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Thanks to clutch hitting, better clutch pitching, and some clutch fielding to end it, the red-hot Wayland Baptist Pioneers picked up two more wins over MidAmerica Nazarene on Friday at Wilder Field, winning the first two contests of a four-game series, 5-1 and 5-4.
The wins – capped by a bases-loaded, game-ending double play to end the day – improved Wayland to 14-1, the program's best record since starting 21-1-1 in 2008. MNU, the Heart of America champion and an NAIA World Series qualifier last season, dropped to 4-4.
The teams will reconvene at Wilder Field at noon Saturday for another doubleheader.
In Friday's 5-1 opener, senior Kevin Torres struck out nine, walked two and allowed seven hits as he earned a second straight complete-game win. The reigning Sooner Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week gave up a home run on his third pitch of the day, but tossed a shutout after that to improve his record to 3-0.
The Pioneers scored all five of their runs in the third.
No. 9-hole hitter Nicholas Moore opened the inning with a double to centerfield before Yaniel Vargas was hit by a pitch. A batter later, Gregg Veneklasen laced a three-run home run – his team-best fifth of the season – to left field.
That was plenty of runs for Torres, but the Pioneers weren't through. They added two more when Nicholas Rucker walked, stole second and scored on a hard-to-handle triple by Jonathan Ottenwalder. Ottenwalder's courtesy runner, Braden Bomer, later scored on Devlin Smith's sacrifice fly to center.
MNU's Pioneers outhit WBU's Pioneers 7-4. The visitors also held a hit advantage in game two, 4-3, but once again the home team prevailed.
This time, Wayland scored all of its runs in the first two innings, getting three in the first and two more in the second.
The big hit was a double by junior right-fielder Bryan Nunez that scored three unearned runs, all resulting from an error against the MNU shortstop on Vargas' grounder to open the inning. Walks by Austin Moya and Rucker then allowed the inning to continue.
In the second, consecutive walks by Veneklasen, Rucker and Ottenwalder led to an RBI-single by Austin Moya that scored Vargas and made it 5-0.
It stayed the way until the fourth when MNU got its first hit against junior Jordie Henry. That double leader to Nazarene's first and only run against Henry (3-0), who left after five having given up just the one hit while striking out seven and walking four.
MNU's Isaac Geisinger greeted reliever Jonathan Frost with a home run, but Wayland was still in good shape, leading 5-2 going into the seventh.
Things got dicey, though, when MNU managed to push across two runs against Chris Lacher, who gave up a walk, two singles, a fielder's choice and hit a batter. Freshman Carlos Dominguez took over on the mound and, after hitting his first batter, coaxed a game-ending, 6-4-3 double-play, Vargas-to-Moore-to-Brendon Foust.
It was the first save by a WBU pitcher this season.
