Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 |
Box Score 3
A long day at the ballpark – a nine-plus-hour triple-header featuring 23 innings – ended in joyous fashion for Wayland Baptist when Brendon Foust delivered another walk-off hit for the Pioneers, lifting WBU to a 7-6 victory over Peru State College (Neb.) on Friday night. Wayland won the opening game with ease, 22-7, before suffering its first loss of the season in game two, 8-4.
The three games came about when coaches decided against playing back-to-back doubleheaders due to expected bitter cold temperatures Saturday. Instead, they opted to play a tripleheader that saw the Pioneers and Bobcats take the field at 1 p.m. and finally leave it around 11:15. Temperatures were near 70 when play began and in the 30s when it ended.
The extra-long day was worth it for the Pioneers (6-1), who in their final action before the start of conference play picked up two more wins to get the team off to its best start in eight years. They games were the season-opener for Peru State (1-2), which committed 13 errors on the day.
The thrilling conclusion to the tripleheader came after Wayland rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh– Austin Moya scoring on a wild pitch and Gregg Veneklasen on Nick Rucker's sacrifice fly – that tied it at 6-all, forcing extra innings. The Pioneers shut out Peru State in the eighth and ninth, including Wayland pitcher Tanner Solomon striking out the final two batters looking – before the Pioneers wrote the happy ending.
Rucker delivered a one-out double down the left-field line, Jacob Adams boarded on an error on the center fielder, then Foust came through with a two-out single to left that easily scored Rucker with the unearned game-winner.
It was Wayland's fourth walk-off win in six victories.
Solomon, a 150-pound, fast-working freshman from Phoenix, earned the win with five impressive shutout innings in which he allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five. He combined with starter Jordie Henry and Matt Flores for a dozen Ks and six hits.
Wayland ended with nine hits, two each by Nicholas Moore, Moya who tripled, and Rucker who doubled twice. Veneklasen scored three runs and Rucker two.
In the opener, the Pioneers scored in every inning they batted as they skated to a 22-7 victory. Wayland ended with 16 hits by 11 different players, including three each by Moya and Rucker. Moya ended 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs while Rucker went 3-for-3 with a run and five RBI. Veneklasen scored four runs and Yaniel Vargas three. Hogan Penny had a pair of hits and RBI.
Freshman Andy McEachern hit a grand slam in the fifth, one of three innings in which Wayland scored five runs.
Starter Brayden Price earned the win as he pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up two hits.
In the second game, the Bobcats made the most of a six-run sixth inning as they handed Wayland its first loss of the season, 8-4.
The Pioneers led 3-0 after five, and senior starter Kevin Torres was cruising on the mound, having allowed no hits with seven strikeouts through five. But Peru State's bats suddenly came to life in the sixth when the Bobcats scored six runs on six hits off Torres and Tristen Hefner, then two more runs in the seventh off Caleb Swofford.
Wayland ended with five hits, two by Veneklasen who also scored twice.
The Pioneers' 6-1 start is their best since 2010 when Wayland, ranked 14th in the NAIA, lost its second game of the season but won the next 12 to stand 13-1.
Next for WBU is the start of Sooner Athletic Conference play next weekend in McPherson, Kan., against league newcomer Central Christian. The Tigers are 1-11, having just lost a four-game set to No. 5 Oklahoma Wesleyan by a combined score of 36-4.
The Pioneers return to Wilder Field Feb. 23 and 24 to host another SAC rookie, Oklahoma Panhandle State.
