Sunday, April 14
Waco, Texas
3:05 PM
Baylor
24-10, 8-3
3
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2
Oklahoma
25-12, 6-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
R
H
E
Oklahoma
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
7
2
Baylor
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
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0
0
1
3
10
1
No. 17 Baseball Takes Series Over OU in Walk-Off Fashion
4/14/2019 9:07:00 PM | Baseball
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Josh Bissonette has been working on flushing it when he has a bad at-bat and not letting it carry over to his defense.
So, when the senior second baseman came to the plate in the bottom of the 12thinning Sunday at Baylor Ballpark, he wasn't thinking about going 0-for-3 or twice coming up empty with two runners on base.
With his mind clear, and Shea Langeliers standing on third base with two outs, Bissonette came through with an RBI single through the right side as the 17th-ranked Bears (24-10, 8-3) walked off with a 3-2 win over the Oklahoma Sooners (25-12, 6-6) to clinch the series.
"I'm just really lucky that I got the opportunity to go out and do it again," Bissonette said of the team's fifth walk-off win this season. "I knew there was a pretty big hole over at second and first, and all I was trying to do was try to put it through there and hopefully it would go through. And it did."
As Bissonette rounded first after the game-winning hit, he was mobbed by his teammates near his defensive home at second base.
"It was amazing. I don't love anyone more than this team, to be honest," he said. "I've never had so much fun playing baseball, knowing that these guys have my back. There's no greater feeling."
What made it even better was that it was his last collegiate game that his dad, Matt Bissonette, will see before going to Europe for three months.
"It was really special for my family," he said. "He'll be able to watch online, but he'll be like eight hours ahead, so it's going to be kind of difficult. I actually call him before every game to pray with him. It's going to be kind of difficult to do that, but he's going to be paying the bills. And we'll be good."
Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said Bissonette "has an amazing ability to stay inside the ball, shoot the ball to right field."
"I can't tell you how many times he's done that," Rodriguez said. "It's a big situation, and he finds a way to shoot a ball to right field and win a game for us. Pretty impressive when it's consistently him doing it."
Bissonette's hit in the 12thinning ultimately won the game, but this was also about a Baylor bullpen that strung together seven straight zeroes after the Sooners tied it in the fifth on a two-out double by Brylie Ware. Jordan Vujovich tried to score from first on the play, but shortstop Nick Loftin gunned him down at the plate on a relay throw from left fielder Kyle Harper.
"Harper in left field, being able to get the ball to Loftin the way he did, and Loftin making a perfect throw to home and Shea applying the tag, it's exactly what we work on all the time," Rodriguez said. "We made a couple mistakes that allowed them to score some runs, so that was kind of frustrating, but I thought our guys did a great job overcoming that."
Tied at 2-2 after five innings, Baylor's bullpen of Logan Freeman, Ryan Lekich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill (5-0) took it the rest of the way, allowing just three hits and a walk with three strikeouts over the last seven frames.
A transfer from crosstown McLennan Community College, Freeman made his Baylor debut after suffering a broken foot before the season started. He retired the first four batters he faced before giving up a single and two-out walk in the seventh, with Lekich getting the final out.
"He went out there and threw really well," Rodriguez said. "He's one of those kids that you want to do well, because he came in and he was pitching really well right before his injury. And you really felt him, because he was really starting to get it. I'm really proud of all the work he's done to get himself in a pretty good position to do that for us."
Senior center fielder Richard Cunningham made what Rodriguez called a "game-saving play" in the eighth when he crashed into the wall to haul in a deep shot by Ware.
"Because of the situation in the game and how good of a hitter Brylie Ware is, we were playing deep to avoid them getting a double, because we knew a double was the only thing that could beat us at that time," said Cunningham, who went 2-for-5 and had seven other putouts. "I took five, 10 steps, and that should be nowhere near the all. But, I forgot how deep I was playing. All of a sudden, I hear 'Fence!' from I think it was Cole (Haring) in right. I go up, and it looks cool, I guess.
"I've taken some blows this year, but we're fighting through it. The old stallion has still got it."
