USW no match for Vallance, Pioneers

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

It was hard to tell who had the most fun on Tuesday afternoon at Wilder Field, Wayland Baptist shortstop Aaron Vallance during the games or the hundreds of elementary students getting to run the bases in between the doubleheader.
 
Vallance had six hits, and Josh Alexander and Gaby De La Cruz hit two home runs apiece to lead Wayland to a non-conference sweep of University of the Southwest, 4-1 and 14-5.
 
The wins – Wayland's second and third of the season over USW after winning in Hobbs, N.M., earlier this season 15-9 – improve the Pioneers' record to 27-15 while the Mustangs fell to 9-22.
 
Vallance was 3-for-3 in Tuesday's opener then in game two had hits in his first four at-bats – the first three doubles – before popping up to the first baseman in his last plate appearance. The shortstop scored four runs and had two RBIs.
 
Alexander, who leads Wayland with a .364 average, had three of his four hits and five of his six RBIs in the second game when he and De La Cruz cranked out two home runs apiece. De La Cruz was 4-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBIs in game two, when Wayland finished with 15 hits.
 
Dillan Vigil hit his first homer of the season in the first game, a two-run shot in the second inning that put Wayland's first runs of the day on the board.
 
Vigil scored again in the fifth on an RBI-single by Vallance, who came in on a single by Alexander.
 
Craig Cook (1-2) picked up his first win of the season, giving up five hits and one run while getting five strikeouts with four walks in 5 1/3 innings. Kyle Parriera pitched the final 1 2/3, allowing no hits and fanning three.
 
Wayland used four pitchers in game two, with winner Joey DiCarlo (3-0) taking over for starter Jose Urena after he gave up five runs on six hits in two innings. DiCarlo last three frames, giving up no runs and just one hit with three Ks, and benefiting from Wayland's three-run fourth and six-run fifth innings. Michael Cowan and Logan Evans combined to allow just one base runner as they threw an inning apiece to finish it.
 
Alexander's first homer was a two-run shot in the first, when Josh Vera had a two-RBI double that made it 4-0. After the Mustangs got all four of those runs back in the second, then took a 5-4 lead in the third, Alexander cranked out another two-run blast in the fourth, followed immediately by De La Cruz going yard.
 
De La Cruz homered for the 12^th time this season to provide half the runs during a six-run fifth, giving him a Sooner Athletic Conference-leading 51 RBIs.
 
Neither team committed an error during the 14-inning doubleheader.
 
Wayland returns to SAC play this weekend in Chickasha, Okla., against red-hot Science and Arts of Oklahoma (24-13, 7-7), which has won a conference-best 10 straight games, most recently a sweep of Southwestern Assemblies of God University. The Drovers play at Southwestern Oklahoma on Wednesday. WBU and USAO play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Friday then a single game at noon Saturday.
 
The Pioneers continue to receive votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, although after being swept by No. 7 Oklahoma Baptist last weekend the Pioneers went from 11 votes down to three.
 

RANK	PRVS	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	2015 RECORD	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Faulkner (Ala.) (18)	35-7	559
2	3	Davenport (Mich.) (2)	31-2	538
3	4	Northwood (Fla.)	34-7	520
4	5	Oklahoma City	30-8	496
5	6	Georgia Gwinnett	35-7	488
6	9	The Master's (Calif.)	34-7	469
7	8	Oklahoma Baptist	33-4	467
T8	10	Oklahoma Wesleyan	32-7	423
T8	2	Tabor (Kan.)	34-7	423
10	10	Tennessee Wesleyan	29-8	394
11	7	Missouri Baptist	27-6	367
12	12	Westmont (Calif.)	31-8	365
13	14	Bellevue (Neb.)	31-7	356
14	15	Auburn Montgomery (Ala.)	29-11	336
15	T16	LSU Shreveport (La.)	27-9	283
16	18	Campbellsville (Ky.)	20-5	282
17	19	Embry-Riddle (Fla.)	27-13	261
18	T16	Concordia (Calif.)	33-11	251
19	13	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	27-9	240
20	24	Sterling (Kan.)	28-11	215
21	21	Point Park (Pa.)	24-5	208
22	22	Mobile (Ala.)	28-11	197
23	20	St. Thomas (Fla.)	30-12	157
24	23	Northwestern Ohio	27-7	145
25	RV	Peru State (Neb.)	25-8	108

Others receiving votes: Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 76; Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 65; Lyon (Ark.) 59; Doane (Neb.) 31; Southeastern (Fla.) 29; Union (Ky.) 29; York (Neb.) 23; Vanguard (Calif.) 14; Madonna (Mich.) 13; College of Idaho 11; St. Catharine (Ky.) 10; William Woods (Mo.) 7; LSU Alexandria (La.) 5; Wayland Baptist (Texas) 3.