Box Score Tanner Solomon proved up to the task as the freshman pitcher led Wayland Baptist to a 10-5 victory over 19th-ranked and Sooner Athletic Conference-leading Texas Wesleyan on Friday afternoon at Wilder Field.
Sophomore first baseman Brendon Foust went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and Nick Rucker scored four runs in the game that ended just before the scheduled doubleheader was halted due to lightning. After a one-hour delay, game two was postponed until 1 p.m. Saturday when the Pioneers and Rams will play that seven-inning contest followed by the nine-game series finale.
Saturday is Senior Day as the Pioneers play their final regular-season home games. Seven senior members of the team will be introduced beginning at 12:50 p.m.
On Friday, the Pioneers (25-16, 12-10) were clutch against the Rams (30-8, 16-3), who came to town riding a 17-game winning streak.
It didn't take long for Wayland to get rolling as the Pioneers scored three first-inning runs, all with two outs. Gregg Veneklasen started it with a single, then after Nick Rucker was hit by a pitch Foust hit a three-run, opposite-field home run mostly into a 35-mph wind to right field.
Wesleyan got two runs back on a homer in the second, but Wayland responded with a pair of solo shots by Rucker and Jonathan Ottenwalder in the third.
A solo homer by Wesleyan in the fourth was answered by Wayland in the fifth when the Pioneers had the bases loaded with no outs after singles by Rucker and Foust and a walk by Matt Flores. WBU got only one run out of it, though, on a deep sacrifice fly to center by Ottenwalder.
Wesleyan doubled to lead off the sixth, but the Pioneers came away unscathed thanks to an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double-play turned by Yaniel Vargas, Flores and Foust.
Wayland iced the game in the bottom of that frame, scoring four runs on four hits and one error that allowed Moya to reach. Veneklasen's RBI-double was followed by an intentional walk to Rucker before Foust delivered a two-RBI single to right. Flores singled to center and Ottenwalder was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Bryan Nunez came through with an RBI-single to get the Pioneers to double-digit runs.
Things got a bit sloppy in the seventh when the Rams got two runs on two hits and two errors, but Solomon (4-1) never panicked as he closed out his first complete game of the season in just his third start. The freshman threw 105 pitches as he scattered nine hits while striking out two and walking two. Only one of the five runs charged against him was earned.
