No. 2 Bears Fall to No. 3 Oklahoma State in Big 12 Championship Game 2

Thursday, May 23

7:30 p.m.

Baylor

34-16

Oklahoma State

34-17

Oklahoma State

Baylor

Jimmy Winston 2019 Big 12 Baseball Championship

Photo by: Big 12 Conference

No. 2 Bears Fall to No. 3 Oklahoma State in Big 12 Championship Game 2

5/24/2019 1:44:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score Oklahoma State 5, Baylor 0

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Since getting to Oklahoma State pitcher Jensen Elliott for four runs in the first three innings of last Friday's 5-4 loss in Stillwater, the Baylor Bears have gone to the well and come up empty.
            Elliott (9-3) took a no-hitter into the fifth and combined with reliever Peyton Baddenfield on a three-hit shutout as the 11^th-ranked and third-seeded Cowboys (34-17) earned a day off at the Big 12 Championship with a 5-0 win over the second-seeded Bears (34-16) Thursday night at Bricktown Ballpark.
            "He did a really good job of mixing his stuff and had command of all of his pitches tonight," said Cunningham, who had a sinking line-drive single in the sixth inning for one of just two hits off the Cowboys' big right-hander. "When you attack the bottom of the zone with an arsenal of pitches, it's really hard to do stuff against it. At the same time, there's a lot of miscues on our end offensively that could have resulted in more."
            Oklahoma State, which belted out seven home runs in a two-game sweep of Baylor last weekend, had a tougher time hitting the ball out of the park in Thursday's game. Colin Simpson did hit a two-run bomb to dead center field in the sixth inning, his 14^thhomer of the year, but Baylor starter Jimmy Winston (5-2) was undone by leadoff walks.
            "You've got to pound the zone. You can't pitch around them," Winston said. "You have to focus on your pitches and trust what you have, and that didn't happen."
            Winston, who registered a career-high seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings, was able to work around leadoff hits in both the second and third innings to keep it a scoreless tie. The trouble for the sophomore right-hander began when he walked Simpson on four pitches to lead off the fourth.
            Andrew Navigato followed with a single to center and took second when the throw came into third, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out. Trevor Boone then ripped a two-run single to left that put the first runs on the board.
            "Unfortunately, against an offense like this, you can't take a hitter or two off," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "And its' not like he's trying to do that. But, it's unfortunate that you go four-pitch walk, home run; four-pitch walk, double. Those are the things that end up hurting you when you play an offense like this."
            And it becomes even more glaring when Baylor struggled to do anything against either Elliott or Baddenfield, who struck out six of the 10 batters he faced and went the last three innings to pick up his second save of the year.
            "I really like some of the swings for our guys tonight," Rodriguez said. "They were just better than us, pretty simple."
            The Bears had a chance early, when Davis Wendzel reached on a fielding error by the third baseman in the second inning and went all the way around to third on an errant pickoff throw by catcher Bryce Carter.
            With Wendzel standing 90 feet away from home plate, Elliott just buckled down and struck out the next two batters to escape the jam.
            OSU coach Josh Holliday said that was "huge."
            "We tried to make a play and it didn't work," Holliday said. "And Jensen picked up his teammate. That's awesome. That's when teams are starting to fire on all cylinders. He went inside of himself and said, 'All right, I've got to make a big pitch right here.' And he did it. He's grown into that in the last two months."
            Wendzel broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the fifth, winning a nine-pitch battle with Elliott, and took second on a throwing error by leftfielder Carson McCusker. But again, Elliott picked up a teammate, throwing out Wendzel at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Cole Haring.
            "Today was just a championship-level game on the mound, there's no way around it," Holliday said.
            Simpson's two-run homer in the sixth followed another four-pitch leadoff walk by Winston. The Cowboys tacked on another run in the inning when Navigato reached on an error and scored on McCusker's single to center.
            With sophomore Tyler Thomas striking out five of the seven batters he faced in the last two innings, Baylor pitchers fanned 15 altogether, the second-highest total of the season.
            While OSU gets a day of rest, the Bears will face sixth-seeded TCU (30-25) in an elimination game at 7 p.m. Friday. The Horned Frogs stayed alive by pounded out 14 hits in a 15-3, run-rule victory over Oklahoma, while Kansas won a thrilling 15-14, 11-inning game against Kansas State; and West Virginia toppled top-seeded Texas Tech, 5-1.
            If Baylor wins Friday, the Bears would get another shot at OSU in a 12:30 p.m. game Saturday, needing to beat the Cowboys twice to advance to Sunday's championship game.
            "No doubt, we get to play baseball tomorrow," Cunningham said of the team's approach coming off the loss. "We get to play TCU, a near-town rival, one of our most fun foes to play against. And we're in Bricktown, playing ball. New opportunity, new day tomorrow, and we'll go one day at a time. I'm looking forward to it."

THE RUNDOWN
OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2-seeded Bears dropped game two of the 2019 Big 12 Championship to the No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys by a score of 5-0 on Wednesday evening at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

The Bears (34-16) were kept off-balance all day by Cowboy (34-17) starter Elliott Jensen, who had a no-hitter going through the first four frames until Davis Wendzel singled to lead off the fifth inning. Overall, the potent Baylor offense was held to just three hits on the day as they were shut out for just the second time this year.

On the mound, Baylor pitchers combined for 15 total strikeouts, the 20^thdouble-digit strikeout total on the year and the first since April 26.

Starter Jimmy Winston struck out a career-best seven batters, but allowed two two-run homers that were the difference on the day. Overall, he allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. Daniel Caruso followed and struck out three in 1.2 innings, while Tyler Thomas struck out five-of-seven batters faced in 2.0 innings of work.

Winston took the loss to fall to 5-2 on the year, while Elliott earned the win for OSU, improving to 9-3 on the year. Peyton Battlefield earned the three-inning save, his second of the year.

The Bears will now face TCU in an elimination game on Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. CT.

NOTES
*Baylor is 49-48 all-time at conference championships, 37-38 in the Big 12. BU owns a 33-32 mark in Oklahoma City.

*Baylor is now 2-6 against OSU in the Big 12 Tournament.
*Baylor and Oklahoma are the only two teams to qualify for all 23 Big 12 Championships.
*Jimmy Winston set a new career-best mark of seven strikeouts.
*Richard Cunningham extended his hit streak to 22 games, a career high.

*Nick Loftin has a nine-game hit streak.

*Wendzel broke up the Pokes' no-hit bid in the fifth inning.

*Wendzel, Cunningham and Loftin each had one hit on the day.

*Baylor pitchers Winston, Caruso and Thomas combined for 15 strikeouts, the first double-digit strikeout game for the Bears since April 26 at TCU. Overall, the Bears have 20 double-digit strikeout performances on the year.

*Daniel Caruso made is 23^rdappearance on the year.

*Tyler Thomas made his 13^thappearance of the year.

STAT OF THE DAY
15– Baylor pitchers struck out 15 batters on the day, tied for second-most in a game this season. The 15-strikeout performance is the first double-digit strikeout performance since April 26 at TCU when they had 13.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
On tonight's game…
"Oklahoma State's offense executed when they got their opportunities tonight and we didn't. In games like this, against a good team like OSU, you need to execute when you get your chance.
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will play an elimination game on Friday, May 24 at 7 p.m. CT vs. TCU 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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