Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 It was the best of all worlds – shutdown pitching, error-free defense and explosive offense – for Wayland Baptist this weekend as the Pioneers swept Peru State (Neb.) in a four-game series at Wilder Field. Following 7-2 and 11-1 wins Friday, Wayland finished off the Bobcats on Saturday afternoon, 7-1 and 19-3.
"It was a good weekend for us," Wayland coach
Brad Bass said.
It was a good weekend specifically for Bass as the veteran coach – in his 21
st season with the Pioneers – earned his 600
th victory at Wayland.
"I didn't have any idea that was coming up," Bass said.
The Peru State Bobcats probably didn't have any idea what the Pioneers, ranked the equivalent of 40th in the NAIA, had waiting for them when they arrived in town to make their season debut. Last season at Wilder Field, the teams split, with Peru State winning 13-9 and Wayland pulling out a 4-3 squeaker in 11 innings.
Bass said both teams' rosters are similar to last year. He felt the difference this season, when Wayland swept the Bobcats by a combined 44-7 count to run their winning streak to eight straight, was Wayland's pitching. It also didn't hurt that the Pioneers banged out 14 home runs on the weekend, including nine Saturday. Junior
Caleb Davidson and sophomore
Gregg Veneklasen knocked three of them, with all three of Davidson's coming Saturday.
"I think our pitching staff is really, really good," he said. "That's what I was most pleased with, pitching and defense. It was good all four games. We didn't have to score very many runs to win. That's what we look for every weekend."
After
Tyler Adams and
Taylor Bridges pitched a pair of seven-inning complete games Friday,
Mason Taylor (3-1) did it in Saturday's 7-1 opener. The junior right-hander allowed seven hits while striking out six and walking none. Game two starter
Jordie Henry (3-0), meanwhile, gave up four hits and two runs while fanning five and walking three in five innings.
In the opener Peru State scored its lone run in the first inning with an RBI-single off Taylor's glove. But he shut down the Bobcats after that, and the visitors scored in only two of the afternoon's final 13 innings.
Wayland, meanwhile, pushed runs across in eight of the day's 12 innings. The Pioneers pounded a total of 23 hits on the afternoon, 16 in the second game with half of those coming in their final at-bat of the series.
Of Wayland's nine homers Saturday, Davidson parked a third of them. His last was a three-run blast in the Pioneers' game two, eight-run sixth inning that concluded his five-RBI game.
Austin Hogan also had a two-run dinger as part of the big sixth.
Alex Mumm finished the contest 3-for-5 with four runs and four RBI. Mumm, Davidson and
Austin Davis all went yard in a six-run fourth.
In Saturday's opener, Davidson,
Brayden Blackwell and
Jake Doyle had solo shots, while Veneklasen slapped a two-run homer.
As productive as Wayland's offense was, Bass was more impressed with the Pioneers' pitching and defense. Wayland didn't commit an error all weekend.
"Our defense made some plays, several that were game-changers," Bass said.
One of the most impressive was made by rangy second baseman
Will Bass after snaring a ball up the middle just beyond second base. As Bass' momentum carried him into left field, he made the only play he could – a behind-the-back flip to shortstop
Aaron Vallance to get a force at second.
"Our defense has proven over and over you're going to have to smoke it to get it through," Coach Bass said. "I'm really pleased."
Bass also is pleased with a career that's resulted in 600, make that 601, victories as Wayland's coach.
"There have been a lot of good people that were involved in making that happen," said Bass, who specifically mentioned former Dean of Students Emmitt Tipton who was on the search committee when Bass was hired 21 years ago. "I was sitting in the dugout today and Emmitt came up and congratulated me. I appreciate those guys who made it possible for me to be here."
Bass said Tipton is the "only one who was on that committee still around." He and many others should get a lot of credit.
"There have been a lot of good people in my path," the coach said. "Every step of the way God has had a hand in it."
