By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
For the second weekend in a row, the No. 21 Baylor baseball team (10-4) was able to "flush it."
Bouncing back from 12-4 and 2-0 losses in the first two games of the series against former Big 12 rival Nebraska (6-7), the Bears exploded for 18 hits and got seven shutout innings from the bullpen in a 10-3 win over the Cornhuskers at Baylor Ballpark. 
"We did a great job not letting the first couple games be dragged into this game," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "That's one of the great things about our sport is hopefully flush it away and come back the next day. I thought our guys did a good job with that. . . . I was really happy to watch our guys go out there and compete, regardless of what they did the day before."
Baylor got three hits apiece from Richard Cunningham, Josh Bissonette, Mack Mueller and Andy Thomas, who had three of the Bears' four doubles to set a career high. 
"It's funny, you go back (Saturday) and look at all the hard balls we hit. Three or four of those get through and it's a 2-2 game," Thomas said. "Today,. We came out and had a lot of energy from Pitch One. We utilized the bats we have."
That started with a two-out rally in the second inning, when Bissonette singled up the middle, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Mueller's RBI single through the left side. Thomas drove in the second run with his first double of the day, a shot to right-center field that plated Mueller. 
After missing the first seven games while trying to recover from mononucleosis, Thomas came into the game hitting just .118 (2-of-17). 
"There's nothing worse than trying to get your timing when you're in the middle of a season," Rodriguez said. "We kept trying to put him in there, just trying to sprinkle him and nd get him behind the plate, kind of work him back in slowly. We knew it was going to come, because he's a big part of our offense like he was last year. It's just a matter of him getting his timing, so hopefully today was a good breakout day for him."
After breezing through the first two innings, freshman starter Anderson Needham had his control issues pop up again in the third, when he gave up a single and three straight walks. The Cornhuskers scored two more runs in the inning with a bases-loaded walk and a single off reliever Jimmy Winston (1-0) to take a 3-2 lead. 
Baylor tied it up with another RBI double by Thomas in the fourth before exploding for five runs in the fifth when they brought 10 batters to the plate. 
The first six batters reached base, including four straight hits by Shea Langeliers, Davion Downey, Bissonette and Mueller. Thomas brought home another run with an RBI groundout to second, giving the Bears an 8-3 lead. 
Langeliers was back in the lineup for the first time since the opening weekend, when he broke the hamate bone in his left wrist. He went 2-for-5 as the designated hitter, one of six Baylor players with multiple hits. 
"Having Shea back in there is a pleasant thing for everybody in regards to our offense and just the psyche of our team," Rodriguez said. "When you start having All-Americans go down, and you're scrambling a little bit, it makes it great to see, just having him back in the lineup. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody come back from a hamate injury as quickly as he did."
Langeliers said he was "itching to get back on the field."
"Obviously, I want to be a part of the team, anything I can do to help the team win," he said. "I didn't have too much trouble sleeping, because I've played some games here before. But, it was exciting to get back out there."
The Bears added two more in the seventh on RBI singles by Cunningham and Wendzel after a one-out walk by Chase Wehsener, the only starter who went hitless (0-for-2, with three walks). 
Baylor's bullpen didn't give up a hit over the last 4 2/3 innings, with Ryan Leckich striking out all three batters he faced and Kyle Hill closing in the ninth. 
Thomas said salvaging a win in the series and not getting swept "might be what gets us in a regional or even a host spot. It's a big win for us today."
The Bears host Abilene Christian at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday and then close out a seven-game home stand with a three-game series against Cal Poly next weekend. 
 
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – The bats for No. 21 Baylor came alive in a big way on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark, blasting 10 runs on 18 hits to defeat visiting Nebraska, 10-3. 
 
The Bears (10-4) salvaged the series behind big days at the plate from Andy Thomas, Mack Mueller, Josh Bissonette and Richard Cunningham who each had three hits on the day. Thomas blasted three RBI on a career-high three doubles on the day in his first multi-hit performance of the year, while Mueller also tallied career-high marks with three RBI on three hits. 
 
Shea Langeliers returned to the lineup after a hamate bone fracture and went 2-for-5 as the designated hitter. Davion Downey also had a multi-hit performance after going hitless in the first two games of the series. 
 
The Bears jumped on Nebraska (6-7) early, scoring two in the bottom of the second as Mueller brought home the first one on an RBI single through the left side and Thomas doubled home his first run of the day to make it 2-0 Bears. 
 
