Box Score GOODWELL, Okla. – On the day he was named Sooner Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week, Wayland Baptist's
Damion Lovato got a good jump on winning the award back-to-back…with challenges from a few of his teammates.
Lovato hit a three-run home run and scored three times to help power Wayland to a 9-3 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State in a Monday afternoon game that was moved ahead a day due to predicted cold weather.
In their first road game after 12 straight at home and their last game before opening Sooner Athletic Conference play, the Pioneers (11-6) matched a season-high with their third straight win, thanks in large part to blasting 14 hits and a solid pitching performance from
Craig Cook.
In addition to Lovato's three-run homer in the seventh inning that broke a 2-2 tie, Jovanny Padilla came up big at the plate for Wayland by going 3-for-5.
Brayden Blackwell and
Gaby De La Cruz ended with two hits each, and
Dillan Vigil had two RBIs, both in the ninth on a single to center.
Seven players scored runs for Wayland, which overcame three errors.
Cook, who picked up the win in Wayland's victory over Lubbock Christian in his last outing, improved his record to 2-1. In 5 1/3 innings, Cook gave up five hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out three and walking two.
Tyler Doolittle finished up the sixth for Cook and also pitched the seventh before
Logan Evans and
Corey Weldon pitched one inning each. The Aggies (5-11), who have lost four in a row, came away with six hits.
The Pioneers open SAC play with a three-game series against Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, starting with a noon doubleheader on Friday followed by a 1 p.m. game Saturday. The Lions are 9-7 with a game scheduled for Tuesday against Jarvis Christian.
Wayland next plays at home against Southwestern Christian University on March 7 and 8.
