Shawnee, Okla.---There was good news and bad news in the Pioneers' 17-13 loss at Oklahoma Baptist on a wind-swept Friday afternoon. The bad news was the loss, of course, but the good news was that the WBU players kept on battling, even after falling behind 14-0 after the first four innings of play.
After putting up more errors, five, than hits, three, on the scoreboard during the opening four innings, the Pioneers began the long fight back in the fifth. The inning began when Scott Keane led off with a bloop double over the head of the Bison shortstop. Keane advanced to third on a fly ball off the bat of Brett Cook and then scored on Eddie Allen's sacrifice to deep right.
Josh Lucas followed that up with a single, advanced to second on an error, and scored on Keith Martin's RBI to right. Brett Sheppard also singled home a run in the inning.
OBU scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to pull back up 17-3, but the Pioneers only came back harder with a seven-run sixth.
Pinch hitter Bobby Curtis drove the first pitch of the inning over the fence in right center field. Keane made it back-to-back jacks with a shot to left center. Cook then got a base hit through the hole in the right side of the infield. Starting pitcher Tyler Duran hit Allen to put runners on second and third. After a pitching change, Lucas walked to load the bases for Franky Busani, who was hit by a pitch.
With the bases loaded once again, Martin, a lefty, went to the opposite field for the grand slam, his fourth homer of the season.
Reliever Brett Swett entered the game in the bottom of the sixth and retired all nine batters he faced to give his teammates a chance.
The Pioneers left two on in the seventh and another one in the eighth, but plated three more runners in the ninth on Busani's two-run single and a sacrfice fly by Sheppard.
WBU, which won games one and two of the three-game series, is now 15-3 on the year and 2-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. The Pioneers take on West Texas A&M on Tuesday afternoon at the Dilla Villa in Amarillo, then return home for a weekend series Friday and Saturday against St. Gregory's University.
