Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Some strong pitching by
Tyler Adams and
Taylor Bridges and an equally strong West Texas wind that helped Wayland Baptist pound out 28 hits – including five home runs – lifted the Pioneers to a pair of Sooner Athletic Conference wins over Texas Wesleyan on Friday afternoon at Wilder Field, 6-3 and 16-4.
The victories put Wayland (32-20, 13-7 SAC) in position to finish in third place in the final conference regular-season standings. The Pioneers will do it if they can knock off the Rams (19-26, 11-11) one more time in the final regular-season game starting at 1 p.m. Saturday. A win in that game would move Wayland just ahead of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (33-15, 15-8) into the No. 3 spot behind fourth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist and third-ranked Oklahoma City.
Wayland got just enough help from Southwestern Christian to be able to make Saturday's final regular-season game mean something. Southwestern Christian was able to take one win from USAO on Thursday, winning 1-0 in between two losses.
The six-team SAC Tournament will be held May 1-4 at OCU's Jim Wade Stadium.
Texas Wesleyan had a chance to improve its conference standing going into Friday's doubleheader, but the sweep by the Pioneers assured the Rams will be the No. 5 seed in the tourney, just ahead of Southwestern Christian (23-22, 10-14).
Friday's success, in large part, was due to the pitching performances by Adams and Bridges, who both offered up complete-game victories in recording their seventh wins of the season.
In the opener, Adams (7-2) limited the Rams to seven hits while striking out eight and walking just one, while in game two Bridges (7-5) scattered 10 hits while fanning six and walking none.
Each pitcher gave up two home runs, but the Pioneers managed five – all in the second game – as players took advantage of a 30-plus mph wind mostly blowing out to left field that made almost every fly ball an adventure.
Three of Wayland's blasts came in a six-run third inning.
Gaby De La Cruz got the homer fest started with a solo shot, his team-leading 13
th, before senior
Chris Buitron recorded his first round-tripper of the season, and third of his career, with a two-run blast.
Will Bass matched Buitron with a two-run homer of his own.
Those six runs gave Wayland a 10-3 lead, then the Pioneers added six more in the fourth frame, without the benefit of the long ball. This time,
Ernesto Lizardi came up with an RBI-single,
Austin Davis had an RBI-double,
Brayden Blackwell added a two-RBI double, and
Josh Alexander – who belted his 10
th homer of the season in the first inning – capped it with a two-RBI single.
That made it 16-3 and gave Wayland its third-highest run total of the season.
Lizardi, Davis and Blackwell all had three hits, while Bass had four RBIs on his two hits. Alexander wound up with three RBIs, while Buitron and Blackwell scored three runs each.
Ethan Percell hit the team's other home run, a solo shot in the second.
With the three he tallied in game 1, Bass ended the day with seven RBIs. Bass, Alexander, Davis and Buitron all had two hits in the opener, when four Texas Wesleyan errors contributed to the Rams' frustrations.
The Pioneers scored two runs in the first, second and sixth innings. Both first-inning runs were unearned, while Buitron and Bass both had RBI-doubles in the second. Bass added a two-RBI single in the sixth.
Wayland's six seniors – Alexander, Buitron,
Colton Palmer,
Michael Cowan,
Craig Cook and
Joey DiCarlo – will be recognized prior to Saturday's game.