Hill, making his 18thappearance of the year, tossed a season-high three innings and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced. Ware reached on a flare to right that fell between Cunningham, Bissonette and right fielder Davion Downey.
"He asked us to pitch more, and today he was going to keep going for us, simply because he has the ability to do that," Rodriguez said of Hill. "He's done a lot of different roles for us in regards to starting, middle relief, and he's done everything we've asked him to do. He probably could have gone several more innings and been fine."
OU closer Jason Ruffcorn (1-2), the son of former Baylor pitcher Scott Ruffcorn (1989-91), threw three shutout innings of relief before giving up a lead-off single to Langeliers in the 12th. Langeliers moved up on an Andy Thomas sac bunt and Haring's fly to right before scoring the winning run on Bissonette's hit.
"Sometimes, your defense has to carry you," Cunningham said. "We scored three runs in 12 innings of baseball, so I'm proud of the guys and the way they fought. Even though we might have had some bad at-bats and some tough at-bats, the defense carried us through this game."
Cunningham (2-for-5) and Langeliers (3-for-5) led Baylor's 10-hit attack, while Tyler Hardman and Brandon Zaragosa had two hits apiece for the Sooners.
Baylor finishes out a four-game home stand with a game against Sam Houston State at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday before traveling to Lubbock for a three-game series against No. 11/13 Texas Tech (23-11, 6-6) beginning Thursday.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 17 Baylor continued its winning ways in Big 12 conference play with a 3-2 walk-off win in 12 innings over Oklahoma Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. It was the Bears' fifth walk-off win and third extra-inning victory of the season.
Josh Bissonette provided the game-winning hit, an RBI single that scored Shea Langeliers. Langeliers led the way at the plate, going 3-for-5 on the afternoon, while Richard Cunningham added another two hits for the Bears and Bissonette drove in two runs.
Freshman RHP Blake Helton made his first career start and went 3.1 innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits and striking out two batters before turning the ball over to the bullpen. The quintet of Daniel Caruso, Logan Freeman, Ryan Leckich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill tag-teamed it the rest of the way, putting up seven zeros from the sixth inning on to prevent Baylor from ever trailing.
For the 20thtime this season and third time this weekend, the Bears got on the board first, as Chase Wehsener knocked in Cole Haring with a single in the bottom of the second inning. Baylor extended its lead in the third as Bissonette was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 2-0.
The Sooners (25-12, 6-6 Big 12) got a run back in the fourth via a Baylor throwing error that cut the Bears' lead to 2-1 and later tied it in the fifth with an RBI double. Kyle Harper and Nick Loftin teamed up to cut down a runner at the plate that would have given OU the lead, but instead kept the game knotted at 2-2.
Baylor (24-10, 8-3 Big 12) threatened in the bottom of the fifth, but stranded two runners on base as Bissonette lined out sharply to left field after a nine-pitch at-bat. In the sixth, the Bears squandered another opportunity as Harper was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Cunningham infield single to end the inning.
The score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the 12th, when Langeliers led off with a sharp single to left field. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andy Thomas and moved up to third on a Haring fly out. That's when Bissonette delivered the first walk-off hit of his career and sent the Bears home with the win.
NOTES
*This is Baylor's fifth walk-off win of the season.
*The Bears improved to 3-1 in extra-inning ballgames this year.
*The 12-inning game was Baylor's longest conference game since April 11, 2015 against Texas Tech, a 3-2 loss in Lubbock.
*Baylor clinched its first season-series victory over Oklahoma under fourth-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
*The Bears are improve to 51-46 all-time against OU and 6-8 under Rodriguez. BU has taken three of the last five matchups with the Sooners.
*The Bears are now 15-5 when scoring first this year.
*The Bears tallied double-digit hits for the 21sttime this season and fifth time in their last six games.
*Baylor outhit its opponent for the 28th time this season and seventh consecutive time. The Bears have outhit their opponent in each of their 24 victories in 2019.
*116 of Baylor's 238 total runs in 2019 have come with two outs, including all three in today's ballgame.
