Box Score WAXAHACHIE – A 10-day break didn't disrupt the momentum of the Wayland Baptist baseball team one bit.
Tanner Solomon pitched a four-hitter and Gregg Veneklasen logged three hits, three runs and five RBIs to lead the Pioneers to a 15-2 Sooner Athletic Conference win over Southwestern Assemblies of God in the opener of a three-game series here Friday afternoon.
The teams reconvene at 1 p.m. Saturday for the final two games of the regular season.
Wayland (32-17, 14-11) hadn't played since April 17 when the Pioneers swept Jarvis Christian. Including last weekend's three forfeit wins against St. Gregory's, WBU has not won 10 of its last 11 contests.
It was the second straight complete game for Solomon (4-2), a freshman who didn't give up an earned run while striking out six and walking only one. He did it on 100 pitches.
In his last start April 13, Solomon scattered nine hits and allowed just one earned run in a 10-5 victory over then No. 19 Texas Wesleyan.
Against SAGU (12-32, 5-20), which was trying to sneak its way into the top eight teams in the SAC standings and earn a spot in the conference tournament, Solomon hadn't given up any runs until the sixth when the Lions, trailing 15-0, hit a two-run home run immediately following a two-out catcher's interference call.
Wayland had put up seven runs in the top of the sixth, its biggest inning of the game. The Pioneers set the tone early with four runs in the first on just two hits, one walk and three hit-batsmen.
Ten different Pioneers contributed to the team's 16 hits, with Veneklasen going 3-for-5. The senior hit a two-run double in the first, a run-scoring double in the second, and a two-run home run in the sixth to increase his season homer total to 19, one behind the NAIA leader.
Yaniel Vargas, Austin Moya, Brendon Foust and Jonathan Ottenwalder got two hits apiece. Like Veneklasen, Ottenwalder hit a two-run homer in the sixth, and, also like Veneklasen, Vargas and Foust got two doubles each. Ottenwalder had one double and three RBIs.
