Bass says Pioneers are 'ready to roll'

Tournament Central  Now that Wayland Baptist has made it into the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, Brad Bass believes the Pioneers need to take their game to another level.

The veteran head coach thinks his team can take their game to another level and, more importantly, he thinks they will.

"I really don't believe anybody has seen our best yet," Bass said.

That's encouraging news for the Pioneers, who already have won a school-record 44 games and made it to the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round for the second time. The Pioneers were announced on Friday as an at-large team into the 45-team field and will compete in one of nine five-team, double-elimination tournaments.

For 23^rd-ranked Wayland, that tournament is in Hutchinson, Kan., and begins with a first-round game against No. 13 Tabor College (42-16) at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Located in Hillsboro, Kan., Tabor, which has qualified for the NAIA World Series the past two seasons, is hosting the tournament at Hobart-Detter Field in nearby Hutchinson.

All Wayland games will be broadcast beginning 15 minutes before the first pitch on 1090-AM in Plainview, 1590-AM in Lubbock and on https://www.network1sports.com/station/plainview.

While Wayland (44-15) rose one spot in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll after finishing as Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament runner-up, Tabor's Bluejays dropped from ninth to No. 13 on the heels of a 1-2 showing in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. Tabor qualified for its fifth national tournament by virtue of winning the KCAC regular-season title.

Tabor's strength appears to be offense. The second-seeded Bluejays (Wayland is seeded third in the bracket) are tied with fellow KCAC member and ninth-ranked Sterling, Kan., for No. 1 in the NAIA in team batting average at .356. (Wayland's .337 team batting average ranks 15^th.) Tabor averages almost 12 hits and over nine runs per game, both second in the NAIA.

Individually, Manny DeLeon is Tabor's biggest bat. The senior left-hander from the Dominican Republic leads the NAIA in home runs with 24 and RBI with 103, and he's fifth in batting average at .455.

Another key offensive threat for the Bluejays is Michael Baca, a senior from Amarillo who ranks in the top five in runs scored (80).

On the mound, Tabor's winningest arms belong to a couple of right-handed seniors from California in Thomas Longworth (10-4, 4.76 ERA, 43 SO) and Gregory Turner (8-4, 4.89 ERA, 52 SO).

Wayland, meanwhile, hopes to have senior Tyler Adams back in its pitching arsenal after the senior ace missed the last two weekends with a shoulder injury. Adams hasn't pitched in a game since April 23.

"This is the first time in a long time where we feel we're pretty healthy," said Bass, who is keeping his fingers crossed on Adams' availability.
 
The winner between Wayland and Tabor plays again at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of a Tuesday night game between SAC Tournament winner Science and Arts of Oklahoma (45-11), ranked 11^th, and the winner between a Tuesday morning game between fourth-seeded Morningside, Iowa, (43-14) and fifth-seeded Mayville State (N.D.) (31-28).
 
The Tabor-Wayland loser plays an elimination game at 11 a.m. Wednesday against the Morningside-Mayville State loser.
 
Wayland is familiar with both USAO and Mayville State. The Pioneers won the conference series against the Drovers two games to one before USAO won its first SAC Tournament title with a 4-2 win. Meanwhile, Wayland and Mayville met up at the Tucson Invitational over Spring Break, with the Pioneers winning both, 9-4 and 13-10.
 
Bass thinks the fact Wayland has played the Drovers and Comets previously helps his team.
 
"The more you play somebody and the more information you have the better prepared your pitching staff is. That allows you to put together a more complete game plans, and our guys are pretty good at executing their game plans," Bass said.
 
Morningside earned its first trip to nationals after winning the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament, while Mayville State finished as runner-up in the North Star Athletic Association.
 
The championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with the "if necessary" game at 1 p.m. Friday.
 
The winner advances as one of 10 teams to the Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series to be held in Lewiston, Idaho, May 27-June 3.
 
Bass said the Pioneers are excited about making Wayland's second trip to nationals in the eight years the NAIA has competed under the current format.
 
"As soon as we found out (Wayland qualified) they took off for the field, and guys were going to the cages all night," he said.
 
The coach added that he believes the Pioneers have a good shot at taking the next step and qualifying for their first-ever trip to the World Series.
 
"Everybody has as good a shot as anybody else. The team that plays defense and pitches is probably going to advance," he said, adding that the Pioneers are playing solid overall baseball, having won eight in a row prior to the narrow loss to USAO.
 
"We went through the best that the SAC has and played really well," he said. "I think we're ready to roll."
  Tuesday, May 17
Game 1 – 11 a.m. – No. 4 Morningside (Iowa) vs. No. 5 Mayville State (N.D.)
Game 2 – 2:30 p.m. – No. 2 Tabor (Kan.) vs. No. 3 Wayland Baptist (Texas)
Game 3 – 6 p.m. – No. 1 Science & Arts (Okla.) vs. Game 1 winner
Wednesday, May 18
Game 4 – 11 a.m. – Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 5 – 2:30 p.m. – Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner
Game 6 – 6 p.m. – Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner
Thursday, May 19
Game 7 – 4:30 p.m. – Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 winner
Game 8 – 7:30 p.m. – Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner
Friday, May 20
Game 9 (if necessary) – 1 p.m. – Game 8 winner vs. Game 8 loser
(Winner advances to Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series, May 27-June 3, Lewiston, Idaho)