*Davis Wendzel has a 15-game on-base streak and a six-game hitting streak.
*Cole Haring has an eight-gameon-base streak.
*Richard Cunningham extended his hit streak to six games with his 12thmulti-hit game of the year.
*Andy Thomas extended his hit streak to six games.
*Shea Langeliers tallied his eighth multi-hit game of 2019, going 3-for-5.
*Langeliers recorded his ninth caught stealing of the season.
*Blake Helton made his first career start, going 3.1 innings with two punchouts in a no-decision.
*Ryan Leckich made his team-leading 19thappearance of the season.
*Kyle Hill made his 18thappearance of the season, working a season-high three innings in relief.
*Hill struck out two batters in his outing, moving him into fifth place on Baylor's career strikeouts in relief leaderboard (126). Hill is currently fourth on BU's all-time appearances leaderboard (88) and sixth on the all-time relief appearances chart (77).
*Logan Freeman made his Baylor debut, coming on in relief and recording his first career strikeout as a Bear.
*Kyle Harper made his first appearance since March 17 against Cal Poly when he entered as a pinch-hitter.
STAT OF THE DAY
7 – Four Bears relievers combined for seven scoreless innings out of the bullpen (Logan Freeman, Ryan Leckich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
On winning another Big 12 series…
"The biggest thing is when you can have really good at-bats with guys in scoring position, you find a way to get on base, you execute, you have a pitching staff that's doing what they're doing, and at the same time you play great defense, the biggest thing is that you may not win it, but the key is just don't lose the game. Don't make some foolish mistakes that are going to cost you a game. Sometimes, we've done that. But right now, we're playing really well, and I'm really happy with what our guys are doing.
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears remain at home for a Tuesday night tilt with Sam Houston State, April 16 at 6:35 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.
-baylorbears.com-
Baylor Bear Insider
Josh Bissonette has been working on flushing it when he has a bad at-bat and not letting it carry over to his defense.
So, when the senior second baseman came to the plate in the bottom of the 12thinning Sunday at Baylor Ballpark, he wasn't thinking about going 0-for-3 or twice coming up empty with two runners on base.
With his mind clear, and Shea Langeliers standing on third base with two outs, Bissonette came through with an RBI single through the right side as the 17th-ranked Bears (24-10, 8-3) walked off with a 3-2 win over the Oklahoma Sooners (25-12, 6-6) to clinch the series.
"I'm just really lucky that I got the opportunity to go out and do it again," Bissonette said of the team's fifth walk-off win this season. "I knew there was a pretty big hole over at second and first, and all I was trying to do was try to put it through there and hopefully it would go through. And it did."
As Bissonette rounded first after the game-winning hit, he was mobbed by his teammates near his defensive home at second base.
"It was amazing. I don't love anyone more than this team, to be honest," he said. "I've never had so much fun playing baseball, knowing that these guys have my back. There's no greater feeling."
What made it even better was that it was his last collegiate game that his dad, Matt Bissonette, will see before going to Europe for three months.
"It was really special for my family," he said. "He'll be able to watch online, but he'll be like eight hours ahead, so it's going to be kind of difficult. I actually call him before every game to pray with him. It's going to be kind of difficult to do that, but he's going to be paying the bills. And we'll be good."
Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said Bissonette "has an amazing ability to stay inside the ball, shoot the ball to right field."
"I can't tell you how many times he's done that," Rodriguez said. "It's a big situation, and he finds a way to shoot a ball to right field and win a game for us. Pretty impressive when it's consistently him doing it."
Bissonette's hit in the 12thinning ultimately won the game, but this was also about a Baylor bullpen that strung together seven straight zeroes after the Sooners tied it in the fifth on a two-out double by Brylie Ware. Jordan Vujovich tried to score from first on the play, but shortstop Nick Loftin gunned him down at the plate on a relay throw from left fielder Kyle Harper.
"Harper in left field, being able to get the ball to Loftin the way he did, and Loftin making a perfect throw to home and Shea applying the tag, it's exactly what we work on all the time," Rodriguez said. "We made a couple mistakes that allowed them to score some runs, so that was kind of frustrating, but I thought our guys did a great job overcoming that."
