STILLWATER, OK — On Friday evening at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, the No. 12 Bears dropped a tight one at No. 13 Oklahoma State, 5-4.
The Bears (33-15, 14-8) held a 4-2 lead through the first 3.5 frames, before the Cowboys (33-17, 15-9) tied it up in the bottom of the fourth and took the lead in the fifth on a solo home run by Max Hewitt.
At the plate the Bears were led by Andy Thomas, who was the only Bear to have a two-hit performance. Richard Cunningham blasted his fifth home run of the year on the day to drive in one run, while Chase Wehsener delivered an RBI single. The Bears’ other two runs came on a wild pitch and a stolen base on a throwing error down to second.
Baylor starter Jimmy Winston tossed 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and an uncharacteristic seven walks.
A solo homer by Colin Simpson put the Bears down 1-0 in the first inning, but they answered right back, putting up a three-spot in the top of the second inning. The Bears played trademark Baylor baseball, putting pressure on the Cowboys. After back-to-back singles to start the inning, the first run of the day came home on heads up base running by Thomas, who tied it up on a wild pitch. Then with two outs, Haring stole home as the Bears attempted the double steal and a throw down to second by OSU catcher Bryce Carter sailed into centerfield, allowing Haring to come home. With a 2-1 lead, Wehsener delivered an RBI single to make it 3-1 Bears.
The Cowboys got one run back in the third on a solo homer by Trevor Boone, the second of three on the day. However, the Bears answered right back, as Cunningham delivered his solo homer to lead off the third inning, giving the Bears a 4-2 lead.
Winston wiggled out of trouble in the second and third innings, leaving the bases loaded, but in the fourth the Cowboys cashed in on a two-out, two-RBI single by Boone, tying the game up at 4-4.
A solo homer by Hewitt in the fifth inning, one that got caught up in the jet stream and carried out who turn out to be the deciding run.
Baylor reliever Ryan Leckich tossed a season-best 3.0 innings in relief, only giving up the one home run and scattering three hits with one walk and three Ks, all coming in the sixth inning.
Daniel Caruso tossed a flawless eighth inning, giving the Bears their last chance.
The Bears were held hitless from the sixth through eighth innings, but Thomas led off the ninth with a single. Then with two outs, Bissonette looked to potentially extend the inning with a well-struck ball back up the middle, but it was cut off by the shortstop who flipped to second to get pinch runner Ryan Bertelsman on a close play. After an umpire review, the call of out was upheld to end the game.
Leckich took the loss to fall to 4-1 on the year, while OSU starter Jensen Elliott, who threw a complete-game, took the win to improve to 8-3.
NOTES
*157 of Baylor's 346 total runs in 2019 have come with two outs, including 2 of 4 runs tonight.
*Richard Cunningham extended his hit streak to 20 games, a career high.
*Nick Loftin has an eight-game hit streak.
*Cole Haring has an eight-game hit streak, a season high.
*Ryan Leckich made his team-leading 26th appearance out of the pen, tossing a season-long 3.0 innings.
*Daniel Caruso made his 22nd appearance out of the pen this year, throwing a flawless bottom of the eighth inning.
STAT OF THE DAY
5 – Centerfielder Richard Cunningham cranked his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot in the third inning.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
On tonight’s game…
"Well we know what we need to do tomorrow and that is win. I thought we played better today. OSU got a couple balls up in the wind and they carried out, which is unfortunate, but that is what they are built to do.
- Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will look to salvage the series on Saturday, May 18 at 2:00 p.m. CT. The game time has been moved up due to impending inclement weather.
