Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 LAS VEGAS, N.M. – After suffering a gut-wrenching loss on a two-run, two-out, walk-off home run in the extra-inning opener, the Wayland Baptist baseball team bounced back with an 18-13 victory over New Mexico Highlands in a non-conference doubleheader here Tuesday afternoon. Wayland dropped the first game, 13-12.
In somewhat of an oddity, freshman pitcher
Chris Lacher earned the decision in both games against the NCAA Division II Cowboys.
Wayland (22-15), which dropped out of the NAIA Top 25 when the poll was released earlier in the day, didn't sulk about the hard-to-swallow setback in game one. The Pioneers scored five big runs in the first inning of the second game then proceeded to score in all but two innings as Wayland enjoyed its third-highest run total of the season.
Despite the big early lead, the game was close throughout as the Cowboys (11-23) scored four in the bottom of the first. It wasn't until the fifth, which Wayland entered clinging to an 11-9 lead, that the Pioneers could begin to feel comfortable again after scoring five more runs, four on two-run homers by
Brendon Foust and
Bryan Nunez. WBU had doubled up Highlands, 18-9, until the Cowboys scored two runs in each of their last two at-bats to account for the 18-13 final.
The Pioneers matched a season-high with 20 hits, including a 4-for-5 effort by
Gregg Veneklasen, who also had three runs and three RBIs. Veneklasen homered (he also went deep in game 1) to increase his NAIA-leading total to 17, four more than his closest challenger.
Matt Flores went 3-for-4 (single, double & triple) with five runs and a pair of RBIs while Foust also was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. Getting two hits apiece were
Austin Moya, Nunez who had four RBIs,
Derek Farmer and
Andy McEachern.
Flores' five runs matched a team record held by several players, most recently Brian Embery in 2011.
Lacher (3-2), the third of four WBU pitchers, picked up the win by allowing two runs on two hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Carlos Dominguez started and recorded just one out as he gave up four runs on two hits and two walks.
Tanner Solomon relieved and lasted three frames, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Brayden Price pitched the seventh, giving up a pair of runs on a hit and two walks.
The game saw just five total strikeouts, three by Wayland pitchers and two by Highlands' six hurlers.
In the opener, Highlands blew up a close game with a six-run fourth to take a 9-4 lead, but the Pioneers rallied with six runs of their own in the sixth to go in front 11-9. In that inning, two WBU runs scored on passed balls and two on a homer by Veneklasen.
Highlands scraped together a run in each of sixth and seventh innings to tie it at 11-all. In the seventh, the Cowboys had the bases loaded with no outs against senior
Kevin Torres, but managed only the one run on a one-out sacrifice fly.
Moya led off Wayland's eighth with a triple. Two strikeouts later, Foust drove him in with the go-ahead run with a double down the left-field line.
It wasn't enough, however.
Jonathan Frost took over for Torres and after recording two outs on a fly to right and a strikeout gave up a single to left-center. Lacher took over on the mound and surrendered the walk-off home run to Carlos Ramirez.
Wayland ended with 13 hits; Highlands got 14. Both teams had one error each.
It was the Pioneers' season-high fourth straight loss.
WBU returns to Sooner Athletic Conference play in Muskogee, Okla., where the Pioneers take on Bacone College (12-22, 7-11) in a three-game set beginning with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Friday followed by a single game at noon Saturday. The Warriors have won their last two SAC series, sweeping last-place Central Christian and taking two from Mid-America Christian.
NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll – No. 3 (April 3, 2018)
| RANK |
PRVS* |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Faulkner (Ala.) (18) |
33-3 |
498 |
| 2 |
2 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
26-7 |
475 |
| 3 |
3 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
40-2 |
473 |
| 4 |
5 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
24-5 |
439 |
| 5 |
7 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
34-4 |
429 |
| 6 |
4 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
31-4 |
421 |
| 7 |
8 |
Science & Arts (Okla.) |
27-4 |
408 |
| 8 |
6 |
William Jessup (Calif.) |
33-8 |
380 |
| 9 |
10 |
Oklahoma City |
27-4 |
371 |
| 10 |
9 |
Bryan (Tenn.) |
28-7 |
359 |
| 11 |
11 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
25-10 |
337 |
| 12 |
20 |
Lyon (Ark.) |
26-7 |
293 |
| 13 |
14 |
Mobile (Ala.) |
30-10 |
284 |
| 14 |
16 |
Point Park (Pa.) |
25-2 |
268 |
| 15 |
12 |
Jamestown (N.D.) |
27-4 |
266 |
| 16 |
13 |
Keiser (Fla.) |
25-11 |
264 |
| 17 |
15 |
Middle Georgia State |
28-11 |
250 |
| 18 |
17 |
Antelope Valley (Calif.) |
27-9-1 |
233 |
| 19 |
18 |
Texas Wesleyan |
25-7 |
220 |
| 20 |
19 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
18-9 |
192 |
| 21 |
21 |
Texas A&M-Texarkana |
26-8 |
175 |
| 22 |
22 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
25-7 |
163 |
| 23 |
RV |
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
29-3 |
145 |
| 24 |
24 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
23-8 |
133 |
| 25 |
RV |
Friends (Kan.) |
24-10 |
112 |
Dropped from the Top 25 Poll: Wayland Baptist (Texas) (No. 23); Cumberlands (Tenn.) (No. 25)
Others receiving votes: Westmont (Calif.) 69; Reinhardt (Ga.) 64; IU Southeast (Ind.) 54; Cumberland (Tenn.) 46; Columbia (Mo.) 32; LSU Shreveport (La.) 27; Tennessee Wesleyan 26; Webber International (Fla.) 23; University of Northwestern Ohio 6; Vanguard (Calif.) 3.
*Ranking from 2018 Poll No. 2 (March 20, 2018)
