OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- Junior pitcher Trevor Stringer pitched seven strong innings, and the Wayland hitters belted out 16 hits to come away with a 9-5 win over #8 Oklahoma City University on Saturday afternoon at Jim Wade Stadium.
The victory moves Wayland (28-18) back into third place in the SAC standings at 16-11 with three conference games left to play.
Stringer (4-1) struck out only one in the game, but managed to scatter nine hits and five walks to limit the damage. Kevin Hennessey came in with runners on the corners and nobody out and the score 9-4 in the eighth. OCU's Mark Purser hit a sacrifice fly to get the Stars to within four, but Hennessey got two strikeouts to end the inning. The junior pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save, his second of the season.
The Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead with four hits in the top of the second. Jose Santiago knocked in two more runs in the third on a base hit to right to make it 4-2.
Four more runs crossed the plate in the fifth. Pedro Gomez doubled down the left field line with one out and was brought home on Hennessey's single to left. After Brian Embery walked, Santiago chased OCU starting pitcher Mike Richard with a run-scoring single through the left side of the infield. Embery scored on an errant throw back to the infield, and Santiago came home on a base hit off the bat of Josh Lucas to make it 8-2.
Eddie Allen plated the final run of the day for the Pioneers in the sixth. The junior shortstop led the inning off with a bloop double to right and came home on Gomez's ground out.
The Stars had a two-run second, but Stringer limited one of the NAIA's top-hitting teams to single runs in the fifth, the seventh and the eighth. OCU did put two on in the ninth, but Hennessey got a strikeout to end the contest.
Hennessey had a great day at the plate, with four singles in his first four at bats of the contest. He would have been a perfect five-for-five but had an obvious two-run homer taken away after the home plate umpire ruled the ball went foul.
The Pioneers conclude the regular season with a three-game series against #4 Lubbock Christian University. Game one is scheduled for Tuesday night, May 4, at LCU's Hays Field. The second game of the series will be at Wilder Field on Thursday, May 6 when Wayland will honor its six seniors. The final contest of the series is back in Lubbock on Friday. First pitch of all three games is set to be thrown at 6:30 p.m.
