Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – In his close to two decades of coaching Wayland Baptist baseball, one thing that had always eluded
Brad Bass – his white whale, one might say – was taking a series against perennial power Oklahoma City University.
Now, Bass has done it twice in three years.
No. 9-hole hitter
Taylor Grady's two-RBI single fueled a three-run ninth inning and senior
Brayden Blackwell provided the game-winning RBI that lifted Wayland to a 4-3 victory over the Stars in a Sunday afternoon battle of two of the top Sooner Athletic Conference teams. The thrilling win gave Wayland the series after the teams split Saturday's doubleheader, with the Pioneers winning the first game 5-2 and the Stars the second, 6-1.
"We've split with OCU in the past, but had never won a series (until 2014)," said Bass, who boasts over 600 wins. "Twenty-one years of it…not that I was counting."
This weekend marked the first time Wayland has won a series over OCU on the road. Two seasons agon at Wilder Field, the Pioneers took on the 10th-ranked Stars and lost the opener, 7-3, before winning 2-0 and 5-4.
The latest two victories tied Wayland (37-14, 13-8 SAC) with OCU (32-17, 13-8) in the conference standings for fourth place, although the Pioneers own teh tie-breaker based on head-to-head wins. The Stars are ranked the equivalent of 29
th in the NAIA, but have lost five of their last six games, having been swept by league-leading and 20
th-ranked Texas Wesleyan last weekend and falling from No. 13.
"This is a step in the right direction for our program," said Bass, feeling that this weekend's victories were vital to his team's hopes of securing a spot in the NAIA National Championships. "This was huge for us. It gives us a chance to get back in there (the ranking).
"I'm really, really pleased."
On Sunday in the finale of a series that was pushed back a day due to weather issues, Wayland trailed 3-1 going into the ninth. But the Pioneers came through by getting half of their six hits for the game.
"In our devotional and pre-game talk today I told the guys about my college coach at Ranger, Jack Allen, who always said he preferred a .250 hitter who got his hit in the ninth inning and our team always won," Bass said. "That's how we did it today. It was one single after another. The guys didn't want to go away. They wanted to win."
OCU reliever Carlos Chavez, who entered the game to start the ninth, recorded the 10
th strikeout of the game for Stars' pitching before the Pioneers got things cooking.
After
Ernesto Lizardi was hit by a pitch and
Austin Davis – whose solo home run in the fifth gave Wayland's its only run of the game to that point – reached on an error by the Stars' third baseman, Grady made OCU pay dearly when the second baseman representing the tail end of Wayland's batting order singled to right-field to plate both courtesy runner
Ethan Percell and Davis to tie it at 3.
That brought up the top of the Pioneer order in
Will Bass, who moved from second to short this weekend in the temporary absence of
Aaron Vallance. Bass was 0-for-9 in the series until then and down in the count 0-2 but came up clutch when it mattered most, pushing a single through the right side that kept the rally going.
Blackwell then singled to left field and brought in Grady from second to put Wayland in front for the first time. That was it for Chavez (3-2) as OCU brought in Holden Lyons to record the final two outs and keep the Pioneers from scoring any more.
But the damage was done, and Wayland pitcher
Taylor Bridges, who relieved starter
Paxton Bartley with two out in the fourth, proceeded to close the door on OCU. Bridges struck out the first two Stars batters swinging, including the top of OCU's order on a full-count pitch. After a pinch-hit single gave the Stars hope, the game ended when Wayland first baseman
Caleb Davidson caught a foul out.
"Taylor did a great job in relief," Bass said of his junior right-hander who went up against OCU's mostly left-handed batters. "He did a good job making them swing at cutters and sliders."
The game featured 22 strikeouts, 11 by each team. Bridges (8-5) fanned six for Wayland as he allowed four hits in 4 1/3 innings in relief of Bartley, who sat down five and gave up four hits and three runs in 4 2/3.
Wayland ended with six hits, two by the fill-in Grady.
The Pioneers now are 13-70 in the all-time series against OCU, which dates back to Wayland's fourth season, 1995.
"The guys played well all weekend," Bass said. "It was real good baseball."
With the win, the Pioneers head into the final week of the regular-season on a big-time high as WBU plays a road game against Lubbock Christian at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Wayland will be looking to sweep the season series against rival Chaps, having already won twice in Plainview, 8-5 and 10-8.
The Pioneers then play their final SAC series back in Oklahoma City against Mid-America Christian (19-26, 7-13) next weekend, playing a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Friday then a single game at 1 p.m. Saturday. Wayland heads back to Oklahoma City for a third straight weekend May 6-9 for the SAC Tournament to be hosted by OCU.
