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Baylor- Andy Thomas

05/23/2019, 4:00pm PDT
By Jerry Hill

Baylor Bear Insider
            OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Following a blueprint similar to the one that led to a Big 12 Championship title a year ago, the 18th-ranked Baylor baseball team (34-15) used some early offense and dominant pitching to carry the Bears through the opening day of the tournament. 
            Bouncing back from a rough outing just six days earlier, Paul Dickens (5-2) threw six shutout innings before giving up a solo homer in the seventh as second-seeded Baylor defeated the seventh-seeded Oklahoma Sooners, 8-2, Wednesday night at Bricktown Ballpark. 
            "I thought he did amazing today," said catcher Shea Langeliers, who provided the early offense with a two-run blast in the first inning that just cleared the 400-foot marker in dead center field and landed on the berm. "(Dickens) did exactly what we needed to start this tournament. The first day, you need your starter to go deep in the game to save the bullpen and dominate, and that's what we got from him."
            Oklahoma (33-22) got one of the "best outings" of the year from hard-throwing right-hander Cade Cavalli (5-3), whose fastball was consistently clocked at 95, 96 mph. But, the Bears made him pay for two of his only mistakes of the night with Langeliers' two-run homer in the fourth and a two-run shot by Andy Thomas in the fourth for the 4-0 lead. 
            "I thought Cade was really good, probably one of his best outings," OU coach Skip Johnson said. "You've got to tip your hat to Baylor. They came out and swung the bats really well. We haven't played from behind very well all year. When we had a chance to take the moment, (with runners on 2ndand 3rdin the fourth inning), we had a strikeout."
            Actually, Dickens struck out two with the tying runs in scoring position in that pivotal fourth inning. 
            Brady Lindsly, who had three of OU's nine hits, had a one-out bloop single to left, and then Tyler Hardman ripped a double off the wall in left-center field to put runners on second and third. No problem, Dickens got out of the jam by striking out Justin Mitchell and Brandon Zaragosa to keep OU off the board. 
            "Nothing changes," Dickens said, when runners are on base. "Just because they have a runner on third base with less than two outs doesn't mean that runner has to score. That's kind of the mindset I want to have out there. With a great defense like we have out on the field, it gives me confidence to throw strikes, to fill up the zone and know that our guys can make plays out there."
            Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez said that's one of the things that makes Dickens such an effective pitcher is "the heartbeat is going to stay the same," no matter how dicey the situation may appear to be. 
            "The big thing is he was able to settle down," Rodriguez said. "You see his mentality. There's not a whole lot of change. . . . He's like, 'OK, they got a double, so what? Let me get back to work.' He missed a spot, but he was able to execute after that. He has complete trust in (pitching coach Jon Strauss). And he knows when he doesn't execute a pitch. It's not like you have to tell him about it. He's well aware of it."
            What compounded it for the Sooners is when Baylor turned right around and put another two runs on the board in the bottom half of the fourth. 
            Cavalli walked Langeliers to lead off the inning, and then Thomas deposited a first-pitch sinker well over the right-field wall for his third home run of the year and fifth of his career. 
            "It felt good," Thomas said. "I came in after my first at-bat and talked to Coach Rod about my timing. Something felt a little off. I asked, 'Am I drifting? Is my foot not down?' He basically just told me I was late. So, I went up there my second at-bat and thought to myself, 'Just get your foot down and let everything take care of itself.' And, it did."
            Asked if his home run went farther than Langeliers' blast, Thomas first said, "Of course." But then quickly corrected himself and said, "Probably about the same distance."
            "That's such a cheesy response," Rodriguez said. 
            Baylor scored three runs off a trio of relievers in the sixth in a fairly unconventional way. Cole Haring started it when he reached base on a wild pitch on a swinging third strike, then came all the around to score from second on a high-hop grounder to third by Chase Wehsener

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Tag(s): Alumni