Pioneers end series with 8-3 win

OKLAHOMA CITY – Nick Rucker and Gregg Veneklasen came up big at the plate, and Juan Arroyo did the same on the mound as the 23^rd-ranked Wayland Baptist Pioneers wrapped up their Sooner Athletic Conference series with Mid-America Christian here Saturday afternoon with an 8-3 win.

Rucker ended 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs, four RBIs and two runs scored, while Veneklasen was a perfect 4-for-4 with a homer, a walk, three runs and two RBIs.

The victory followed a pair of tough losses on Friday, 3-2 and 6-4, so Saturday's victory is meaningful, according to Wayland coach Brad Bass.

"Avoiding a sweep is huge," he said. "It showed a lot of character. When you lose the first two games of a series – and you could at least field an argument that we gave them away since we didn't play very well defensively – teams with less character might have a bad third game, too. But the guys did what they needed to."

Especially Arroyo.

"Juan showed a lot of guts," Bass said, explaining that his pitcher had an arm issue on the first pitch of the game.

But after giving up a lead-off single and walking the next batter, the Pioneer defense turned a double-play. Arroyo then struck out the next batter to get out unscathed.

Bass said the double-play was critical.

"Usually momentum is controlled by your starting pitcher, and after Juan had that arm issue I wasn't sure where it was going," the coach said. "The double-play not only helped Juan but it was confidence-building for our defense, too, because we didn't play very well (Friday).

"After that Juan pitched amazingly well. That was a good momentum swing."

Wayland's big inning was the fifth. Clinging to a 1-0 lead since the first, the Pioneers added three to it in the fifth when Veneklasen and Rucker slapped back-to-back, two-out dingers. Veneklasen's, a two-run shot to left, was his NAIA-leading 14^th of the season that extended the career program record he broke on Tuesday to 47.

WBU went up 6-0 in the sixth when Devlin Smith joined the homer barrage with a two-run blast, his third of the season.

On the mound, Arroyo, a junior left-hander from Puerto Rico, was cruising, using an effective slider to allow just two hits through six.

The Evangels finally warmed up their bats in the seventh and Arroyo sat down after 97 pitches, having given up three runs on four hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. The nine Ks matches senior Kevin Torres for the most in a single game this season for the Pioneers.

Bass called it one of his pitching staff's better starts of the season, especially considering the circumstances with Arroyo's suspect arm.

"He battled through some forearm stuff to help win a much-needed game," Bass said. "He went over and above and did a great job."

Jonathan Frost replaced Arroyo and recorded two outs before Carlos Dominguez relieved and finished out the inning, and the game. The freshman went 2 1/3, allowing no runs and no hits with one walk and a strikeout for his first save of the season.

Dominguez's teammates, meanwhile, gave him two more cushion runs in the eighth. After Veneklasen doubled, Rucker – again on a 0-0 count – belted his second homer of the day and seventh of season.

Wayland ended with 15 hits. Besides the seven by Rucker and Veneklasen, Smith, Yaniel Vargas, Jonathan Ottenwalder and Matt Flores provided two each to account for all 15.

"We scored runs in buckets at times," Bass said, adding that it's nice when Rucker and Veneklasen are both swinging the bat. "When you have those two guys hitting it's going to be a pretty good day. That made a big difference."

It was the first loss of the season for MACU's Ben Donnell (4-1).

In the series opener Friday, Wayland took a 2-0 lead in the second when Smith delivered a bases-loaded double. The Evangels got both runs back in the fourth on a home run by Luis Sanchez off Torres.

Neither team threatened to score again until the bottom of the seventh when the Evangels scratched together the winning run. After Raymond Rodriguez singled, Antonio Dorado drew a one-out walk, only the second of the game against Torres.

Frost relieved and Diego Pichardo came up with a walk-off RBI-single to center.

Torres (3-2) was the hard-luck loser, his second straight. He gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked two.

MACU's Keisy Portorreal improved to 7-2 in pitching the six-hit complete game. He walked two and struck out six.

Friday's second game saw the Evangels strike for three unearned runs in the third before the Pioneers rallied. Wayland got single runs in the fourth (on an RBI-double by Floers) and sixth (on Austin Moya's bases-loaded walk) but went to the seventh down 6-2 after MACU plated two in the fifth and another unearned run in the sixth on the last of WBU's four errors.

Rucker opened the seventh with a double then Ottenwalder walked. After Jake White took over for reliever Jairo Aparicio who recorded just one out after spelling starter Reid Wall after 5 2/3, Brendon Foust greeted him with a single that loaded the bases. Foust ended the day 4-for-4, recording half of Wayland's eight hits.

A single by Flores plated Rucker, then Ottenwalder scored when Derek Farmer grounded into a 6-4-3 double-play. Bryan Nunez drew a walk before the game ended on Vargas' line-drive out to second.

Wayland stranded a dozen base runners.

Freshman Bradden Kennard (1-4) went 4 1/3, giving up five runs (two earned) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Brayden Price went 1 1/3 innings in relief, allowing an unearned run on two hits, before Chris Lacher recorded the final out.

"We didn't play very good defense (Friday) and gave some runs away that ended up costing us," Bass said. "We had three good starts this weekend; each of the pitchers did a good job. We just couldn't score enough runs (Friday) to cover up our mistakes. Today I think we made every play."

The Pioneers now stand at 21-11 on the season and 9-6 in the conference. Wayland is in fifth place in the 10-team league, a game behind MACU (23-11, 10-5). No. 8 USAO (23-4, 10-1) is in first, followed by No. 18 Texas Wesleyan (20-7, 10-2) and No. 10 Oklahoma City (23-5, 11-3).

Wayland is back in action at 6 p.m. Tuesday at home for a non-conference game against McMurry. It will be the second meeting of the season with the War Hawks, who won in Abilene on March 6, 10-2.

The Pioneers are back at Wilder Field next weekend for a three-game SAC series against No. 11 USAO. A doubleheader starts at 4 p.m. Friday followed by a single game at noon Saturday.