#25 Pioneers sweep St. Greg's, tie OCU for first

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Wayland Baptist solidified its place near the top of the Sooner Athletic Conference standings by completing a sweep of St. Gregory's University on Saturday afternoon at Wilder Field, winning the first game 5-1 before taking game two, 7-2. The wins came after the 25^th-ranked Pioneers (32-9, 9-3 SAC) rolled to a 12-2 victory Friday.
 
The wins helped Wayland move to the top of the conference standings in a tie with No. 13 Oklahoma City (28-11, 9-3), which dropped two of three games this week to University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
 
Pitchers Taylor Bridges and Jordie Henry followed Tyler Adams' lead from Friday when he tossed a five-hitter. On Saturday, Bridges (7-3) gave up five hits and one run over six innings in the opener before Henry (6-1) allowed a pair of runs on five hits with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings in the series finale. Kyle Parriera closed out the first win while Kevin Torres and Paxton Bartley wrapped up game two.
 
On offense, Gregg Veneklasen was the big bat for the Pioneers as he went 5-for-7 on the day with five RBIs and three runs scored. Veneklasen knocked a pair of home runs on the afternoon, including one that bounced off the top of the Cavalier center-fielder's glove and over the fence.
 
After recording a dozen hits Friday, the Pioneers got seven in Saturday's first game before pounding out 13 in the second. In that one, Wayland's first five hitters – Will Bass, Aaron Vallance, Veneklasen, Alex Mumm and Ernesto Lizardi – all had at least two hits as they combined for all but one of the Pioneers' 13 hits.
 
In the first game, the Cavaliers (18-20, 6-8) took a 1-0 lead in the second on a walk, a sacrifice and a single. But that's all the runs Wayland allowed the rest of the way, and it was just a matter of time before the Pioneers' bats got going, which they did beginning in the bottom of the second on Caleb Davidson's double that led to him tying the score on an RBI-sacrifice fly by Brayden Blackwell.
 
Veneklasen's first home run of the day – the one off the SGU centerfielder's glove – came in the third and proved to be the game-winner, although the Pioneers put up three more in the fourth on a two-RBI double by Vallance – which followed a pair of two-out walks – then an RBI-triple by Veneklasen.
 
The game ended on a nice play by second baseman Bass, who after diving in shallow right-field to catch a grounder in the hole rolled and made an on-target throw to pitcher Kyle Parriera covering at first for the final out.
 
Game two was scoreless until the bottom of the third when the Pioneers put up three runs, the first two on RBI-singles by Veneklasen and Lizardi. Davidson's sacrifice fly-out made it 3-0.
 
The Cavaliers rallied a bit in the fifth with a pair of solo home runs, but Veneklasen answered with a two-run shot – his team-leading 10^th dinger – in the bottom of the frame before Mumm doubled and Lizardi drove him home with a single up the middle. The Pioneers' final run came in the sixth when Bass and Vallance hit back-to-back, two-out doubles.
 
Henry, Torres and Bartley combined to strike out eight, with Henry getting five and Bartley two in his lone inning of work.
 
After playing their last seven games at home, the Pioneers now head to Fort Worth to face Texas Wesleyan (23-14, 8-4) next weekend. The Pioneers and Rams, who have won eight straight, play a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Friday then a single game at 11 a.m. Saturday.
 
Wayland then returns home for its final SAC series against Southwestern Assemblies of God on April 15 and 16 before going on the road for the final two conference series against OCU and Mid-America Christian.