WATCH: No. 17 Baylor takes series with walk-off win over Oklahoma
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 20th time 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 21st time 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-game on-base streak.
*Richard Cunningham extended his hit streak to six games with his 12th multi-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 19th appearance of the season.
*Kyle Hill made his 18th appearance 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.