Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – The Wayland Baptist baseball team is in first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Now all the Pioneers have to do is stay there!
Wayland surged to the top of the conference standings this weekend, thanks to sweeping Mid-America Christian and with an assist from 11
th-ranked Oklahoma City University, which took two of three games (12-2 and 8-7) from top-ranked and previously-unbeaten Oklahoma Baptist, which visits Plainview next weekend.
"It was a really good weekend," Wayland coach
Brad Bass said. "I've had a good feeling about the way we've been playing lately, and seeing us in first place really made me feel good about what we've accomplished thus far."
On the strength of a 20-hit performance that featured four home runs – two by
Austin Davis and a grand slam by
Brayden Blackwell – the Pioneers (24-12, 11-1) tied a bow on their three-game sweep of MACU (14-16-1, 3-7) here Saturday afternoon with a 17-7 victory in eight innings. That followed a pair of wins on Friday, 5-2 in 12 innings and 3-0.
"With us getting some votes in the (Top 25) poll for the first time and then moving into first place all alone on Friday, I was curious how we would respond (in Saturday's game), and we responded with a whole bunch of runs," Bass said.
Senior
Josh Alexander is making a habit of strong dual pitching and plate performances, and he did it again Saturday. He not only went 4-for-5 with a double, RBI and two runs scored, but earned his second pitching win with five solid innings. Alexander (2-0) allowed three runs on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks before giving way to
Jose Urena and
Michael Cowan to close things out.
Blackwell got the scoring going for Wayland when he hit his first home run of the season in the second inning, a grand slam to left on a 1-2 count.
The Evangels got two runs back in the bottom of the second to make it 4-3 before the Pioneers blew it open with a five-run fifth. That's when Davis, who entered the game with one home run on the season, belted his first homer of the game, a three-run shot to right that followed an RBI-single by
Gaby De La Cruz and an RBI-double by
Ernesto Lizardi.
Now up 9-3, Wayland added two more runs in the seventh on a two-run homer by Bass, his second of the season, that also scored Davis after he led off with a double.
The Evangels struck for four unearned runs in the bottom of the frame thanks to one of three WBU errors, but it mattered little since the Pioneers came back with six win-clinching runs in the top of the eighth.
The first six Pioneer batters recorded hits, with Davis' two-run homer to left-center the biggest blow. MACU tried three different pitchers in the inning.
The four homers left Coach Bass scratching his head.
"Everything in (batting practice) was landing 20 feet short of the fence, then all of a sudden the ball starts flying out of the park for no apparent reason," the coach said. "It was good stuff."
It was Wayland's second win in four games that was halted early due to the 10-run rule, following Wednesday's 15-1 non-conference victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Besides Alexander's four hits, other Pioneers with multiple hits were Lizardi, Davis and Blackwell, all with three each, and De La Cruz and Percell with two apiece. Davis ended with five RBIs and Blackwell four on their home runs, while Bass had two on his blast and Lizardi a pair.
Wayland's third sweep in four SAC series got rolling Friday with the 5-2, 12-inning win followed by a three-hit shutout by
Taylor Bridges.
"Game 1 we had to battle to get back in that and play some small-ball to get those guys in. We had our backs to the wall several times when all they had to do was score one, but we came up with big double-plays. It was just well-played," Coach Bass said.
"Then in the second game it didn't really matter because
Taylor Bridges wasn't going to let anybody score."
The Pioneers next head to Goodwell, Okla., on Tuesday for a rematch with OPSU at 3 p.m., before welcoming OBU to town for a crucial three-game SAC series. The Pioneers and Bison will play a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Thursday and a single game at 1 p.m. Friday. (Games were moved up a day due to Easter weekend.)
Coach Bass said the Pioneers are looking forward to the OBU series and the opportunity to prove they're deserving to be sitting atop the conference.
"The more you're there the more comfortable you feel with it. We were there last year when we went to OBU in first place, so I'm optimistic about how we'll play. The more you feel you belong, the more comfortable you are.
"This is not the first time for these guys to be in this situation. They expected to be there."
