The Wayland Baptist Pioneers kept their hold on third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings with 11-4 and 10-4 wins over Mid-America Christian University on Friday at Wilder Field. The doubleheader sweep improved the WBU record to 13-7 in conference play and 23-14 overall.
The Pioneers belted out 24 hits in the twinbill, including 13 in the opener. Sophomore leftfielder Brian Embery went 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBI, while Josh Lucas, a senior first baseman, knocked in three runs on two homers.
Eddie Allen, Michael Prell and Oscar Rivera also had two hits each for WBU. Pedro Gomez and Scott Keane had the only other extra base hits, both doubles.
Marcus Limon picked up his seventh win of the season and second straight complete game. The junior from Lubbock gave up three runs on a hit, two walks, a balk, and a hit batter in the first, but settled down nicely after that. Limon scattered just three more hits over the remaining six innings, and struck out 11 in the contest. Limon leads the SAC in strikeouts per nine innings and is among the top five in the NAIA.
Todd Weldon got the win in game two, moving his record to 8-3. The senior from Carlsbad, NM, went 6-1/3 innings, surrendering four runs on five hits and struck out 10. Weldon leads the nation in total strikeouts with 85 on the season. Justin Eatherly came in to get the final two outs of the contest.
Lucas belted out his third homer of the day with a two-run shot in the fourth that gave the Pioneers a 5-1 lead. Freshman Jose Santiago also went deep in the inning, and then added a double to the left centerfield wall in the sixth.
Allen recorded his league-leading 19th double of the spring to start the game. Embery registered two more hits, including a lead-off triple in the second, and Rivera picked up his first extra base hit of the year with a two-run double in the sixth that scored both Embery and Santiago.
The two teams will complete the three-game series on Saturday afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
