De La Cruz puts on show for dad

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Gaby De La Cruz's father is going to have to come to town more often.
 
Playing in front of his dad, Frank, for the first time on the college level, De La Cruz went 3-for-4 in each game of a doubleheader to lead 20^th-ranked Wayland Baptist to a sweep of Peru State (Neb.) on Friday afternoon at Wilder Field, 8-3 and 12-6.
 
De La Cruz, a senior designated hitter from Puerto Rico, also scored four runs and knocked in three others for the Pioneers (7-5), who have defeated the Bobcats for the seventh straight time. They'll try to make it nine in a row on Saturday when the teams square off for another doubleheader starting at noon.
 
Playing its season-opener, Peru State tallied the first run of Friday's action, but the Pioneers did most of the scoring after that. In fact, after the Bobcats took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning of the opener, Wayland scored twice in the bottom half and never trailed the rest of the day.
 
Wayland delivered 11 hits in the first game and 14 in the second, and it was De La Cruz leading the way. His most impressive stroke of the day was a solo home run he blasted over the left-centerfield fence and onto the roof of Hutcherson Center in the fifth inning of game two.
 
That gave the Pioneers a commanding 12-2 lead and plenty of cushion to fend off Peru State's four-run sixth inning.
 
Six WBU players managed two-hit games – three in the opener and three in the second game. Catcher Ernesto Lizardi went 2-for-3 with two doubles in the first game to improve his team-leading batting average to .581, second in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
 
Gregg Veneklasen hit his sixth home run, tying him for the lead in the NAIA.
 
Brendan Foust, with a pair of doubles, and freshman Dylan Norris also went 2-for-3 in the opener, as did Will Bass, Hector Romero and Taylor Grady in the nightcap. Both of Bass' hits were doubles, while Caleb Davidson smacked his first homer since the season-opener, a first-inning grand slam.
 
Junior Matt Flores (2-1) earned the win in the first game, giving up just one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts and a walk over six innings. Kevin Torres came on for the final three outs.
 
In the second contest, freshman Broedy Burris improved to 3-1 by scattering five hits and three walks over five innings with four Ks. Another freshman, Kyle Eifert, took over for Jonathan Frost and notched the final four outs.