No. 2 Baseball Stays Alive in NCAA Regionals with Record-Setting 24-6 Victory Over No. 4 Omaha
6/1/2019 8:30:00 PM | Baseball
No, not kidding.
Hitless the day before, the Baylor junior catcher went 5-for-6 with three homers and set an NCAA tournament and Baylor single-game record with a mind-boggling 11 RBI to keep the second-seeded Bears (35-18) alive in the Los Angeles Regional with a 24-6 win over fourth-seeded Omaha Saturday afternoon in the Los Angeles Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
"One through nine (in the batting order), everybody believes in each other on this team," said Langeliers, who got it started with a two-run blast in the top of the first inning. "And anybody is capable of doing what I did personally today. But, that's a team accolade. I just came up in the right situations and happened to come through. It was a great team effort today. Everybody was on base, everybody was getting hits."
After being held to just four hits in a 3-1 loss to Loyola Marymount in Friday's region opener, the Bears exploded for their most runs ever in a postseason game and most in any game over the last 11 years. They scored in all but one inning and finished with 23 hits, five homers and nine doubles against six Omaha pitchers.
"Nothing really changed (with our approach)," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "The result changed, but how we approached the day didn't really change. I just think we needed a big hit, whether it was a ball down the line that drives in a run, or a home run definitely does the trick as well. I'm just really happy that we released a little bit of the tension that was in the dugout, waiting for our guys to kind of relax."
Langeliers took care of that, following up Richard Cunningham's one-out double with a two-run shot to left-center field off Omaha starter Joey Machado (5-3), who lasted just 1 2/3 innings.
Breyden Eckhout put the Mavericks (31-24-1) on the board with a leadoff solo homer in the bottom half of the first – his second in as many days – but the Bears answered with solo runs in the second and third. Nick Loftin had an RBI double in the second after back-to-back two-out walks, then Langeliers led off the third with a solo shot down the left-field line.
The Baylor bats really got rolling in the fourth, when eight players came to the plate and the Bears tacked on three more runs on four hits. Langeliers showed he can do more than just hit them over the fence, ripping a two-run single to left.
Bissonette led off the fifth with his fourth homer of the season and second in postseason play, but Andy Thomas provided the big blow in the frame with a two-run double to right.
"Obviously, we've had some struggles at the plate," Bissonette said of the Bears scoring three runs combined in their last three games. "But, I think today we kind of turned it around. We had a meeting yesterday, and the mindset was just going out there and being aggressive. We're a really, really good-hitting team when we're on, and hitting is contagious. When you see a guy like this (Langeliers) go up there and just absolutely hammering the ball, it kind of flips the switch in our head. And it makes us realize we can go up there and do the same."
Putting the game out of reach, Baylor had a four-run sixth inning and plated seven more in the seventh in stretching the lead to 21-4. After a bases-clearing double in the sixth, Langeliers crushed a three-run homer to left in the seventh that set the Baylor and NCAA tournament record with 11 RBI.
"When I was a little kid, I'd like to think I was a pretty good hitter," said Langeliers, when asked if he remembered ever having a game like this, even in his back yard. "But, I think this game will probably be one of the most meaningful games for me as a hitter, probably for the rest of my baseball career. (Our) backs were up against the wall, we needed a big day out of our offense, and we got it. This was a lot of fun."
The fun wasn't over, though. After a scoreless eighth inning, the Bears capped the scoring with a three-run ninth that included a pinch-hit RBI double by All-American closer Kyle Hill in his first career at-bat.
"I've had a rule my whole head coaching career that if we score 20 runs, I will never give a senior pitcher the opportunity to hit," Rodriguez said. "Trust me, I've had my reluctancy putting him I there just because I've seen him take (batting practice). We wanted to make sure we had the right opportunity to do that. I believe he currently has the highest average in the country."
Eight of the nine starters had at least a hit, led by Langeliers and Bissonette with five and four, respectively. Loftin, Cunningham and Thomas had three hits apiece.
Paul Dickens (6-2) tied for the team lead with his sixth victory, giving up six runs on seven hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Hayden Kettler gave up just two singles over the last 2 1/3 innings to close it out.
Baylor will face either top-ranked UCLA or third-seeded Loyola in another elimination game at 2 p.m. CDT Sunday and would have to win three more games in two days to advance to the Super Regional round.
"We've told all of our pitchers, everybody's on the board," Rodriguez said. "My goal right now is to win tomorrow at noon (PDT), and then well worry about the 6 o'clock game and then dealing with everything else after that. Our goal is to try to get as deep as we can. It's an unbelievable field that we'd have to go up against in regards to Loyola and UCLA. For me, it's just about winning the first game tomorrow."
