Baylor Baseball Routs DBU for Series Win, 19-6
Bears score in seven of nine innings to overwhelm Patriots
THE RUNDOWN
DALLAS, Texas – Baylor baseball grabbed a 19-6 win over Dallas Baptist on Saturday afternoon at Horner Ballpark. The Bears (10-13) scored in seven of the nine innings against the Patriots (15-8) to earn the three-game series win.
BU scored first and kept pouring the runs on to leave DBU unable to respond and playing from far behind. Aaron Dodson launched a two-out three-run home run in the first inning, and Josh Bissonette hit a solo shot in the second to give the Bears a 4-2 lead.
Baylor broke the game open in the third with a six-run frame. Richard Cunningham led off with a single, Darryn Sheppard hit an RBI triple, Kameron Esthay an RBI single and Dodson doubled to put two runners in scoring position. After a DBU pitching change, T.J. Raguse hit a two-run single. A sacrifice bunt by Bissonette and fielder obstruction that let Levi Gilcrease reach and all runners be safe led to a two-run double by Justin Arrington, giving BU a 10-2 edge.
After the Patriots scratched two runs back in the bottom of the third, Baylor scored in each of the last four innings to answer. In the sixth, Esthay hit a one-out single and Dodson doubled again to set up an RBI ground out by Raguse.
In the seventh, the Bears received an RBI single from Sheppard, a passed ball that scored a run and a Dodson RBI single for a 14-4 lead. Then in the eighth, Bissonette hit a leadoff homer, and after singles by Gilcrease and Arrington, Steven McLean hit a sac fly for a 16-4 lead.
Following two DBU runs in the eighth, Bissonette hit an RBI double and Gilcrease a two-run single in the ninth. The Patriots added the game’s last run in the ninth on a solo homer by Darick Hall but did not have enough offense left to overcome a 13-run deficit.
BU starter Drew Tolson (2-1) earned the win, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts in six innings. DBU starter Sean Stutzman (2-1) took the loss, giving up eight runs on seven hits and one walk with two strikeouts in two innings.
NOTES
*Baylor won its second three-game series of the season in five series played so far in 2016.
*Baylor tied a season-high with 20 hits and was one run shy of tying a season-high in runs – both came on Feb. 27 vs. Stony Brook.
*Baylor is 3-4 on the road in 2016.
*Baylor leads the all-time series vs. DBU 48-26, 35-17 in Waco and 11-9 in Dallas – the Bears are 2-1 under Steve Rodriguez in the series – BU won its first series over DBU since June 3-4, 2012, when the Bears eliminated the Patriots to win the NCAA Waco Regional.
*Baylor has scored at least one run in the first inning nine times in 23 games and has scored 20 first-inning runs in 2016.
*Baylor had five consecutive hits in the third inning for the first time since Feb. 24, 2012, at UCLA in the sixth inning.
*Baylor hit multiple home runs (3) in a game for the second time this season (3, Feb. 27 vs. Stony Brook).
*Kameron Esthay has a career-high 12-game on-base streak as he posted his team-high-tying sixth multi-hit game (2) of the season.
*Aaron Dodson has a career-high nine-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak as he hit his second homer of the season and eighth of his career. His four hits, two doubles and four RBI all tied career highs and he set a career high with nine total bases. The game marked his second four-hit game, fourth multi-hit game and second multi-RBI game of the season.
*Steven McLean has a career-high nine-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak.
*Josh Bissonette has a career-high-tying eight-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak as he hit his first and second collegiate home runs to become the second BU player with atwo-homer game this season (Darryn Sheppard vs. Stony Brook on Feb. 27). Bissonette had his fifth multi-hit game with a career-high four hits and posted his third multi-RBI game of the season with a career-high three RBI.
*Richard Cunningham has a seven-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak.
*Darryn Sheppard has a career-high six-game hitting streak as he posted his team-high-tying sixth multi-hit game (2) and team-high fifth multi-RBI (2) game of the season.
*T.J. Raguse has a career-high six-game hitting streak as he posted a career-high three RBI for his third multi-RBI game of the season.
*Levi Gilcrease has a career-high-tying five-game on-base streak as he posted his team-high-tying sixth multi-hit (2) game and had a career-high two RBI for his first multi-RBI game.
*Justin Arrington tied career highs with three hits and two RBI for his fourth multi-hit game and second multi-RBI game of the season.
*Kyle Ott has a career-high five straight scoreless appearances.
STAT OF THE GAME
7 – The amount of innings Baylor scored in during the game.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“We just told our offense that we had to continue to score as many runs as we can because you just don’t know what [Dallas Baptist’s] offense is able to do – they can put up six or seven runs really fast. That just says what Drew Tolson did today, which was pretty impressive. He let our offense get after it and that was fun to see.” – Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor hosts UTSA on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. CT at Baylor Ballpark before welcoming Kansas to Waco, Texas, next weekend as the Bears return to weekend Big 12 play for the remainder of the regular season.