Baylor starter Anderson Needham cruised through the first two frames but hit a rough patch in the third, walking home the first run of the day for the Huskers before giving way to reliever Jimmy Winston. Winston inherited bases loaded and no outs. Another walk brought in a second run to tie the game and the go-ahead run came in on an RBI single by Luke Roskam. Winston was able to settle in and minimize the damage and the Bears were only down 3-2 heading to the bottom half of the inning. 
 
The Bears answered in the fourth as Thomas' second double of the day brought home Mueller all the way from first to tie the game back at 3-3. 
 
After Husker starter Connor Curry left the game with an arm injury in the fourth, the Bears were able to get to reliever Reece Eddins in his second inning of work. The Bears opened up the game as they plated five runs on five hits as the Bears batted around in the inning, taking an 8-3 lead into the sixth inning. 
 
The Bears added two more in the bottom of the seventh inning to push the lead to 10-3. 
 
After Winston settled down in the third inning, Baylor's bullpen of Winston, Jacob Ashkinos, Ryan Leckich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill shut down the Huskers' offense through the final six frames, holding their potent offense to just two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.
 
Winston earned his first win of the season to improve to 1-0 on the year, while Husker reliever Eddins took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the year.
 

NOTES
*Leckich struck out the side in the seventh inning, his only inning of work. His three strikeouts tie his season high. 
  
*Winston earned his first win of the year, not sits at 1-0 on the season. 
 
*First win for Winston since earning one on May 9, 2018 vs. Prairie View A&M.  
 
*Winston made his team-leading eighth appearance of the season. 
 
*Eight of nine batters (1 through 8) in the starting lineup had a hit on the day. 
 
*Six batters had multi-hit performances (Cunningham, Langeliers, Downey, Bissonette, Mueller, A. Thomas)
 
*Through the final four frames Bears pitchers faced 14 batters, just two over the minimum.
 
*Baylor's bullpen no-hit the Huskers through the final 3.2 innings. 
 
*Mueller collected a career-high three hits on the day and a career-high 3 RBI. 
 
*Mueller's 3-for-5 day is his second multi-hit outing of the series vs. Nebraska after he went 2-for-3 on Friday. 
 
*In his first game back since suffering a hamate bone injury over opening weekend, Langeliers went 2-for-5 including a bunt single. 
 
*The Bears had four players with three hits on the day for the first time this season. 
 
*A. Thomas is the first Bears to have three doubles in a game since Richard Cunningham had three on Feb. 28, 2017 vs. UAPB. 
 
*The Bears had six guys with multi-hit performances for the fifth time this season, first since. Feb. 26 vs. Dallas Baptist.
 
*Bears tie their season high hits total with 18. Also had 18 on Feb. 22 vs. Cornell. 
 
*Eighth double-digit hit game of the season for the Bears and first since Feb. 26 vs. DBU (first in 5 games). 
 
*Leckich made his seventh appearance of the season and second in as many days. 
 
*Ashkinos made his third appearance of the year and second in the Nebraska series (first on Friday, March 8)
 
*Hill and Boyd each made their sixth appearance of the season.  
 

STAT OF THE DAY
3 – Catcher Andy Thomas was 3-for-5 with 3 doubles. The 3 doubles are a new career high and the 3 hits tie his career-high mark for hits in a game.   

QUOTES OF THE DAY
On the bats breaking out and the win…
"I tell you what, it was great to come out and play like we did today after scuffling a little bit in the first two games. We did a great job not letting the first couple games get dragged into this game. That's one of the great things about our sport is you hopefully flush it away and come back the next day. I thought our guys did a good job with that. Our dugout was great and we had good energy and good personality in the dugout. I was really happy to watch our guys go out there and compete, regardless of what they did the day before."
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez
 
On the return of Shea Langeliers…
"Having Shea [Langeliers] back in there is a pleasant thing for everybody in regards to our offense and just the psyche of our team. When you start having All-Americans go down and you're scrambling a little bit, it makes it great to see. Just having him in the lineup, I don't know if I've ever seen anybody come back from a hamate injury as quickly as he did. He's been wanting to get back out there."
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez


WHAT'S NEXT
In the midst of a seven-game homestand, the Bears remain at home and will host Abilene Christian on Wednesday, March 13 at 6:35 p.m. CT.
 
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.