Baylor
28-17
Prairie View A&M
13-35
Baseball Posts Second Straight Run-Rule Win vs. PVAMU
5/9/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
This was not the way Jay Goble and the Baylor women's golf team wanted to go out.
But, with two of his five players making a hospital emergency room trip in the middle of the night before Wednesday's final round, "I would be lying if I didn't say my first thought was that we were going to have to forfeit today and that we were not going to have a chance to go because two of our players weren't going to be able to finish," the Baylor coach said.
From 3 a.m. until freshman Diane Baillieux teed off at 9 a.m. at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, "that was about the only thing I was thinking about. Frustration starts to kick in, because you think that they don't deserve this. They don't deserve to finally be playing their best golf at the end of the year and not get a chance to go to nationals because of a stupid 24-hour bug."
That was exactly the fate facing the Bears as junior Maria Vesga was forced to withdraw after seven holes and then sophomore Fiona Liddell started feeling the effects of the virus at about the same time. Baillieux, who made the ER visit with Vesga and got back to the hotel at 6 a.m., said she "started to become whiter and whiter" as she made the turn to the back nine.
At one point, Goble told his freshman golfer, "Hey, if you've got to go in, nobody's going to be mad at you." With all the determination she could muster, Baillieux said, "I will never quit!"
Not only did Baillieux not quit, she carded an even-par 72 and helped the 35th-ranked Baylor women advance to the NCAA Championship for the third time in four years. The Bears shot even-par 288 for the day and tied for third with 14th-ranked Florida and No. 19 Auburn at 5-over 869.
"I think my team is underestimated a lot," Goble said. "But, I think they're fighters and they're good at golf. They know what they're doing, and they got the job done today."
Top-seeded and third-ranked Arkansas (26-under 838) won the team title by 11 shots over the eighth-ranked host Texas team (15-under 849), with No. 21 Oklahoma (6-over 870) claiming the sixth and final qualifying spot for the NCAA Championship May 18-23 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
"Second place at Big 12, the way we played this week, I think we might be scaring some people," Goble said. "I love the postseason scare. This is when it all counts. And man, they're good. We have a really good team this year. I'd hate to have us in match play, I can tell you that."
The Baylor coach stuck with Baillieux for all 18 holes "to make sure that I was OK and to focus on every shot," she said.
"I was doing OK in the beginning, and then on 9, 10, 11, I started to become whiter and whiter. And then on 13, I thought I would stop playing. But, I knew that (Vesga) was already out. Jay was like, `You can do it! You can do it!' And finally, I did it."
Miraculously, even with Baillieux and Liddell both battling through the stomach virus, the Bears shot 1-under on the last six holes.
"For Fiona to start feeling bad the middle of the first nine and have to stay out on the golf course and gut out pars for three more hours is really hard to do," Goble said. "And she did it. That showed a lot of guts as well."
This was definitely a team effort. Senior Amy Lee overcame a double-bogey at No. 9 and made five birdies to shoot 1-under 71 and move up into the top 25 at 3-over 219, while first-semester freshman Gurleen Kaur capped off her week with a 71 and tied for 12th at 3-under 213.
"To see Diane go out and do what she did today - it was probably the hardest day of the week and she shot even-par," Goble said. "And then Gurleen, our other freshman, has just been a superstar this week. Those two are playing their best golf of the year right now, and it couldn't come at a better time. I'm really happy for them, but I'm happy for everyone.
"Amy Lee played an awesome round of golf today. She shot 1-under par. She's been off and on with her game all year. But, she played like the Amy Lee that we know and love today, which was great."
Liddell had the final scoring round for the Bears at 2-over 74 and tied for 29th at 4-over 220, one shot behind Lee, while Baillieux moved up 11 spots to tie for 42nd at 7-over 223.
"On this team, nobody wants to lose, everybody wants to win," Baillieux said. "I think we are ready to make nationals a good tournament. I know that Baylor has lost every time to Stanford (in NCAA Championship match play). So, if we play them again, we're going to try to kick their butt."
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas -- Baylor baseball notched a 13-0 seven-inning, run-rule win vs. Prairie View A&M on Wednesday night at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (28-17) used a nine-run second inning to blow the game open against the Panthers (13-35).
