Feb. 17, 2017

Final Stats

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Richard Cunningham says the "two words you look most forward to" are opening day.

"Opening day is a special thing in baseball," the sophomore centerfielder said.

Cunningham made Baylor baseball's opening day a special one, hitting a two-run homer in the fifth to back a sterling pitching effort from starter Nick Lewis and the bullpen as the Bears kicked off the season with a 7-3 victory over Niagara Friday night at Baylor Ballpark.

"You realize that everybody wakes up early, you feel great, your arm is the best it's ever felt, your legs feel good," said second-year head coach Steve Rodriguez. "You want to swing and hit everything. You almost get numb a little bit start to lose feeling in your fingers. . . Something that I kind of expect, Game 1, a little sloppy in certain areas, but overall we competed and we got the win."

Lewis had a solid outing to pick up his 10th career win, striking out six and giving up one run on three hits and one walk in five innings.

"I've been throwing the ball really well in the spring in intra-squads," Lewis said, "so it was good to get out there and see a different team and still feel that same rhythm that I've had the past couple weeks. It just felt good to put the ball where I wanted to."

The Bears broke through with four runs in the third, bringing 10 batters to the plate and chasing starter Cody Eckerson.

After a leadoff double by Josh Bissonette, Steven McLean reached on a fielding error and T.J. Raguse laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. Freshman Shane Langeliers drove in the first run with a bloop single to right-center, followed by a bases-loaded walk by Menard and Kameron Esthay's sac fly to left.

Baylor made it 4-0 when Langaliers scored on Tucker Cascadden's fielder choice grounder out in front of the plate.

"It's just nice to get a key hit, a key double, just being able to get a key hit with guys in scoring position," Rodriguez said. "I usually think that's the toughest one, when you have guys in scoring position and you're waiting for that one hit so everybody will relax a little bit. We finally got a couple of those, and they made a couple mistakes and gave us a couple runs."

Cunningham said the four-run explosion "just lets everyone breathe."

"It takes the pressure off, and everyone's like, `All right, we're here, a few innings in, we've got the runs under our belt, we got the lead, now let's just go play.' That was big-time."

Lewis retired the first 10 batters he faced, striking out six, before Greg Cullen pulled a single through the right side with one out in the fourth. The Purple Eagles put runners on the corners with two out, but Peter Battaglia lined to center for the final out.

Niagara plated its only run in the fifth, when Trevor McCauley led off with a walk and Joel Brophy ripped a double to left. Geoff Seto got McCauley home with a fly ball to left, but McLean took the cutoff throw from Raguse and gunned down McCauley at third.

"I thought he came in and competed really well," Rodriguez said of Lewis. "He went five innings, gave us a chance to win. He's been one of our best guys throughout the fall and spring, so I was really happy to see him kind of carry that over."

The Bears struck back quickly with three in the bottom of the fifth, with Esthay getting it started with his double to the gap in right-center field. He moved up to third on Davis Wendzel's groundout to second and scored on a wild pitch.

With the bases cleared, Cascadden doubled down the right-field line, and Cunningham followed that same line with a two-run shot that easily cleared the wall for his sixth career home run and a 7-1 lead.

"I got a 3-1 fastball, and it was a little elevated, and I was like, `Yeah, that felt pretty good,''' Cunningham said.

Kyle Hill worked a pair of no-hit innings, striking out two and retiring all six batters he faced. But, the Purple Eagles scored two off freshman reliever Daniel Caruso in the eighth on two walks, a hit batter and two-out RBI singles by Cullen and pinch-hitter Owen Dziados.

Senior Drew Robertson was called out of the bullpen to face Battaglia as the potential tying run with the bases loaded, but he struck out the Niagara first baseman with an inside fastball on 1-2.

"He's one of those guys that kind of surprised us down the stretch," Rodriguez said of Robertson, who struck out three of the four batters he faced to pick up his first career save, "so it's nice to see him go out there and continue what he's been doing as well."

With rain in the forecast Sunday, the schedule for the series has been changed, with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday. Baylor's probable starters on the mound are junior college transfer Montana Parsons and freshman Cody Bradford.

Lewis retired the first 10 batters of the game while fanning six in that span to allow the BU bats to go to work. The first runs came in the third inning with a four-spot. Josh Bissonette led off with a double, and after an error allowed Steven McLean to reach base, T.J. Raguse dropped a perfect bunt to load the bases. Shea Langeliers followed with a bloop single to right-center for a run and Matt Menard walked to force another run in. After a pitching change, Kameron Esthay hit a sacrifice fly and Tucker Cascadden had an RBI ground out for a 4-0 lead.

Niagara got a run back in the top of the fifth but the Bears answered with three runs in the bottom half. Esthay started the rally with a one-out double and scored on a wild pitch. Cascadden then doubled with two outs to set up a two-run home run by Richard Cunningham, giving BU a 7-1 edge.

The Purple Eagles rallied for two runs in the eighth and had the bases loaded with the tying run at the plate and two outs. However, the Bears went to reliever Drew Robertson, who delivered a strikeout to end the threat and worked a clean ninth to seal the victory.

Lewis (1-0) earned the win, allowing one run on three hits and one walk with six strikeouts in five innings. Robertson picked up his first save with 1.1 perfect innings and three strikeouts. Niagara starter Cody Eckerson (0-1) took the loss, giving up four runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts in two innings.

NOTES
*Baylor and Niagara met for the first time ever, and BU holds a 1-0 series lead.

*Baylor is 73-24 all-time in home openers, has won five of its last six and 10 of its last 12.

*Baylor is 61-34 all-time in season openers and has won three of its last four.

*Baylor is 1-0 at Baylor Ballpark this season and 402-182 all-time.

*Nick Lewis earned his 10th career win.

*Richard Cunningham hit his sixth home run of his career for a two-RBI effort.

*Cunningham has a career-high five-game hitting streak dating back to last season.

*Kameron Esthay and T.J. Raguse posted two-hit games.

*Raguse has a six-game on-base streak dating back to last season.

*Steven McLean has an 11-game on-base streak dating back to last season.

*Josh Bissonette has a 10-game on-base and career-high six-game hitting streak dating back to last season.

*Aaron Dodson has a three-game on-base streak dating back to last season.

*Freshmen C Shea Langeliers and 1B Davis Wendzel and JUCO transfer junior SS Tucker Cascadden all started in their Baylor debuts.

*Langeliers and Cascadden each had their first Baylor hit, run and RBI in the game.

*Freshman P Daniel Caruso made his Baylor debut in relief in the eighth inning.

STAT OF THE GAME
11 -- The amount of strikeouts posted by the Baylor pitching staff (six by Nick Lewis, two by Kyle Hill and three by Drew Robertson).

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"I thought Nick [Lewis] came in here and did well for us. He got to his pitch count and he gave us a chance to win. He's been one of our best guys in the fall and spring, so I was really happy to see him continue that over tonight." -- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor continues its season-opening, three-game series Saturday at 2:05 p.m. CT with a doubleheader vs. Niagara. The second game of the day will start approximately 60 minutes after the first game. The remaining pitching matchups feature BU RHP Montana Parsons against NU RHP Daniel Procopio on Saturday in game one and BU LHP Cody Bradford versus NU's pitcher that has yet to be announced in Saturday's second game.