Wayland Baptist came out on both ends – the wrong, then the right – of a pair of down-to-the-wire, Sooner Athletic Conference games against Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Saturday afternoon at Wilder Field.
After a crushing 11-7 defeat that came on a ninth-inning grand slam by the Lions, the Pioneers bounced back and pulled out an 8-6 victory in game 2 by scoring the go-ahead runs on a pair of wild pitches.
The outcomes leave Wayland with records of 17-9 overall and 6-4 in the conference, while the Lions move to 16-13, 5-5. The teams will play the rubber match at 1 p.m. Sunday. (The series was delayed from Friday/Saturday due to the threat of rainy weather.)
In Saturday's opener, Wayland – wearing purple jerseys on Strike Out Cancer Day – led most of the game and ended with more hits (a season-high vs. 10 for SAGU) and fewer errors (3-0) than the Lions. But none of that mattered when the visitors from Waxahachie were able to manufacture single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game at 7-all.
Then, when the Pioneers left the door open by stranding six runners in the fifth through eighth frames (they stranded 11 total), the Lions took advantage in the ninth when – after loading the bases on a hit-batsman, double and intentional walk – senior shortstop Houston Johnson delivered a two-out grand slam.
It was Johnson's second home run of the game and the season.
Wayland also had a two-run home run shortstop in
Gregory Ozuna. The junior's first was a solo shot in the opening inning, which followed a blast by
Yaniel Vargas in Wayland's first at-bat of the day. Ozuna's second homer – his team-high sixth of the season – was a two-run shot in the fourth which came after the Lions scored three in the top of that inning to take a 5-4 lead.
Brendon Foust followed Ozuna's homer with an RBI-double that put WBU up 7-5, but the Lions tied it by scoring a run on two doubles in the fifth then two singles and a sacrifice bunt in the sixth.
Ozuna, who also had an RBI-double in the second when
Daniel Goncalves came through with an RBI-triple, ended 3-for-4 with four RBI and a pair of runs. Vargas and catcher Jake Greeen both finished 3-for-5 while Foust,
Devlin Smith and
Jacob Adams produced two hits each.
Cesar Paz (1-1), the last of four Pioneer pitchers, suffered the loss.
As much as that loss stung, Wayland didn't linger on it. Instead, the Pioneers came out in game 2 and took a 6-0 lead after three. The first four runs came courtesy of
Dawin Santos after the sophomore first baseman slapped a two-RBI single to right-center in the first inning then pounded a massive two-run homer – his fifth of the year – in the third.
Wayland added two more runs in the fourth to make it 6-0 when
Austin Moya hit an RBI-single and Goncalves scored after being hit by a pitch then scoring when the SAGU left-fielder booted Ozuna's single.
The Lions quickly got back in it with a five-run fifth that featured a two-run home run followed by a three-run shot. SAGU then tied it at 6 in the sixth with a two-out double and a single before Wayland made the most of some suspect SAGU battery exchanges in the bottom of the frame. After Vargas came up with a one-out single, he went to second on a passed ball and, after
Andy McEachern walked, to third on a fielder's choice. Vargas scored the winning run on a wild pitch that also got Ozuna, who was stealing second, to third. Ozuna provided an insurance run on another wild pitch.
SAGU made things interesting in the seventh with a one-out single and double. But
Kyle Eifert was able to strike out SAGU's lead-off batter before freshman
Nic Vasquez came in to strike out SAGU's right-fielder-turned-pitcher AJ Munoz to end it.
Wayland's
Irving Munoz (1-0), who came in after starter
Andrew Manier struck out eight in 4 1/3, got his first win by throwing two innings. It was the first save for Vasquez. The Pioneers combined to strike out 10.
Vargas, Ozuna, Santos and Moya ended the game with two hits apiece. Ozuna wound up 5-for-7 and Vargas was 5-for-9 on the day.
