No. 2 Baseball Defeats No. 7 Oklahoma to Open Big 12 Championship

Wednesday, May 22

4:00 p.m. CT

Baylor

34-15

Oklahoma

33-22

Oklahoma

Baylor

Thomas, Langeliers, Wendzel 2019 Big 12 Championship

Photo by: Big 12 Conference

No. 2 Baseball Defeats No. 7 Oklahoma to Open Big 12 Championship

5/22/2019 11:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Baylor 8, Oklahoma 2

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Following a blueprint similar to the one that led to a Big 12 Championship title a year ago, the 18^th-ranked Baylor baseball team (34-15) used some early offense and dominant pitching to carry the Bears through the opening day of the tournament.
            Bouncing back from a rough outing just six days earlier, Paul Dickens (5-2) threw six shutout innings before giving up a solo homer in the seventh as second-seeded Baylor defeated the seventh-seeded Oklahoma Sooners, 8-2, Wednesday night at Bricktown Ballpark.
            "I thought he did amazing today," said catcher Shea Langeliers, who provided the early offense with a two-run blast in the first inning that just cleared the 400-foot marker in dead center field and landed on the berm. "(Dickens) did exactly what we needed to start this tournament. The first day, you need your starter to go deep in the game to save the bullpen and dominate, and that's what we got from him."
            Oklahoma (33-22) got one of the "best outings" of the year from hard-throwing right-hander Cade Cavalli (5-3), whose fastball was consistently clocked at 95, 96 mph. But, the Bears made him pay for two of his only mistakes of the night with Langeliers' two-run homer in the fourth and a two-run shot by Andy Thomas in the fourth for the 4-0 lead.
            "I thought Cade was really good, probably one of his best outings," OU coach Skip Johnson said. "You've got to tip your hat to Baylor. They came out and swung the bats really well. We haven't played from behind very well all year. When we had a chance to take the moment, (with runners on 2^ndand 3^rdin the fourth inning), we had a strikeout."
            Actually, Dickens struck out two with the tying runs in scoring position in that pivotal fourth inning.
            Brady Lindsly, who had three of OU's nine hits, had a one-out bloop single to left, and then Tyler Hardman ripped a double off the wall in left-center field to put runners on second and third. No problem, Dickens got out of the jam by striking out Justin Mitchell and Brandon Zaragosa to keep OU off the board.
            "Nothing changes," Dickens said, when runners are on base. "Just because they have a runner on third base with less than two outs doesn't mean that runner has to score. That's kind of the mindset I want to have out there. With a great defense like we have out on the field, it gives me confidence to throw strikes, to fill up the zone and know that our guys can make plays out there."
            Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said that's one of the things that makes Dickens such an effective pitcher is "the heartbeat is going to stay the same," no matter how dicey the situation may appear to be.
            "The big thing is he was able to settle down," Rodriguez said. "You see his mentality. There's not a whole lot of change. . . . He's like, 'OK, they got a double, so what? Let me get back to work.' He missed a spot, but he was able to execute after that. He has complete trust in (pitching coach Jon Strauss). And he knows when he doesn't execute a pitch. It's not like you have to tell him about it. He's well aware of it."
            What compounded it for the Sooners is when Baylor turned right around and put another two runs on the board in the bottom half of the fourth.
            Cavalli walked Langeliers to lead off the inning, and then Thomas deposited a first-pitch sinker well over the right-field wall for his third home run of the year and fifth of his career.
            "It felt good," Thomas said. "I came in after my first at-bat and talked to Coach Rod about my timing. Something felt a little off. I asked, 'Am I drifting? Is my foot not down?' He basically just told me I was late. So, I went up there my second at-bat and thought to myself, 'Just get your foot down and let everything take care of itself.' And, it did."
            Asked if his home run went farther than Langeliers' blast, Thomas first said, "Of course." But then quickly corrected himself and said, "Probably about the same distance."
            "That's such a cheesy response," Rodriguez said.
            Baylor scored three runs off a trio of relievers in the sixth in a fairly unconventional way. Cole Haring started it when he reached base on a wild pitch on a swinging third strike, then came all the around to score from second on a high-hop grounder to third by Chase Wehsener.
            After Nick Loftin drilled an RBI single to left to plate the second run, followed by back-to-back walks that loaded the bases, Thomas beat out an infield single that drove in another run and stretched the lead to 7-0.
            That was more than enough support for Dickens, who gave up one run on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
            "I think he was effectively wild," Johnson said. "He got in some leverage counts there, and we swung at some balls that were out of the zone a little bit. And when we hit him in the mouth a little bit, he made some big pitches."
            The Sooners finally got on the board in the seventh on a one-out solo home run by Conor McKenna and added another run in the eighth off reliever Ryan Leckich, but Luke Boyd closed it out by retiring four of the five batters he faced.
            Baylor will try to stay in the winner's bracket and get Friday off, facing 11^th-ranked and third-seeded Oklahoma State (33-17) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The Cowboys used a couple homers to knock off sixth-seeded TCU, 5-2, in a late game Wednesday that didn't end until close to midnight.

