Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
After splitting two games on Friday, the Wayland Baptist baseball team took the field again on Saturday hoping to take two games to finish the weekend above .500, but the Pioneers split again, defeating Peru State, 5-0, before falling to No. 7 Sterling College, 11-2.
Wayland (6-5) sent freshman
Taylor Bridges (1-0) to the mound for his first collegiate start in game one. The freshman pitch masterfully, giving up just four hits and zero runs in six innings of work, four more than his previous two appearances.
The Pioneer offense struggled its first time through the lineup off Peru's (0-3) starter Michael Mendez, but senior catcher
Tyler Doolittle got WBU going with a double over the left fielder's head in bottom of the third inning, scoring
Gaby De La Cruz from second.
Mark Davis traded places with courtesy runner
Josh Vera on the next pitch, smashing a line-drive off the fence in center field, giving Wayland a 2-0 lead.
The Pioneers were held scoreless in the fourth, but scored a run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to gain a comfortable 5-0 lead. That's all the WBU pitching staff needed, as
Cachot Duncan and
Logan Evans pitched the final three innings, securing a 5-0 win for the Pioneers.
Doolittle led the way for the Pioneers, going three-for-three from the plate with a double and a homerun. De La Cruz also put in a solid performance, collecting two hits while scoring two runs for WBU.
In game two, Wayland was looking to avenge its 3-1 loss to No. 7 Sterling College (8-2) of Friday, but a six-run fourth inning prevented any hopes of retaliation.
Jose Urena (1-1) cruised through the first three innings, but a tough Warrior lineup got to the sophomore in the fourth.
With a runner on third and one out, the Warriors picked up their second hit of the inning, scoring the first run of the game with an RBI single down the right field line. Urena walked the next batter and surrendered three consecutive hits before giving way to
Paxton Bartley.
Sterling scored another run on a first and third situation gone wrong, and LeJon Baker hit a homerun to left before
Bartley could stop the bleeding with a strike out to end the six-run inning.
The Warriors added two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth before Wayland was able to put up zero in the seventh inning.
The Pioneers had a chance to score in the home-half of the sixth, but Davis was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Wayland finally got on the board in their next at bat, scoring a run off a groundball to the shortstop, and another off a sacrifice fly from
Dillan Vigil.
Sterling would answer right back, however, scoring two runs of its own in the top of the eighth, giving SC an 11-2 advantage. Both teams would go scoreless in the next three frames, ending the three-hour affair, 11-2.
Aaron Vallance,
Colton Palmer and Davis had two hits apiece for the Pioneers in game two.
Wayland will return to the field to take on former Sooner Athletic Conference foe Lubbock Christian at 2 p.m. on Tuesday at Wilder Field. The game was originally scheduled for Feb. 11 but was moved due to weather conditions.