Tied at 2-2 after five innings, Baylor's bullpen of Logan Freeman, Ryan Lekich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill (5-0) took it the rest of the way, allowing just three hits and a walk with three strikeouts over the last seven frames.
A transfer from crosstown McLennan Community College, Freeman made his Baylor debut after suffering a broken foot before the season started. He retired the first four batters he faced before giving up a single and two-out walk in the seventh, with Lekich getting the final out.
"He went out there and threw really well," Rodriguez said. "He's one of those kids that you want to do well, because he came in and he was pitching really well right before his injury. And you really felt him, because he was really starting to get it. I'm really proud of all the work he's done to get himself in a pretty good position to do that for us."
Senior center fielder Richard Cunningham made what Rodriguez called a "game-saving play" in the eighth when he crashed into the wall to haul in a deep shot by Ware.
"Because of the situation in the game and how good of a hitter Brylie Ware is, we were playing deep to avoid them getting a double, because we knew a double was the only thing that could beat us at that time," said Cunningham, who went 2-for-5 and had seven other putouts. "I took five, 10 steps, and that should be nowhere near the all. But, I forgot how deep I was playing. All of a sudden, I hear 'Fence!' from I think it was Cole (Haring) in right. I go up, and it looks cool, I guess.
"I've taken some blows this year, but we're fighting through it. The old stallion has still got it."
Hill, making his 18thappearance of the year, tossed a season-high three innings and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced. Ware reached on a flare to right that fell between Cunningham, Bissonette and right fielder Davion Downey.
"He asked us to pitch more, and today he was going to keep going for us, simply because he has the ability to do that," Rodriguez said of Hill. "He's done a lot of different roles for us in regards to starting, middle relief, and he's done everything we've asked him to do. He probably could have gone several more innings and been fine."
OU closer Jason Ruffcorn (1-2), the son of former Baylor pitcher Scott Ruffcorn (1989-91), threw three shutout innings of relief before giving up a lead-off single to Langeliers in the 12th. Langeliers moved up on an Andy Thomas sac bunt and Haring's fly to right before scoring the winning run on Bissonette's hit.
"Sometimes, your defense has to carry you," Cunningham said. "We scored three runs in 12 innings of baseball, so I'm proud of the guys and the way they fought. Even though we might have had some bad at-bats and some tough at-bats, the defense carried us through this game."
Cunningham (2-for-5) and Langeliers (3-for-5) led Baylor's 10-hit attack, while Tyler Hardman and Brandon Zaragosa had two hits apiece for the Sooners.
Baylor finishes out a four-game home stand with a game against Sam Houston State at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday before traveling to Lubbock for a three-game series against No. 11/13 Texas Tech (23-11, 6-6) beginning Thursday.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 17 Baylor continued its winning ways in Big 12 conference play with a 3-2 walk-off win in 12 innings over Oklahoma Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. It was the Bears' fifth walk-off win and third extra-inning victory of the season.
Josh Bissonette provided the game-winning hit, an RBI single that scored Shea Langeliers. Langeliers led the way at the plate, going 3-for-5 on the afternoon, while Richard Cunningham added another two hits for the Bears and Bissonette drove in two runs.
Freshman RHP Blake Helton made his first career start and went 3.1 innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits and striking out two batters before turning the ball over to the bullpen. The quintet of Daniel Caruso, Logan Freeman, Ryan Leckich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill tag-teamed it the rest of the way, putting up seven zeros from the sixth inning on to prevent Baylor from ever trailing.
For the 20thtime this season and third time this weekend, the Bears got on the board first, as Chase Wehsener knocked in Cole Haring with a single in the bottom of the second inning. Baylor extended its lead in the third as Bissonette was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 2-0.
The Sooners (25-12, 6-6 Big 12) got a run back in the fourth via a Baylor throwing error that cut the Bears' lead to 2-1 and later tied it in the fifth with an RBI double. Kyle Harper and Nick Loftin teamed up to cut down a runner at the plate that would have given OU the lead, but instead kept the game knotted at 2-2.
