Veneklasen, Percell, Henry lead Pioneers to 5-2 victory

Box Score Gregg Veneklasen recorded three hits and drove in three runs, and the winning run scored on a bases-loaded balk as Wayland Baptist recorded a 5-2 victory over the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in the rubber game of a key Sooner Athletic Conference series on Saturday afternoon at Wilder Field.
 
Jordie Henry led four Pioneer pitchers as Wayland (29-9, 6-3 SAC) minimized damage from nine USAO hits, thanks in large part to excellent defense that included a grand-slam stealing play by left-fielder Ethan Percell and three double-plays.
 
Percell's play came in the sixth inning with Wayland clinging to a 2-1 lead. On the first pitch after Kyle Parriera relieved Henry with the bases loaded and one out, USAO's Raul Centeno sent a deep drive to left field. Percell backed into the fence that guards the visitors' bullpen and leaped high into the air, knocking down the grand-slam ball that would have given the Drovers (23-9, 5-4) a 5-2 lead.
 
Instead, only one run scored, and the Pioneers turned one of their double plays – Parriera to catcher Ernesto Lizardi to first baseman Caleb Davidson – on the next batter to end the inning.
 
Wayland scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the same inning. The Pioneers loaded the bases on a single by Brayden Blackwell, a walk to Davidson, and a hit-by-pitch on Austin Davis. With two outs, USAO lefty Alsis Herrera was called for a balk when catcher Centeno stood up and yelled for a timeout. It was granted, and when Herrera held off throwing the ball to home at the last second, the umpire ruled a balk, bringing Blackwell home for a 3-2 Wayland lead.
 
Three pitches later, the Drovers recorded the third out on a groundout to the pitcher.
 
Wayland added insurance runs in both of the seventh and eighth  innings, first on an RBI-double by Lizardi that scored Veneklasen, who reached on an error, then on an RBI-single by Veneklasen that scored Davidson after he was hit by a pitch and sacrificed into scoring position by Austin Davis.
 
The Pioneers scored their first run when Wayland's first three batters of the game – Bass, Aaron Vallance and Veneklasen – all singled. When the Drovers tied it in the fifth, Wayland got it right back in the bottom of the inning on Veneklasen's RBI-double to right-field that scored a hustling Vallance, who led off with a walk, from first.
 
Henry allowed two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks in his 5 1/3 innings. Parriera (1-0) earned his first win of the season after just an inning of work. Kevin Torres also threw an inning before Paxton Bartley closed it out by recording the final five outs, allowing no hits and striking out the final two batters.
 
Bartley entered with two on and one out in the eighth, and on his third pitch got Centeno to ground into an inning-ending double-play turned beautifully by shortstop Vallance and second baseman Bass.
 
The victory gave Wayland the series between teams who went into the weekend tied for second place in the conference. On Friday, Wayland won 1-0 on Tyler Adams' four-hit shutout and Austin Davis' solo home run before the Drovers won game two, 12-2.
 
Wayland's next games are against St. Gregory's (18-6, 6-5) in a series at Wilder Field that's been shuffled. The teams will play a single game at 5:30 p.m. Friday before playing two Saturday tentatively starting at 1 p.m.