Pioneers earn pair of wins over Bacone

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Thanks in large part to stellar pitching from Kevin Torres, Tristen Hefner and Jonathan Frost, as well as clutch hitting by Nick Rucker, Wayland Baptist picked up a couple of much-needed, momentum-building wins Friday at Wilder Field, defeating Bacone College in the first two games of a regular-season-ending series, 12-1 and 4-3.
 
The Pioneers (21-26, 9-14 Sooner Athletic Conference) will attempt to pull off the sweep beginning at noon Saturday. Prior to the game, Wayland will recognize the seven senior members of the team prior to their final games at Wilder.
 
In Friday's first game, Bacone (5-46, 1-22) scored in the first inning but none after that, while the Pioneers scored in every at-bat but their first.
 
Torres (6-4), a junior, tossed a six-hitter, striking out six and walking just one as he offered 109 pitches.
 
Wayland ended with a dozen hits, including three by senior catcher Ernesto Lizardi who also had three RBI. Seniors Will Bass and Alex Mumm and junior Hector Romero contributed two hits each, with Mumm getting three RBI and senior Caleb Davidson two.
 
Senior Austin Davis hit his third home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth. By then, the Pioneers were already well in control, having scored twice in the second inning and four more in the third. They added three runs in the fourth and a pair in the fifth.
 
Game 2 was much closer. In fact, it wasn't decided until Rucker, a sophomore right-fielder from Austin, delivered a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh to win it.
 
The Pioneers took a 3-2 lead into the seventh, but the Warriors – winners of just one of their last 32 games – managed to tie it one a pair of singles, and two groundouts. After another single and a walk loaded the bases, Wayland coach Brad Bass brought in Jonathan Frost.
 
The junior from Alpine threw just four pitches and struck out Pedro Pintor to retire the side and put the game on the bats of the Pioneers.
 
They delivered.
 
After Derek Farmer drew a one-out walk, Bacone starter Kyler Johnston (2-10) was lifted for left-hander Cameron Ball, who on his third offering plunked first baseman Paxton Covel, advancing pinch-runner Taylor Grady to second.
 
That brought Rucker to the plate. The sophomore who homered in just his sixth at-bat of the season to fuel a rally Tuesday against New Mexico Highlands, again came through when he smacked a double to right-center field that easily scored Grady with the game-winner.
 
Frost earned the four-pitch win, his first of the season, after Hefner did most of the heavy lifting, allowing three runs on 11 hits with five strikeouts and a walk in 6 2/3 innings.
 
The Pioneers finished with just six hits, including two from Romero. Covel had two RBI on a single through the right-side that plated Bass in the first inning and on a groundout in the third that scored Grady. Romero scored earlier in the inning as the result of a throwing error by the Bacone catcher when Grady stole second.