Baylor baseball tallied a series sweep of TCU with a 4-3 in on Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (22-17, 6-9) used a sixth inning rally and great bullpen work to bounce the Horned Frogs (19-17, 6-8).
Trailing 1-0 in after the first inning, BU tied the game in the third on a two-out RBI single by Davis Wendzel. However, the Horned Frogs jumped back in front in the fourth with two runs on three walks, a single and sacrifice fly.
BU got a run back in the fourth on a Shea Langeliers leadoff triple and Davion Downey RBI groundout. Then in the sixth, the Bears had the bases loaded and one out of Josh Bissonette. He smashed a sharp grounder to third, TCU got the force at second but the relay throw to first was way off line allowing two runs to score for a 4-3 BU lead.
From there, Alex Phillips (2.2), Joe Heineman (1.0), Drew Robertson (1.0) and Troy Montemayor (1.0) closed it out with 5.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Phillips (4-1) earned the win, allowing three hits with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings. Montemayor grabbed his ninth save with a scoreless ninth. TCU reliever Jake Eissler (2-1) took the loss, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits with one strikeout in 0.1 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor posted its second series sweep of the season (March 9-11 vs. George Washington) and first Big 12 series sweep since May 12-14 at Oklahoma State.
*Baylor notched its first Big 12 home sweep since April 26-28, 2013 vs. Texas.
Baylor garnered its first sweep of TCU since Feb. 18-20, 2000.
*Baylor has topped TCU in two out of three series under third-year head coach Steve Rodriguez.
*Baylor has won eight of its last nine games and six straight.
*Baylor is 5-4 in three-game series this season (1-3 on road, 4-1 at home) and has a combined record of 13-12.
*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (16-5 in 2018) in all 19 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 432-198 all-time at the park.
*Troy Montemayor has 35 career saves (nine this season). He is within three of topping Baylor's all-time career saves leader Zane Carlson (37, 2000-04). He converted his first eight career save attempts in 2016, and after blowing his ninth try, converted 12 straight before blowing his 22nd attempt. He has converted 26 of his last 27 save tries and 15 straight. He is 35-for-37 in career save chances.
*Davis Wendzel has reached base in a career-high 28 straight games, marking Baylor’s longest since a 35-game streak in 2013 by Lawton Langford. He also has an eight-game hitting streak.
*Andy Thomas has a 10-game on-base streak.
*T.J. Raguse has a 10-game on-base streak and three-game hitting streak.
*Nick Loftin has reached base in nine straight games.
*Richard Cunningham has an eight-game hitting streak.
*Davion Downey has reached base in five straight games.
*Shea Langeliers has reached base in four straight games and has a three-game hitting streak as he posted his seventh multi-hit game (3) of the season.
*Alex Phillips tied a career high with his fourth win.
*Drew Robertson a career-high 10 straight scoreless appearances.
STAT OF THE GAME
5.2 – The amount of scoreless relief innings by Baylor bullpen: Alex Phillips (2.2), Joe Heineman (1.0), Drew Robertson (1.0) and Troy Montemayor (1.0).
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“One of the things we try to enforce, and it’s not ideal to just tell them to put the ball in play, but great things can happen [when you put the ball in play]. Not a whole lot of things can happen when you strikeout, but when you put the ball in play and you make guys have to play catch and play defense, you might actually get hits out of it. Davis Wendzel is a great example. You have winds blowing in as hard as it is and you find a way to get jammed and push it to the right side and you get a hit to get the tying run with it. Those are the things that they guy are really starting to understand. They’re buying in and it’s a really fun group to coach.” – Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
