Baseball Takes Series with 12-0 Victory Over West Virginia

Saturday, March 23

Waco, Texas

1:05 p.m.

Baylor

West Virginia

Baseball Takes Series with 12-0 Victory Over West Virginia

3/23/2019 5:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Baylor 12, West Virginia 0 (PDF)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Even armed with a fine-tooth comb and powerful magnifying glass, Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez would have a hard time finding anything wrong with Saturday's game at Baylor Ballpark.
            Jimmy Winston threw six shutout innings, Cole Haring went 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI and the defense provided plenty of web gems in a near-flawless 12-0 victory over West Virginia that clinched the Big 12-opening series.
            "I don't have a whole lot to complain about," said Rodriguez, whose team improved to 15-6 overall and 2-0 in league play. "When guys go up there and take great at-bats and we get the pitching we did and some of the defensive plays, you sit there and just go, 'OK, that's a really good job by them.' That's what I told them, 'I don't have much to say, that's a good job.'''
            Coupled with Friday's 6-5 walk-off win on Davis Wendzel's RBI single in the ninth, the Bears have already clinched the series and go for the sweep in Sunday's 12:05 p.m. finale.
            The numbers indicate Winston (2-0) didn't just dominate, striking out a career-best four batters. But, after putting two runners on the first with a one-out walk and single, he got out of that tough spot with a strike-'em-out, throw-'em double play and retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.
            "I'm really just not trying to think about that, actually," Winston said of his crazy-good 0.71 ERA. "I'm just going out there every day and throwing strikes, going one pitch at a time, getting each hitter out. That's all you can really do as a pitcher."
            Haring gave Winston and the Bears all the run support they would need with a first-pitch solo home run over the wall in center field in the bottom of the second inning. Another run came across on three consecutive two-out singles by Josh Bissonette, Chase Wehsener and Nick Loftin.
            Thinking it might not go out since "it's pretty hard to hit it over the batter's eye," Haring said he ran hard "in case it hit off there, so I could get a triple." Instead, he had the first of his two homers for the day, taking over the team lead with five for the year.
            "Cole Haring had a phenomenal day, along with some other guys," Rodriguez said. "The ability to keep hitting the ball hard is all I ask. I tell them, you can't have control after that. And they did just that."
            Even the outs were hard-hit balls off West Virginia starter Jackson Wolf (2-2), who gave up four runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.
            "I'm just really proud, because the pitching they threw out there was pretty good," Rodriguez said. "We forced contact, we got int some lever accounts, and we were able to make good swings."
            Already up 2-0, the Bears blew it open with a seven-run fourth that started with Mack Mueller's seeing-eye single through the right side. Ryan Bergert relieved Wolf after Wehsener's RBI single up the middle, but he gave up three straight two-out hits and then Haring went deep over the right field wall for a three-run homer and 9-0 lead.
            "It was a lot of fun," Haring said. "We kind of felt like a new team today. Kind of felt like something was lifted off our shoulders."
            An error, two walks and a hit batter scored two runs for the Bears in the eighth, then Haring capped the scoring with an RBI single to left for a 12-0 lead. Relievers Daniel Caruso and Brooks Helmer protected the lead with three shutout innings, giving up just one hit with no walks while facing just one over the minimum.
            "We won the series today, but we're not done yet," Winston said. "This game's over, yesterday's game is over, now we need to go for the sweep tomorrow."

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – Cole Haring hit two home runs and Jimmy Winston threw six shutout innings to lead Baylor in a dominating 12-0 victory Saturday afternoon over West Virginia at Baylor Ballpark.

The Bears (15-6) clinched the series win over the Mountaineers (13-9) with Saturday's victory.

Winston turned in a career-high six scoreless innings and four strikeouts on the mound. He lowered his ERA to 0.71, which was top 30 in the nation entering the weekend.

After scoring two runs in the second inning, the Bears sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and exploded for seven runs on seven hits. Chase Wehsener, Davis Wendzel and Shea Langeliers each tallied RBI knocks and Haring blasted his second home run of the game, a three-run shot over the right field fence, to push the score to 9-0.

Baylor added two runs off a pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the eighth before Haring drove in his fifth run of the game with his fourth hit that extended the Bears lead to 12-0.

Daniel Caruso made his 10^threlief appearance of the season and threw two scoreless before turning the ball over in the ninth to Brooks Helmer, who made his first career appearance on the mound and retired the side in order to end the game.

Winston (2-0) earned his second win of the season while WVU's Jackson Wolf (2-2) took the loss.

NOTES
*The shutout was Baylor's fourth of the season.

*Baylor has won six of its last eight games.

*The Bears have won four of their five weekend home series this season.

*Since inserting Loftin in the leadoff spot, the Bears have scored 57 runs on 91 hits in their last seven games. Loftin is 11-for-30 with 3 HR, 6 RBI and 9 runs scored during the stretch. The Bears are 6-2 in such games.

*The Bears have recorded an extra base hit in 20 of 21 games this season.

*Baylor has stolen 25 bases this season on 31 attempts as Davis Wendzel stole his team-leading ninth base of the season. The Bears were 34-for-51 when trying to steal in 2018.

*Shea Langeliers has caught 4 baserunners stealing this year, including each of the last three that have tried to run on him.

*Jimmy Winston punched out a career-high four batters.

*Cole Haring recorded his second-career multi-home run game, launching his team-leading fourth and fifth home runs of the season.

*Haring's five RBI tied his career high.

*Haring's four hits are a new career-high.

*Five Bears had multi-hit games (Loftin, Wendzel, Langeliers, Haring, Wehsener).

*Langeliers has tallied seven hits in his last 11 at-bats.

*Nick Loftin has an eight-game on-base streak. He picked up his team-leading 13^thmulti-hit game of the year.

*Andy Thomas extended his on-base streak to eight games.

*Haring has a five-game on-base streak.

*Brooks Helmer made his first career appearance on the mound.

STAT OF THE DAY
5 – Cole Haring drove in five runs and five Baylor players recorded at least two hits.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
On today's game…
"I thought it was a great performance all around. I was really happy with the way Jimmy Winston went out there and really competed. He threw strikes and let his defense make plays. Then our offense did a great job being able to maintain the pressure on them against a pretty good West Virginia pitching staff that was coming in throwing hard. I was really happy with how our guys played, they forced contact and really made them play defense and we were able to get some balls out of the yard which was great.
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will go for the sweep over the Mountaineers Sunday at 12:05 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.

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.