THE RUNDOWN
OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2-seeded Bears opened up the 2019 Big 12 Championship much like how they left in 2018, with a big win, this time an 8-2 victory over Oklahoma on Wednesday evening at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

The Bears (34-15) launched three home runs, with Shea Langeliers and Andy Thomas each launching two-run bombs, along with Cole Haring connecting on his team-leading 10^thhome run of the year.

Thomas and Langeliers each had a team-high two hits on the day, while Thomas led the team with three RBIs. Eight-of-nine Bears in the lineup had at least one hit on the day.

Starter Paul Dickens was outstanding on the day, tossing six scoreless innings before giving up a solo home run to Oklahoma's Conor McKenna in the top of the seventh inning. That solo shot would be the only run he would give up, scattering six hits while striking out six and only walking two en route to his fifth victory of the year.

The Bears wasted no time getting on the board, as Langeliers launched the two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning. That 2-0 lead held until Thomas doubled the lead with his two-run homer in the fourth.

With a 4-0 lead, the Bears added three more in the bottom of the sixth inning on two hits to break the game open, 7-0 Bears.

After the leadoff home run in the seventh by McKenna made it 7-1 Bears, Ryan Leckich entered and put up a zero for the Bears, allowing them to answer with a solo shot by Haring in the bottom of the seventh.

The Sooners (33-22) added one more in the top of the eighth inning, before Boyd came in to end the eighth and threw a flawless ninth to close things out.

Sooner starter Cade Cavalli took the loss to fall to 5-3 on the year.

The Bears will now face the winner of the TCU vs. Oklahoma State game at 7:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 23.

NOTES
*Baylor is 49-47 all-time at conference championships, 37-37 in the Big 12. BU owns a 33-31 mark in Oklahoma City. The Bears are 19-12 in opening games (14-8 in Big 12).
*Baylor and Oklahoma are the only two teams to qualify for all 23 Big 12 Championships.
*Baylor has won 34 or more games in a season for the third-straight year (36 in 2018), (34 in 2017), giving the program back-to-back-to-back 34-win seasons for the first time since 2005 (46), 2006 (37) and 2007 (35).

*156 of Baylor's 350 total runs in 2019 have come with two outs.

*Richard Cunningham extended his hit streak to 21 games, a career high.

*Shea Langeliers' 2-run homer in the first inning was his 7^thof the year.

*Andy Thomas' 2-run home run in the fourth inning is his 3^rdof the year.

*Cole Haring's solo home run is his team-leading 10^thbomb of the year.

*Nick Loftin has an eight-game hit streak.

*Cole Haring has an eight-game hit streak, a season high.

*Starter Paul Dickens completed his fourth quality start of the 2019 season, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.

STAT OF THE DAY
3 – The. Bears launched three home runs on the day, tying their three-home run performance on May 24, 2018 vs. Kansas, the most in a Big 12 Championships game under Coach Steve Rodriguez.

QUOTES OF THE DAY
On tonight's game…
"He has just done a really good job for us this year. He battled through a couple of really tough innings with the weather, it's a little humid and hot and he fought through a couple long innings. He got himself in a little bit of trouble, but then he bounced right back and got out of it, so I am really happy with his performance that he has done for us this year and excited for the next couple of weeks for him."
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

On the hitting performance of the middle of the order in Langeliers and Thomas…
"It's really nice when the middle of the order is able to turnaround fastballs. Just a phenomenal job by their pitcher, Cavalli, going out there, four-pitch mix, he kept our guys off balance and we were fortunate enough to get ahold of a couple of fastballs and that was the difference for us today.
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears move into the winner's bracket of the double elimination tournament and will face the winner of the Oklahoma State vs. TCU game at 7:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 23 at Chickasaw Bricktown 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.

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