exchanged close calls on taking the lead. Baylor had a runner on second in the ninth with no outs, Sam Houston State had a runner on second in the 10th with one out and a runner on second in the 11th with one out, but both bullpens got the tough outs.

In the 12th, Wendzel walked with one out and Langeliers walked with two outs. Then Downey roped a single through the right side to put the Bears up 3-2. Cole Haring followed with a grounder to third that was mishandled to let Langeliers score to add to the edge that stood.

BU reliever Troy Montemayor (1-1) earned the win, giving up a hit and walk with two strikeouts in two innings. SHSU reliever Colin Cameron (1-1) took the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on a hit and two walks with two strikeouts in one inning.

NOTES
*Baylor is 22-10 in midweek games under third-year head coach Steve Rodriguez with a 14-9 home mark and 8-1 road record. BU is 5-2 in 2018 (2-2 at home, 3-0 on road).

*Baylor played its longest game since also playing 12 innings in a 3-2 loss at Texas Tech on April 11, 2015.

*Baylor won its longest game since a 10-8 win vs. Kansas State in 13 innings on March 29, 2013.

*Baylor played its second extra innings game of the season and is 1-1 in those games. BU is 1-2 in extras under third-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.

*Baylor is 1-3 on its current season-long, seven-game road trip.

*Baylor is 3-8 on the road overall and 0-6 in Big 12 play this season.

*Davis Wendzel has reached base in a career-high 20 straight games.

*Davion Downey has reached base in six straight games as he notched his fifth multi-RBI game of the season (2).

*Josh Bissonette has reached base in four straight games.

*T.J. Raguse has a three-game hitting streak.

*Andy Thomas had his team-high ninth multi-hit game of the season (2).

*Levi Gilcrease had his first multi-hit game of the season (2).

STAT OF THE GAME
7 -- The amount of shutout relief innings provided by Baylor's bullpen: Joe Heineman (1), Alex Phillips (1), Drew Robertson (2), Kyle Hill (1) and Troy Montemayor (2).

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"It's been frustrating because we've been playing hard and things haven't gone our way lately. It hasn't been due to a lack of effort or determination. Today was a great testament to our bullpen. The energy in our dugout was phenomenal and that's hard to do in a long game like this. Credit Sam Houston State as well. They are a really good team and this was just a good baseball game tonight." -- Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears head to Memphis for a non-conference weekend series against the Tigers this weekend with games at 6:30 p.m. CT Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. For tickets to home games, visit: http://www.baylorbears.com/tickets/. For updates on the program follow @baylorbaseball on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

-BU-