In the regional paired with Los Angeles, defending national champion and national No. 16 seed Oregon State was eliminated by Creighton, 4-1, in Corvallis, Ore. If the Bears come back to win the regional, they would be in line to potentially host the Super Regional.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – The No. 2-seeded Baylor baseball team put on an offensive clinic Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Regional, eliminating No. 4-seed Omaha 24-6 behind a record-setting day by Shea Langeliers and the Bears at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Langeliers went 5-for-6 with three home runs and a career-high 11 RBI to lead the charge at the plate. His 11 RBI is not only a Baylor record, but an NCAA postseason record as well. Langeliers' three home runs also tied a BU record.
Five Baylor starters recorded at least two hits and eight of the starting nine hit safely as the Bears scored 24 runs, their most ever in a postseason game and most in any single game since April 23, 2008 when BU scored 25 at Texas State.
Baylor (35-18) got off to a fast start as Langeliers hit his first home run of the day in the top of the first, a two-run shot scoring Richard Cunningham that gave the Bears an early 2-0 lead.
The Mavericks (31-24-1) answered promptly with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first to cut the Bears lead to 2-1, but Baylor starter Paul Dickens responded with consecutive strikeouts and a groundout to end the inning.
The Bears kept the offense rolling in the top of the second as Nick Loftin doubled in a run and chased Omaha starter Joey Machado from the mound. Langeliers returned to the plate in the third with another home run, this time a solo shot that extended the lead to 4-1.
Omaha scratched across a run in the bottom of the third to trim the score to 4-2, but Baylor continued to add to its lead in the top of the fourth inning as three more runs came across to score. Langeliers singled in a pair and Andy Thomas joined in on the fun with a run-scoring single of his own, swelling the lead to 7-2.
Josh Bissonette led off the fifth with a solo blast, keeping the Bears' scoring streak going, as they scored in each of the first seven innings. Thomas later doubled in another two runs to give BU a 10-2 advantage.
The Mavericks benefitted from a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth as they tried to make a dent in Baylor's lead, but Baylor showed no signs of slowing down at the plate, putting up a four spot in the top of the sixth. Loftin singled in a run and Langeliers hit a three-run double to move the total to 14-4.
In the seventh, the Bears poured it on with seven runs in the frame. Bissonette had an RBI single, Cunningham had a two-run double and Langeliers and Thomas hit back-to-back jacks to make it 21-4. Langeliers hit a three-run shot for his third bomb of the day, while Thomas crushed a solo homer to dead center.
After Omaha scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, both teams went down scoreless in the eighth. Then in the ninth, Baylor's closer Kyle Hill stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter and sliced an RBI double to make it 22-6. Hill has now driven in more runs in 2019 than he has allowed on the mound, with one.
Davis Wendzel put the cherry on top with a two-run double before Hayden Kettler finished things off on the mound with a quick bottom of the ninth. Dickens earned the win and improved to 6-2 on the year.
NOTES
*Baylor is making its third-straight NCAA Regional appearance for the first time since a stretch of four-consecutive appearances between 2009-12. This is the 21st regional selection in program history.
*Baylor is 45-44 all-time in the NCAA Championship, 38-31 in regionals and 24-17in neutral regional games.
*Baylor has won at least one game in 12 of its last 13 regionals appearances.
*Baylor is now 10-9 in games following a loss this year.
*The Bears are now 24-6 in games in which they score first.
*Baylor's 24 runs are it's most ever in a postseason game and second-highest total since April 23, 2008 (25 at Texas State).
*The Bears scored in each of the first seven innings and in eight of the nine total innings.
*Baylor tallied its 13thmulti-home run game of 2019. The Bears have hit three or more homers in nine of those games, and hit five today, their most in a single-game this year.
*The Bears have hit 193 homers in 220 games under fourth-year head coach Steve Rodriguez, including 55 in 53 games in 2019. 55 is the most in a single season under Rodriguez and BU's most since hitting 57 in 2010. The Bears have hit at least 50 home runs in three straight seasons.
*173 of Baylor's 379 runs in 2019 have scored with two outs, including 13 of the 24 today.
*The Bears have tallied double-digit hits in 30 games this season and have outhit their opponent in 31 of their 35 wins in 2019.
*The Bears have scored double-digit runs in 17 games this year.
*Shea Langeliers hit his eighth, ninth and 10th home runs of the season, the 29th, 30thand 31stof his career. He now has hit four home runs at Jackie Robinson Stadium, previously going deep against UCLA on Feb. 24, 2018.
