Box Score WAXAHACHIE – Wayland Baptist's three-game Sooner Athletic Conference series against Southwestern Assemblies of God ended on a much higher note than it started as the Pioneers rolled to a lopsided 16-2, seven-inning victory on Saturday afternoon at Waxahachie Sports Complex.
After being shut out in the series opener on Friday, 3-0, before Wayland won game two, 5-3 in eight innings, the rubber match was never close. Wayland scored seven runs in the first and eight more in the second to take command of the game.
Freshman
Broedy Burris pitched a five-hitter while at the plate
Hector Romero had three hits and
Gregg Veneklasen four RBI.
Paxton Covel and
Alex Mumm had two hits and two RBI apiece. Ten different players recorded the Pioneers' 16 hits.
The win moved Wayland (18-20, 6-9 SAC) into sole possession of sixth place in the conference, a game ahead of SAGU (14-27, 5-10).
The series marked the last regular-season road games for the Pioneers, who play their final 10 pre-playoff contests at Wilder Field, beginning with a series against second-ranked Oklahoma City (37-15, 14-1) next week. WBU and OCU square off in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday followed by a single game at noon Friday.
The Stars had an 18-game winning streak snapped Saturday by No. 12 Texas Wesleyan (28-11, 10-5). After OCU defeated the Rams on Friday, 9-8 in 13 innings, and in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, 7-3, Wesleyan won the series finale in Oklahoma City, 12-3.
Saturday's game against SAGU couldn't have started much better for Wayland.
After
Will Bass and Romero singled to open the game, Veneklasen delivered a three-run home run, his team-best 12
th of the season.
The Pioneers went on to record four more runs on five additional hits and on SAGU error.
The Lions scored their only two runs off Burris in the bottom of the first, both unearned after WBU's lone error of the day.
The Pioneers came up with an even bigger inning in the second, scoring eight runs on four hits, two walks, a pair of hit-batsmen, and another SAGU error. Mumm and
Caleb Davidson smacked back-to-back doubles to plate the first run. The next seven runs crossed with two outs and on the heels of the costly Lions error.
Paxton Covel, who started the inning by striking out, redeemed himself the next time through with a bases-loaded, two-RBI single. Mumm came through with a double to deep left for his second hit of the inning that scored the final two runs.
Sitting on a 15-2 lead, Burris and Wayland's defense took over from there. Burris wasn't overpowering as he struck out two, but the freshman from Denver City pitched shutout ball the final six innings, allowing three walks and just two hits after the second. He retired the Lions three-up, three-down in both the sixth and seventh as he improved to 5-3.
