Pioneers score in 9th to salvage 4-3 win over SW Christian

Box Score Southwestern Christian scored a run in the top of the ninth to tie the game, but Will Bass delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the inning to lift Wayland Baptist to a 4-3 Sooner Athletic Conference victory on an error-filled Saturday afternoon at Wilder Field.
 
The win salvaged the weekend for Wayland (22-6, 4-2 SAC), which dropped both of Friday's games to the Eagles (17-4, 4-2), 7-5 and 4-3.
 
The Pioneers scored a run in the fourth inning, and each team scored twice in the sixth to leave Wayland clinging to a 3-2 lead heading into the ninth.
 
Jeremy Adams led off the inning for the Eagles with a pinch-hit single up the middle. Logan Palmer re-entered the game for Adams to run and after advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt, scored when Michael Lowe singled down the right-field line.
 
Wayland pitcher Tyler Adams, who entered the game in the eighth, induced a pair of foul-outs to first baseman Caleb Davidson to prevent further damage and ensure Wayland extra innings…at worst.
 
The Pioneers didn't need extras, though.
 
After Davidson reached base on a hard-hit grounder that got under the glove of Eagles' first baseman Drew Umbro for an error, Austin Davis sacrificed Davidson to second. That brought up the top of the order in Bass, who was 0-for-4 on the day.
 
Bass, on a 2-2 pitch, smacked a grounder up the middle that just got past the outstretched glove of second baseman Justin Braziel, allowing Davidson to score easily for the WBU win.
 
Adams (4-0), Wayland's ace to start the season who is returning from a shoulder injury, earned the win as he allowed three hits and a run with one strikeout and one walk in his two innings. Jonathan Frost, in his first appearance since throwing the sixth no-hitter in WBU history a week earlier against Bacone, started and went 5 1/3, allowing two runs (none earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. Mason Taylor also struck out three and walked one while giving up a hit in his 1 2/3 innings.
 
Senior left-hander Kyle Vail (2-2) was the hard-luck loser as he went the entire way for the Eagles, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with a dozen strikeouts and just one walk.
 
WBU scored its first run of the game in the fourth when Doyle led off with a double down the right-field line. He went to third on a wild pitch then scored when Ernesto Lizardi reached on an error by Lowe at third.
 
After the Eagles scored a pair of unearned runs in the sixth thanks in part to two WBU errors, the Pioneers immediately answered in the bottom of the inning. Mumm's lead-off single up the gut preceded another error by Lowe at third on Lizardi's sacrifice bunt. Brayden Blackwell's single through the right-side scored Mumm, then pinch-hitter Ethan Percell scored courtesy runner Tyler Grady on a sacrifice fly to left.
 
Blackwell had two of Wayland's six hits.
 
The Pioneers next travel to Tucson, Ariz., for a Spring Break classic tournament. Their first of six games against three teams from North Dakota – Valley City State, Dickinson State and Mayville State – comes at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Pioneers' next home game is a rematch with Lubbock Christian at 6 p.m. March 22. Wayland defeated the No. 6 Chaps on Tuesday, 8-5.