Strong pitching, defense help Wayland to 8-2 win over SW Assemblies in rubber game

If momentum in baseball is all about starting pitching, as Wayland Baptist coach Brad Bass says it is, the Pioneers couldn't have done much better than having Bryson Calaway on the mound Sunday afternoon for the rubber match of a Sooner Athletic Conference series against Southwestern Assembles of God University.
 
While allowing just two runs in seven innings, Calaway struck out a career-high eight before reliever Chase Jones fanned five more to help Wayland to an 8-2 victory over the Lions.
 
"Bryson figured out something that was working, and he and (catcher) Jake (Green) worked well together," Bass said of the sophomore right-hander.
 
Wayland scored eight runs for the second straight game, having done it in seven innings Saturday in an 8-6 win that followed an 11-7, nine-inning loss in the series opener when SAGU won with a grand slam.
 
Bass was happy with how the Pioneers (18-9, 7-4 SAC) bounced back after that hard-to-swallow setback in game 1.
 
"Unfortunately, this team has practiced that a little bit. We've lost some game 1s and come back to win the next game, or the series. This is a pretty mature bunch," Bass said.
 
"Momentum in baseball is about the starting pitcher. Knowing your guy on the mound is going to put up zeroes is big. Bryson did an excellent job today and I thought Drew (Andrew Manier) threw a really good game (Saturday) as well, which is exactly what we needed.
 
"A couple of times in that first game if the ball had gone to a different place we win. What we needed was a pitcher to help us bounce back. Our guys have done a pretty good job of giving us a chance to make that happen."
 
Bass also was thrilled with the Pioneer defense, which committed just one error over the weekend.
 
"We've been working really hard on defense and I thought it showed up. Overall defensively we played the best baseball we've played all year. I was pleased."
 
In the game moved to Sunday due to expected rain Friday, the Pioneers fell behind 2-0, but plated single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take control.
 
Leadoff-hitting second baseman Yaniel Vargas drove home the first and third runs with a third-inning sacrifice fly, after singles by Jacob Adams and Austin Moya, and a fifth-inning single that followed a two-out double by Moya. They came on either side of first baseman Dawin Santos' monster home run in the fourth that followed a scary moment earlier in the game.
 
Santos was in line to cut off a throw home from the outfield, but the ball went over his head to catcher Green, who in an attempt to throw out a runner advancing to second hit Santos in the forehead from close range. The impact didn't seem to faze the 6-foot-5, 285-pound Santos, however.
 
With Calaway cruising, the Pioneers broke the game open with a three-run seventh. Adams got it going with a one-out single before Moya walked. A single by Vargas loaded the bases, then a pickoff throwing error by the SAGU pitcher allowed all runners to advance.
 
Daniel Goncalves made it 5-2 with a sacrifice fly to center, although Vargas also scored on the play when the Lions fumbled the throw-in.
 
The Pioneers put up their final two runs in the eighth when designated hitter Brendon Foust, who earlier knocked a stand-up triple, delivered a one-out double. Devlin Smith, who turned in a fine fielding day at third, got a single out of a hard-to-handle blooper to second before Adams came up with a two-RBI, hit-and-run single to right.
 
Adams went 3-for-4 and scored twice, while Vargas, Foust and Moya all collected two hits each to account for nine of WBU's 10 hits.
 
Freshman Jones relieved Calaway in the eighth and, after retiring his first batter on a fly to center followed by a walk, struck out the next five Lions that came to the plate.
 
"Chase threw really, really well Saturday (2 2/3 no-hit innings in the opener), and I felt confident he would do well today," Bass said.
 
The 13 strikeouts by Calaway and Jones are the most recorded by Wayland pitching since the second game last season when Kevin Torres, the team's current color analyst, current graduate assistant Caleb Swofford, Chris Lacher and Deric Trevino combined to whiff 13.
 
The last time the Pioneers struck out more than 13 was April 18, 2014, in a 5-4 win over Oklahoma City that saw 14 Ks – 13 by Tom Bailey and one by Corey Weldon.
 
Wayland returns to Wilder Field for a non-conference doubleheader against Jarvis Christian beginning at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Jarvis (20-11, 8-4 Red River Athletic Conference) is ranked the equivalent of 30th in the NAIA. The Bulldogs had won nine straight before dropping two of three at Houston-Victoria this weekend. Wayland also dropped two of three at Houston-Victoria in its second series of the season.