*Langeliers is the fifth Baylor player to have a multi-home run game in 2019. Davis Wendzel, Davion Downey, Nick Loftin and Cole Haring have all done it once as well. He is the first Baylor player to hit three home runs in a game since Aaron Dodson did so at Texas Tech on April 9, 2017.
*Langeliers is the first Bear all-time to hit three home runs in a single postseason game. His is the third Baylor player to hit three home runs in a postseason as Josh Ford did so in 2005 and Josh Ludy did so in 2012.
*Langeliers knocked in a career-high 11 runs, his eighth multi-RBI game of the season. His 11 RBI are the most by a Baylor player in not only a single postseason game, but a single postseason as well. 11 RBI is a new NCAA record for most RBI in a single postseason game.
*Andy Thomas hit his 21stdouble of the season, tying him for 10thplace on Baylor's leaderboard for doubles in a single season.
*Thomas recorded his sixth multi-RBI game with four.
*Josh Bissonette hit his fourth home run of the season and 14thof his career.
*Bissonette tied his career high with four hits.
*Bissonette picked up his eighth multi-RBI game of the year with two.
*Langeliers, Thomas and Bissonette were each a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
*Richard Cunningham tallied his seventh multi-RBI game of 2019 with two.
*Five Baylor starters collected a multi-hit game (Loftin, Cunningham, Langeliers, Thomas and Bissonette).
*Nick Loftin extended his hit streak to 13 games.
*Paul Dickens has recorded at least four strikeouts in all 13 of his starts this season and at least five in 10 of those starts this season. He tallied five in 6.2 innings today.
*Hayden Kettler made his 11thappearance of the season and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings.
STAT OF THE DAY
11 – Shea Langeliers drove in 11 runs, a new NCAA record for RBI in a postseason game.
QUOTES OF THE DAY
On his performance today…
"One through nine, everybody believes in each other on this team and anybody is capable of doing what I did today. That's a team accolade. I just came up in the right situations and happened to come through. It was a great team effort today, everybody was on base, everybody was getting hits."
- Baylor junior catcher Shea Langeliers
On what made the difference today…
"I think today we turned it around. We had a meeting yesterday and it was just kind of our mindset of just going out there and being aggressive. We're a really, really good hitting team when we're on. Hitting is contagious and when you see a guy like [Shea Langeliers] go out there and absolutely hammer the ball, it flips a switch in our head and makes us realize we can go up there and do the same. It was unreal."
- Baylor senior second baseman Josh Bissonette
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will take on the loser of the No. 1 UCLA and No. 3 Loyola Marymount contest in an elimination game Sunday at 2 p.m. CT/Noon PT. If the Bears win, they will take on the winner of the Bruins-Lions matchup Sunday at 8 p.m. CT/6 p.m. PT with a chance to force a winner-take-all game seven of the regional set for Monday 9 p.m. CT/7 p.m. PT.
For updates on the program follow @baylorbaseball on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dickens, Paul (6-2)
L: Joey Machado (6-3)

Batting:
2B: Loftin, Nick 2 ; Cunningham, Richard 2 ; Hill, Kyle 1 ; Langeliers, Shea 1 ; Thomas, Andy 1 ; Wendzel, Davis 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 1
HR: Langeliers, Shea 3 ; Thomas, Andy 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 1
RBI: Loftin, Nick 2 ; Cunningham, Richard 2 ; Hill, Kyle 1 ; Langeliers, Shea 11 ; Thomas, Andy 4 ; Wendzel, Davis 2 ; Bissonette, Josh 2
SH: Wehsener, Chase 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Loftin, Nick 4 ; Cunningham, Richard 4 ; Bertelsman, Ryan 1 ; Langeliers, Shea 3 ; Thomas, Andy 1 ; Downey, Davion 1 ; Haring, Cole 1 ; Bissonette, Josh 3 ; Weaver, Cole 3 ; Wehsener, Chase 3
HBP: Thomas, Andy 1

Batting:
2B: Parker Smejkal 1
HR: Breyden Eckhout 1 ; Parker Smejkal 1
RBI: Breyden Eckhout 1 ; Parker Smejkal 3 ; Ben Palensky 1 ; Grant Suponchick 1
SH: Keil Krumwiede 1
SF: Parker Smejkal 1 ; Ben Palensky 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Breyden Eckhout 2 ; Keil Krumwiede 1 ; Parker Smejkal 2 ; Max Gamm 1
HBP: Thomas Debonville 1