Baylor (24-10, 8-3 Big 12) threatened in the bottom of the fifth, but stranded two runners on base as Bissonette lined out sharply to left field after a nine-pitch at-bat. In the sixth, the Bears squandered another opportunity as Harper was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Cunningham infield single to end the inning.
The score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the 12th, when Langeliers led off with a sharp single to left field. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andy Thomas and moved up to third on a Haring fly out. That's when Bissonette delivered the first walk-off hit of his career and sent the Bears home with the win.
NOTES
*This is Baylor's fifth walk-off win of the season.
*The Bears improved to 3-1 in extra-inning ballgames this year.
*The 12-inning game was Baylor's longest conference game since April 11, 2015 against Texas Tech, a 3-2 loss in Lubbock.
*Baylor clinched its first season-series victory over Oklahoma under fourth-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
*The Bears are improve to 51-46 all-time against OU and 6-8 under Rodriguez. BU has taken three of the last five matchups with the Sooners.
*The Bears are now 15-5 when scoring first this year.
*The Bears tallied double-digit hits for the 21sttime this season and fifth time in their last six games.
*Baylor outhit its opponent for the 28th time this season and seventh consecutive time. The Bears have outhit their opponent in each of their 24 victories in 2019.
*116 of Baylor's 238 total runs in 2019 have come with two outs, including all three in today's ballgame.
*Davis Wendzel has a 15-game on-base streak and a six-game hitting streak.
*Cole Haring has an eight-gameon-base streak.
*Richard Cunningham extended his hit streak to six games with his 12thmulti-hit game of the year.
*Andy Thomas extended his hit streak to six games.
*Shea Langeliers tallied his eighth multi-hit game of 2019, going 3-for-5.
*Langeliers recorded his ninth caught stealing of the season.
*Blake Helton made his first career start, going 3.1 innings with two punchouts in a no-decision.
*Ryan Leckich made his team-leading 19thappearance of the season.
*Kyle Hill made his 18thappearance of the season, working a season-high three innings in relief.
*Hill struck out two batters in his outing, moving him into fifth place on Baylor's career strikeouts in relief leaderboard (126). Hill is currently fourth on BU's all-time appearances leaderboard (88) and sixth on the all-time relief appearances chart (77).
*Logan Freeman made his Baylor debut, coming on in relief and recording his first career strikeout as a Bear.
*Kyle Harper made his first appearance since March 17 against Cal Poly when he entered as a pinch-hitter.
STAT OF THE DAY
7 – Four Bears relievers combined for seven scoreless innings out of the bullpen (Logan Freeman, Ryan Leckich, Luke Boyd and Kyle Hill).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
On winning another Big 12 series…
"The biggest thing is when you can have really good at-bats with guys in scoring position, you find a way to get on base, you execute, you have a pitching staff that's doing what they're doing, and at the same time you play great defense, the biggest thing is that you may not win it, but the key is just don't lose the game. Don't make some foolish mistakes that are going to cost you a game. Sometimes, we've done that. But right now, we're playing really well, and I'm really happy with what our guys are doing.
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears remain at home for a Tuesday night tilt with Sam Houston State, April 16 at 6:35 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.
-baylorbears.com-
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hill, Kyle (5-0)
L: Ruffcorn, Jason (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Ware, Brylie 1 ; Brewster, Blake 1
RBI: Ware, Brylie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hardman, Tyler 1 ; Brewster, Blake 1
CS: McKenna, Conor 1
HBP: Ware, Brylie 1
Batting:
2B: Wendzel, Davis 1
RBI: Bissonette, Josh 2 ; Wehsener, Chase 1
SH: Thomas, Andy 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 1 ; Wehsener, Chase 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wendzel, Davis 1 ; Langeliers, Shea 1 ; Haring, Cole 1
HBP: Cunningham, Richard 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
6
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
C/1B/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C/1B
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
C/1B
/ Baseball
1B
/ Baseball
IF
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