April 15, 2017

Final Stats

Following the same script it used in Friday's 4-3, come-from-behind victory, the Baylor baseball team overcame a 3-0 deficit and rallied to tie it up against Texas in the late innings of Saturday's series finale at Baylor Ballpark.

Only this time, the ending was different.

Tucker Cascadden poked a two-out, two-strike RBI single to right, scoring pinch-runner Levi Gilcrease with the tying run in the bottom of the ninth. But, Kacy Clemens took out two days of frustration and crushed a two-run homer over the right-field wall in the 10th as the Texas Longhorns avoided a sweep with a 5-3 win Saturday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

"It bites, just to see something like that happen after being on the other side of it last night," Cascadden said of Friday night's 4-3 Baylor victory. "Early on, we had chances and didn't make them. When the score comes out like that, you look back and those executions you didn't make come into play. . . . All you can do is learn from it."

Texas (24-15, 7-8) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first off freshman starter Cody Bradford, who gave up three straight hits and a sacrifice fly. The Longhorns made it 3-0 in the second, when catcher Michael Cantu belted a solo shot over the left-field wall.

Kyle Johnston kept the Bears (22-14, 5-7) in check, giving up just one hit through the first four innings. But, it wasn't like they didn't have chances, getting the leadoff batter on six times.

Working around a leadoff single by Matt Menard and a hit batter, Johnston struck out three in the second inning to leave both runners stranded. A double play in the third and a pickoff at first in the fourth took Baylor out of any potential scoring threat.

"As frustrating as it is, we had some opportunities where we had execution failures, with a guy on third base," Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said. "The thing is, they're fighting hard. They're continuing to have good at-bats throughout the game. They're always giving us a chance."

The Bears finally broke through in the fifth, when Aaron Dodson led off with a walk, moved up to second on Davis Wendzel's sac bunt and scored on Josh Bissonette's RBI groundout.

Just like Game 2 starter Montana Parsons, Bradford was able to get through five innings, giving up three runs on five hits and no walks with two strikeouts. And for the second straight day, the "bridge" relievers came through in a big way, with Kyle Hill and Alex Phillips tossing three shutout innings between them while striking out six of the 13 batters they faced.

"The bullpen has done a really good job, and we've relied on them," Rodriguez said. "Even (Friday) night, the freshmen able to do what they were doing. It's just a great experience for them."

Baylor tacked on a run in the seventh, getting a leadoff single from Dodson, a Wendzel walk and a wild pitch. Dodson scored on Steven McLean's grounder to second, with Wendzel moving to third, but Johnston got pinch-hitter Andy Thomas to pop out and retired TJ. Raguse on a grounder to first that Clemens snagged.

After Kyle Ott worked a 1-2-3 frame in the top of the ninth, the Bears fought back to knot it up in the bottom of the inning and send the game into extra innings.

Wendzel had a one-out double to the left-center field gap, then Cascadden came through with some more ninth-inning heroics when he took a 1-2 changeup from sophomore reliever Nick Kennedy (5-0) and somehow poked it just over Clemens and into right field to drive in the tying run.

"I don't even know how he did it," Wendzel said. "He was way out in front. He just put a good barrel on it and put it over the first baseman's head."

Cascadden, who hit a walk-off grand slam in a 6-3 win over Texas A&M earlier this season, said he "wasn't trying to do too much, especially with two strikes."

"I was kind of in fight mode. I got a changeup and I got out in front, but I really pushed staying through it, and I got to pull one over Clemens' head at first," said Cascadden, who has a team-high 23 RBI.

Trying to stretch it into a double, Cascadden was thrown out easily at second base.

"There were two outs, and I knew Goose (Raguse) was up to hit," Cascadden said. "He's been hot lately, putting the ball in play and putting it in the hole somewhere. I tried getting to second, putting myself in scoring position, so that a base hit would give us the chance to win."

Instead, the Bears lost it in the 10th.

Ott got the first two batters out, but he walked Travis Jones after getting ahead at 1-2, and then Clemens jumped on a first-pitch fastball and hit a no-doubter over the right-field wall for his seventh round-tripper of the season.

"We kind of throw a pitch in his wheelhouse, where Clemens wants it," Rodriguez said. "If that pitch was a little elevated, where he was popping up a lot, it's just a different story. . . . You've got to tip your hat to him. It's unfortunate, but it's OK."

Beau Ridgeway, who took the loss in Friday's game, came out of the bullpen to retire the side in order in the 10th and pick up his seventh save.

Baylor wraps up a five-game home stand with a matchup against Stephen F. Austin at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday before playing its next three conference series on the road.

"We know we can hang with anyone in this conference," Wendzel said, "and we know we're always in the game, especially with the bats we have."

Trailing 3-0, Baylor started the comeback in the fifth with an RBI ground out by Josh Bissonette. In the seventh, another RBI ground out by Steven McLean cut the deficit to 3-2.

Then in the ninth, Davis Wendzel hit a double into the gap with one out and scored on a two-strike, two-out single by Tucker Cascadden to knot the game 3-3.

Unfortunately, UT's Kacy Clemens hit a two-run home run in the top of the 10th and the Bears were unable to respond.

UT reliever Nick Kennedy (5-0) earned the win after blowing a save chance, allowing a run on two hits in one inning. Beau Ridgeway picked up his seventh save with two strikeouts in a clean 10th. BU reliever Kyle Ott (1-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on a hit and walk with one strikeout in two innings.

NOTES
*Baylor played its first extra innings game of 2017 and first since a 7-5 win at Kansas State on April 22, 2016.

*Baylor won its second straight series vs. Texas, a feat that hadn't been accomplished since 2012-13. The Bears have won four of the last six series vs. the Longhorns (BU owns a 10-8 record in the stretch), dating back to the 2012 season.

*Baylor won its fourth three-game series of the season as the Bears won three in a row to start the season and had lost their last four.

*Baylor trails the all-time series vs. Texas 241-110-4 and 93-63-2 in Waco, but the Bears are 4-3 under head coach Steve Rodriguez.

*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (14-9 in 2017) in all 18 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 411-191 all-time at the park.

*Freshman LHP Cody Bradford has thrown at least five innings with three runs or less and two walks or less with two or more strikeouts in eight of nine starts this season.

*Sophomore outfielder T.J. Raguse's career-high 15-game on-base streak and career-high six-game hitting streak both ended.

*Senior first baseman Aaron Dodson has a career-high-tying six-game hitting streak.

*Freshman infielder/outfielder Davis Wendzel has a season-high-tying five-game hitting streak.

*Sophomore center fielder Richard Cunningham has a three-game hitting streak.

*Freshman catcher Shea Langeliers has a three-game on-base streak.

STAT OF THE GAME
3 -- The amount of scoreless innings relievers Kyle Hill (2) and Alex Phillips (1) provided the Bears to help the offense rally back.

QUOTE OF THE GAME
"We had opportunities where we had execution failures, but we're fighting hard and continuing to have good at-bats throughout the game that are giving us a chance to win. When you're able to get as close to a sweep as we were today without getting it, it is helpful to understand where we are compared to where we were a few weeks ago." -- Head Coach Steve Rodriguez

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor wraps up its five-game home stand with a 6:35 p.m. CT game on Tuesday vs. Stephen F. Austin.