Pioneers open series with doubleheader split

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

As they have in every series thus far, the Wayland Baptist baseball team split a doubleheader Friday at Wilder Field. The Pioneers took game one from MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), 5-3, and had a solid game two, spare the first inning, but fell to MNU, 12-7 in the nightcap.

In the series opener, Wayland (5-4) manufactured two runs in the bottom of the third inning after Aaron Vallance and Will Bass hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Ethan Percell hit an RBI-groundout and Josh Alexander hit a sacrifice fly to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead.

Tyler Adams looked flawless through the first four innings, retiring 13 of the first 15 batters. In the fifth inning, however, Adams started to show signs of fatigue.

The junior right-hander got the leadoff batter to fly out to center, but walked the next hitter and gave up back-to-back singles that produced two runs. Adams got another fly out, but Trent Sullivan doubled to left-center to give MidAmerica a 3-2 lead.

In the home half of the fifth, Bass blasted a two-out, solo home run, the first of his collegiate career, to tie the game, 3-3.

Adams got two quick outs in the top of the sixth, but after a walk, head coach Brad Bass dipped into the bullpen to make sure MNU didn't score any more runs.

Logan Evans (1-0) worked ahead in the count, no balls and two strikes, and got Jordan Jones to fly out to center to end the inning.

Leadoff walks kill, and MidAmerica Nazarene committed double homicide in the bottom of the sixth, walking Alexander and Gaby De La Cruz to start the inning. To make matters worse, Santiago Romero (0-1), MNU's starting pitcher, tried to pick Alexander off at second, but the ball ended up in center field, allowing the runners to advance to second and third.

The Pioneers took advantage of the miscues as Ernesto Lizardi hit a sacrifice fly after fouling off several pitches and Brayden Blackwell drove in De La Cruz to give Wayland an insurance run.

Michael Cowan shut MidAmerica down in its final at-bat, getting a strikeout, a ground-out and a pop-up to pick up his second save of the year and give Wayland a 5-3 win.

MANU shook off its first-game rust in game two, exploding for nine runs in the top of the first inning of game two.

The visiting Pioneers scored three runs before Bass made an impressive play at second base to record the first out. MNU didn't slow down and crossed home three more times before knocking starting pitcher Taylor Bridges out of the game.

Kyle Parriera came in for WBU and only faced two batters, but poor defense led to three more runs before the freshman pitcher struck out Jordan Eckley to stop the bleeding at nine runs.

To Wayland's credit, the Pioneers never caved and held MNU to just three runs over the next six innings while they chipped away at the lead.
In the bottom of the first, Alexander hit an RBI-groundout after Bass singled and stole second and third to get into scoring position.

The Pioneers gave up two in the third, but scored three in the home half of the inning. Blackwell doubled to plate Alexander, and Lorenzo Soriano hit a two-run single to cut MidAmerica's lead to five, 11-6.

Chris Buitron and Vallance had RBI-singles in the fifth, and Kyle Herrington hit a ball that went off the right fielder's glove that scored another run, taking the score to 11-7, and suddenly the home-standing Pioneers were right back in the game.  

A leadoff walk hurt MNU in game one, but in game two it put the Pioneers away for good.

Jones drew a leadoff pass for MidAmerica and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. Brandon Jeffries hit a sacrifice fly to right to score MANU's 12th run of the game.

MidAmerica shut WBU out in its final at-bat and took game two, 12-7.

Blackwell led the Pioneers offense on the day, going 3-for-7 with a pair of doubles two RBI. Bass also had a solid day at the plate, collecting three hits, three runs and two stolen bases, all the while hitting his first homer.

On the mound, Adams struck out three in 5.2 innings of work in game one, while Craig Cook kept the Pioneers in game two, throwing four innings of relief and giving up just one run.

Wayland and MANU finish the four-game series with a doubleheader starting at noon Saturday at Wilder Field.