OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- The Pioneer baseball team dropped a pair of Sooner Athletic Conference games on Friday afternoon to the Stars of Oklahoma City, 7-6 and 15-5.
The losses drop Wayland to 27-17 overall and 15-10 in SAC play, but WBU maintained its hold on third place in the conference standings after Southern Nazarene was swept by Lubbock Christian in their three-game series on Thursday and Friday.
In the opener, the Pioneers got a two-out home run from Pedro Gomez in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 6, but the Stars (39-11, 21-5) knocked out three straight base hits to start the bottom of the inning, and the winning run crossed the plate on a passed ball.
Brian Embery and Kevin Hennessey both doubled and also went deep for Wayland. Hennessey finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Embery was 2-for-3.
Marcus Limon (7-4) went the distance, allowing six earned runs on nine hits. The junior had 11 strikeouts in his six innings of work and walked four.
The Stars broke open a 2-0 game with six runs in both the third and fourth innings. The Pioneers got on the scoreboard in the fourth with a two-run double off the bat of Eddie Allen.
Bobby Curtis hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to score Gomez, who led the inning off with a single. Run-scoring singles by Jose Santiago and Scott Keane made it 14-5, but #8 OCU plated the game-winner with one out in the home half of the fifth.
Todd Weldon (8-4) took the loss. The senior lasted just 2-2/3 innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits. Justin Eatherly, Brett Swett and Jobi Sanchez also threw from the mound for the Pioneers.
The two teams return to finalize the series at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
