A total of 11 baseballs left the ballpark at Wilder Field on Saturday afternoon, and unfortunately for the Wayland Pioneers, the majority came off the bats of their opponents from Southern Nazarene University. The Crimson Storm went yard seven times, including two grand slams, in the 24-14 victory.
The win moves the Storm to within a half game of the Pioneers in the conference standings. SNU is 29-13 overall and 14-9 in conference play, while Wayland falls to 27-16 and 15-9.
While the wind blew from right to left field on Friday, Saturday's gusts were more left to right. The visitors held a 12-6 lead when the Pioneers exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Michael Prell led off the inning with a hard shot down the left field line that went off the third baseman's glove. Pedro Gomez, batting from the left side for the first time on the day, belted a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right.
After a pitching change, Kevin Hennessey greeted the new reliever with his NAIA-leading 20th homer of the season. Brian Embery followed with a hard shot to left field, and Josh Lucas belted out his second homer of the series, this one to staight-away centerfield, to put the Pioneers within one at 12-11.
A Scott Keane single was followed by an Eddie Allen line dirve that hit off the scoreboard in right center that gave Wayland its first lead of the contest.
The lead didn't last for long, though, as the SNU hitters answered with 10 runs in the top of the seventh. Sixteen batters went to the plate in the inning, belting out nine hits including three home runs.
Jose Santiago got one run back for the Pioneers with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the frame, but the Storm hit another two-run homer in the top of the eighth to make it a ten-run ballgame.
Every starter for Wayland, which had 20 hits in the contest, had at least one hit. Allen and Embery recorded four hits each, and Allen and Gomez knocked in three runs a piece.
Calvin Lewis (2-5), the second of six pitchers thrown in relief of starter Trevor Stringer, got the loss for Wayland. Southern Naz utilized five pitchers in the game, including two position players and the designated hitter. Starting shortstop Nick Spears, the loser on Friday, got the win, throwing the last three innings.
Next up for the Pioneers is a road game against third-ranked Oklahoma City. The Stars will be plenty motivated going into the series after being swept in a three game series by Lubbock Christian over the weekend.
