Baylor baseball mashed its way to a 17-3 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday evening at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (9-0) scored multiple runs in five innings to overwhelm the Golden Lions (0-7).
Trailing 1-0 in the second inning, BU immediately responded with an RBI double by Andy Thomas and sacrifice fly by Richard Cunningham to grab a 2-1 lead in the bottom half.
From there, the Bears piled on the runs. In the third, two more runs were tallied on a double by Matt Menard and single by Davis Wendzel. In the fourth, BU dropped five runs on a Steven McLean double, Kameron Esthay two-run single and Thomas two-run triple.
After UAPB scored two in the fifth, Baylor countered with six in the sixth. Aaron Dodson launched a two-run home run, Tucker Cascadden and Steven McLean had RBI singles and Tucker Johnson had a two-run double.
The Bears capped the scoring with two runs in the seventh on a double by Cunningham.
BU starter Alex Phillips (2-0) earned the win, allowing one run on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts in three innings. UAPB starter Thomas Sanchez took the loss, giving up four runs on six hits and one walk with one strikeout in 2.2 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 9-0 to start a season for the first time since 1984 (13-0, best start in school history).
*Baylor is one of eight undefeated teams in NCAA DI baseball.
*Baylor is 8-0 at home this season and 408-182 all-time at Baylor Ballpark. BU’s last 8-0 start at home was in 1998.
*Baylor has won nine straight games for the first time since winning 24 straight from March 16-April 22, 2012.
*Baylor has seven doubles in a game for the first time since May 17, 2008 at Texas Tech and posted a season-high 20 hits.
*Baylor and Arkansas-Pine Bluff had never met prior to Tuesday, and BU leads the series now 1-0.
*Sophomore centerfielder Richard Cunningham has a five-game on-base streak as he tied a career high in hits (3) and set a career high with three doubles – he’s the first BU player with three doubles in a game since Cameron Miller on Feb. 25, 2015 vs. Northwestern State. He also had his third multi-hit and third multi-RBI game of the season.
*Junior JUCO transfer shortstop Tucker Cascadden has an RBI in all nine games as a Bear and has a four-game hitting streak.
*Freshman catcher Andy Thomas made his first career start and made his first appearance at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, a double, triple and walk.
*Senior first baseman Aaron Dodson has a four-game hitting streak and seven-game on-base streak as he hit his second homer of the season and 12th of his career. He also posted his first multi-hit game of the season and second multi-RBI effort.
*Junior JUCO starter Alex Phillips has picked up a win in each of his first two starts for Baylor – he tossed a season-high three innings.
*Freshman RHP Hayden Kettler tossed a season-high three innings with a season-high three strikeouts.
*Freshman LHP Hunter Seay made his Baylor debut, throwing a scoreless inning with two strikeouts.
*Freshman RHP Daniel Caruso had a career-high with one inning pitched.
*Sophomore left fielder T.J. Raguse has a five-game on-base streak.
*Freshman first baseman Davis Wendzel has a six-game on-base streak and five-game hitting streak.
*Junior third baseman Steven McLean has a three-game hitting streak as he posted his fourth multi-hit and second multi-RBI game of the season.
*Sophomore second baseman Josh Bissonette has a four-game hitting streak as he picked up his fourth multi-hit game.
*Junior right fielder Kameron Esthay has a three-game hitting streak as he notched his team-high fifth multi-hit game and second multi-RBI game of the season.
*Junior JUCO OF/IF Tucker Johnson had his second multi-RBI game of the season.
STAT OF THE GAME
6 – The amount of Baylor batters that had multiple hits in the game and the amount that had multiple RBI in the game.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“Well, that’s the biggest thing I told our guys is that it’s about the approach and the quality that you represent yourself with. You’re going to go up there and you need to make sure that every at-bat is a quality at-bat. We did that tonight and now look forward to a fun but tough weekend in Houston.” – Head coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor heads to Houston for the 2017 Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park with games Friday at 12:05 p.m. CT vs. Ole Miss, Saturday at 3:35 p.m. vs. LSU and Sunday at 5:05 p.m. vs. Texas A&M.