The Bears scored a run in the first inning on a Richard Cunningham double. Then in second, BU dropped nine runs on a Josh Bissonette two-run triple, T.J. Raguse sacrifice fly, Andy Thomas RBI single, Shea Langeliers RBI fielder's choice, Davion Downey RBI single, Cole Haring RBI single and Bissonette two-run single.
Baylor scored two more runs in the fifth on a Davis Wendzel bases-loaded walk and Thomas sac fly and another in the sixth on a Tucker Johnson triple.
BU starter Jimmy Winston (2-0) earned the win, giving up just a walk with one strikeout in three shutout innings. PVAMU starter Caleb Rozypal (1-8) took the loss, allowing 12 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits and two walks with one strikeout in four innings.
NOTES
*Baylor's 12-game winning streak is its longest since the program-record 24-game run in 2012 and gives BU 10-game winning streaks in back-to-back seasons (10 games from Feb. 17-March 3, 2017) for the first time since 1998 (14) and 1999 (14). The 12-game streak ranks tied for first in NCAA DI.
*Baylor has won 14 of its last 15 games.
*Baylor has won by run rule in two straight games for the first time since April 7-9, 2013 (11-1 in seven innings vs. West Virginia and 14-4 in eight innings vs. UT Arlington).
*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (17-6 in 2018) in all 19 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 434-198 all-time at the park.
*Baylor is 27-10 in midweek games under third-year head coach Steve Rodriguez with a 18-9 home mark and 9-1 road record. BU is 10-2 in 2018 (7-2 at home, 4-0 on road).
*Baylor is 19-8 in non-conference play this season.
*Baylor has 13 shutouts under Rodriguez (six in 2018, six in 2017, one in 2016).
*Baylor has scored 84 runs in its last 40 innings.
*Davis Wendzel has reached base in a career-high 34 straight games, marking Baylor's longest since a 35-game streak in 2013 by Lawton Langford. He also has a 14-game hitting streak.
*Andy Thomas has a 16-game on-base streak and seven-game hitting streak. He totaled his team-high-tying 16th multi-hit game (2) and seventh multi-RBI game (2).
*Freshman Nick Loftin has reached base in 15 straight games and has a seven-game hitting streak. He had his 14th multi-hit game (2).
*T.J. Raguse has a 15-game on-base streak and eight-game hitting streak.
*Freshman Davion Downey has reached base in 11 straight games. He notched his 11th multi-hit game (2).
*Josh Bissonette has a five-game hitting streak as he posted his 10th multi-hit game (2) and sixth multi-RBI game (4).
*Richard Cunningham tallied his 14th multi-hit game (3).
*Cole Haring has a three-game on-base streak and registered his 12th multi-hit game (2).
STAT OF THE GAME
4 -- The amount of RBI Josh Bissonette had in the second inning.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
"I think the biggest thing is you focus on playing the game and that is what I was reiterating to them yesterday. You focus on playing the game as hard as you can, you have no control over what the other team does, we only have control over what we are doing. I was happy to see some of our guys continue to have really good at bats. It has been a grind and we're just happy to get to two games after eight days off and being able to compete again and then get ready for this weekend." -- Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears continue their five-game home stand vs. No. 20 Oklahoma State on Friday at 6:35 p.m. CT, Saturday at 3:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m. For tickets to home games, visit: http://www.baylorbears.com/tickets/. For updates on the program follow @baylorbaseball on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Winston, Jimmy (2-0)
L: Caleb Rozypal (1-8)
Base Running:
HBP: Brashad Jones 1
Batting:
2B: Loftin, Nick 1 ; Cunningham, Richard 1
3B: Bissonette, Josh 1 ; Johnson, Tucker 1
RBI: Cunningham, Richard 1 ; Wendzel, Davis 1 ; Thomas, Andy 2 ; Langeliers, Shea 1 ; Downey, Davion 1 ; Haring, Cole 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 4 ; Raguse, T.J. 1 ; Johnson, Tucker 1
SF: Raguse, T.J. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Loftin, Nick 3 ; Cunningham, Richard 1 ; Thomas, Andy 1 ; Langeliers, Shea 1 ; Downey, Davion 2 ; Haring, Cole 2 ; Bissonette, Josh 1 ; Cascadden, Tucker 1 ; Raguse, T.J. 1
SB: Cascadden, Tucker 1
CS: Wendzel, Davis 1
HBP: Wendzel, Davis 1 ; Downey, Davion 1
