OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- Wayland Baptist was eliminated from the Sooner Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament with a 8-3 loss to Lubbock Christian on Tuesday afternoon. The Pioneers won't know whether their season has come to an end until the NAIA announces its 46-team field for the National Championship Opening Round is released late Thursday. WBU, 29-22, is believed to be on the bubble for one of the last at-large bids for national post-season play.
Tuesday's conference tournament game featured a pitching rematch from last week's Pioneer 18-5 win over their rivals from Lubbock. Calvin Lewis held the #5 Chaps down once again, but unlike a week ago, the junior southpaw got little support from his offense or the defense behind him.
The Pioneer batters had 13 hits, but were just 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Defensively, they made just one error on the day, but could not seem to manage the great defensive plays that were so prevalent in Lewis' previous start against LCU.
Josh Lucas gave Wayland its one and only lead with a RBI single in the second inning. The Pioneers started the inning off with four straight hits, but managed to get just the lone run across after a foul pop up and an inning-ending double play.
The Chaps took the lead with two runs in the fourth on a solo home run by Ross Blondin, a double, a fly out, and a wild pitch. LCU made it 4-1 with two runs on three hits and the error in the fifth, and added another in the sixth on J.J. Muse's home run over the left field fence.
WBU came back with a monster home run off the bat of Brian Embery, his 14th of the year, to lead off the sixth, but the Chaps got another run across the plate in the seventh on a high pop up to shallow right field that Pioneer second baseman Michael Prell lost in the sun.
Embery knocked in another run in the seventh after Scott Keane singled up the middle and advanced to second on a throwing error by the Chaparral third baseman, and came in on Embery's rope to centerfield.
Lewis got the loss after going six-and-a-third. He gave up five earned runs on 11 hits and recorded two strikeouts, but had control issues, walking a season-high seven batters. LCU's Frank Corolla, who took the loss last week after giving up nine runs on 11 hits in 3.2 innings, improved to 11-2, allowing just two earned runs in 7.1 innings of work. Corolla and reliever Hunter Scott did not walk a Pioneer batter in the contest.
Embery went 3-for-5, Kevin Hennessey had two hits, including a double, and Prell also recorded a pair of hits.
The top-seeded Chaps (42-11) advance to play at 10 a.m. on Wednesday against second-seeded Oklahoma City University, which defeated Southern Nazarene 13-4 early Tuesday evening.
