Baylor Closes Out TCU Series With a Win, 7-3

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (10-9) picked up their first conference win of the season on Sunday afternoon against #21 TCU (14-5). 

While TCU won the series, there were a lot of positives to take away from today’s win and the number one thing was Will Rigney set the tone on the mound. Rigney went 5.1 innings pitched and gave up 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, and 5 Ks. Rigney gives the Bears two excellent starting pitching options moving forward in conference play.

The second best thing I saw today was the Bears’ ability to get two-out hits. 

Baylor got the afternoon started on a good note when Chase Wehsener hit a two-out RBI single into right field, scoring Kyle Nevin from second, giving Baylor the lead after the first inning.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Again, with two outs in the bottom of the second, Jack Pineda hit an RBI single into right scoring Harrison Caley from second, 2-0 Baylor. May I add that Harrison Caley has been playing great baseball lately, going into Sunday, he led the team with a .420 OB%. 

Still in the bottom of the second, Tre Richardson followed with a single into right field and Pineda made an incredibly acrobatic play to avoid the tag at the plate and give Baylor the 3-0 lead. 

Another positive from today was Jared McKenzie’s third-inning hit, his first hit into left field of the season. An important step in turning his season around is pushing the ball opposite field. You can see where he typically hits the ball in the article I wrote last week detailing Jared McKenzie’s 2022 season so far.

In the top of the fifth inning, with runners on second and third, Will Rigney got a huge strikeout on the two-hole hitter for TCU to end the inning. Lately, Baylor’s pitching has not been able to get timely outs in those situations, so it was nice to finally see a big strikeout go our way.

Tre Richardson continued his hot streak with a double down the left-field line to start the fifth inning. He advanced to third and later scored thanks to two wild pitches, adding on to the Bears' lead. 4-0.

Marshal Tompkins - Baylor Athletics

Baylor got two insurance runs in the seventh inning. Kyle Nevin hit a double into left-center and Chase Wehsener drove him in with an RBI single into left. Esteban Oquendo-Cardoza continued the inning, hitting a double down the right-field line scoring Chase Wehsener and giving Baylor a 6-1 lead. 

TCU gave the Bears a scare late when they hit back-to-back solo home runs off of Cam Caley in the top of the eighth, shortening the lead to 6-3. 

Ultimately, those two insurance runs in the seventh and an RBI double by Tre Richardson in the eighth were enough to seal the win for Baylor.

The Bears racked up fourteen hits on the afternoon. Jack Pineda, Tre Richardson, Chase Wehsener, Esteban Cardoza-Oquendo and Harrison Caley all had multi-hit games. 

Final: Baylor 7 - TCU 3

W: Will Rigney (1-0) L: Cam Brown (2-2) S: Hambleton Oliver (1)

POTG: Tre Richardson 3-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, R, SB

Play of the Game:

TOP QUOTES

Coach Rodriguez on what we saw from the team today:

”Even after the frustration of yesterday, [the team] coming back and getting right back into it. Just watching the offense continue to pound the baseball, keep working the basepaths, and executing, that was just really fun to watch. You can tell our guys are playing with a lot of freedom and a lot of excitement. Their hard work is paying off. I know they were frustrated early and they are wanting to put up a lot of big numbers and do a lot of great things, but once you hit rock bottom, you are like okay I need to get back to basics and that is what we have done” - Coach Rodriguez

Jack Pineda on the offense getting hot:

”Earlier in the week I was talking about us all struggling together, I think it kind of allows for us the opportunity to get hot together as well, and I think you are starting to see that. Guys are settling in and not trying to do too much, I am really proud of the way we approached this weekend, especially on the offensive end” - Jack Pineda

Will Rigney on his big strikeout in the fifth inning and the overall morale of the team:

”It was huge. I think it was Taylor who I struck out, he is a great hitter. I got him out twice on a slider. Me and Coach Strauss were both on the same page and we wanted to throw the slider again and I think he is one of the, if not the best, pitch callers in the country... Obviously, we let one slip away yesterday Just getting one and not getting swept on opening weekend, that’s huge and we look forward to next week” - Will Rigney 

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor baseball takes on UTSA for a Tuesday tilt at 6:30 P.M at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears then travel to Norman next weekend for their second conference series against Oklahoma.