WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball cruised to a 14-4 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday night at Baylor Ballpark. The Bears (19-17) used 15 hits and solid pitching to take down the Golden Lions (13-17).
Baylor pounced early, scoring two runs on a wild pitch and Shea Langeliers sacrifice fly.
After UAPB scored a run in the second, the Bears put the game out of reach in the bottom half. Richard Cunningham hit a three-run home run, Davis Wendzel hit a solo shot on the next play, Davion Downey and Cole Haring had RBI singles and Josh Bissonette had a two-run double to cap the eight-run frame.
BU put a third crooked number on the board in the seventh, using a T.J. Raguse RBI single, Cunningham RBI single and Andy Thomas two-run double to go up 14-1. The Golden Lions scored three in the eighth but nothing more.
BU starter Ryan Leckich (3-2) earned the win, allowing a run on a hit and walk with seven strikeouts in five innings. UAPB starter Antoine Luster II (2-4) took the loss, giving up eight runs on four hits and five walks in 1.2 innings.
NOTES
*Baylor is 24-10 in midweek games under third-year head coach Steve Rodriguez with a 16-9 home mark and 8-1 road record. BU is 7-2 in 2018 (4-2 at home, 3-0 on road).
*Baylor is 16-8 in non-conference play this season.
*Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (13-5 in 2018) in all 19 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 429-198 all-time at the park.
*Baylor is 2-0 on its current five-game home stand.
*Baylor has won five of its last six games.
*Baylor has hit 114 home runs in 146 games under Rodriguez. BU hit 51 in 2017 for its most homers since 2010 (57). BU has 29 in 2018.
*Baylor has 32 multi-home run games under Rodriguez (nine 2016, 14 in 2017, nine in 2018).
*Baylor hit back-to-back home runs (Richard Cunningham, Davis Wendzel, second inning) for the first time since May 13, 2017 at Oklahoma State (Aaron Dodson, Davis Wendzel, fourth inning).
*Ryan Leckich set career highs with five innings pitched and seven strikeouts.
*Luke Boyd had a career-high four strikeouts.
*Collin Sharp tossed a career-high 1.0 innings.
*Davis Wendzel has reached base in a career-high 25 straight games, marking Baylor’s longest since a 35-game streak in 2013 by Lawton Langford. He also has a five-game hitting streak as he hit his fifth home run of the season and 13th of his career. He notched his team-high-tying 11th multi-hit game (3).
*T.J. Raguse has an eight-game on-base streak.
*Andy Thomas has a seven-game hitting streak as he tallied his team-high-tying 11th multi-hit game (2) and fourth multi-RBI (2) game.
*Nick Loftin has reached base in six straight games.
*Cole Haring has a five-game hitting streak.
*Richard Cunningham has a five-game hitting streak as he hit his fifth home run of the season and 15th of his career. He has homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career and has tied a single season high with five homers in each of his last three seasons. He recorded his ninth multi-hit game (3) and fifth multi-RBI game (4).
*Davion Downey has reached base in three straight games.
*Josh Bissonette totaled his seventh multi-hit game (3) and fourth multi-RBI game (2).
STAT OF THE GAME
5 – The amount of times Nick Loftin reached base (2) as a batter plus the amount of outs recorded (3) as a pitcher.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“Ryan Leckich coming in and doing what he did for five innings and then [Luke] Boyd coming in. Some of those guys have not gotten a lot of innings this year, but watching those guys go out and compete the way they did in those spots was really good to see.” – Baylor Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears continue their five-game home stand with a three-game series vs. TCU with contests at 6:35 p.m. CT Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. For tickets to home games, visit: http://www.baylorbears.com/tickets/. For updates on the program follow @baylorbaseball on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.