Tanner Solomon threw Wayland Baptist's first complete game of the season and the Pioneers hit seven home runs – three by
Dawin Santos – as WBU took the first two games of a Sooner Athletic Conference series from Bacone College on Friday at Wilder Field.
Solomon struck out a career-high 10 as Wayland rolled to a 16-3 win over the winless Warriors in game one. Santos then went 3-for-4 and hit two of his three dingers in Wayland's 9-1 game 2 victory, giving the Pioneers nine consecutive wins.
The seven homers matched Wayland's total for the rest of the season.
Ranked the equivalent of 32
nd in the NAIA, the Pioneers improved to 12-3 on the season and stayed perfect in the conference at 4-0. The Warriors fell to 0-7 and 0-5.
The teams will play game 3 beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday.
In Friday's opener, Wayland found itself trailing 3-0 after Bacone's first at-bat when three hits and a costly error led to the Warriors' only runs of the game. Solomon (4-0), last year's SAC Golden Glove pitcher as a freshman, scattered just four hits the next six innings.
The Pioneers got one run back on
Gregory Ozuna's RBI-single in the bottom of the first then blew it open with a seven-run third that included a two-RBI single by
Jacob Adams, a bases-loaded walk by
Nick Valenzuela, and a grand slam by sophomore centerfielder
Austin Moya.
Santos delivered his first homer of the day – a solo shot to left – as part of a three-run fourth that also saw an RBI-single by Adams.
Wayland produced its final five runs in the fifth, three on a home run by
Brendon Foust and two on a blast by
Nick Rucker. They were the first homers of the season for both Foust and Rucker.
By three runs, the 16 runs marked a season-best for Wayland. Santos scored a team-high three while Ozuna, Foust, Adams, Rucker and
Devlin Smith crossed twice each.
In game two, Wayland's bats went to work early. After notching an unearned run in the first inning, the Pioneers struck for three runs in each of their next two at-bats to assume a 7-0 lead after three.
Freshman catcher
Jake Green hit his first homer as a Pioneer and Moya slapped an RBI-double in the second, then in the third Santos' second homer of the day was followed by an RBI-single by Green and RBI-triple by Valenzuela.
Santos' third homer of the day, giving him a team-high four for the year, was a two-run monster shot to center field that made it 9-0 in the fourth.
Junior left-hander
Andrew Manier opened the game with three hitless innings and left after five complete, having allowed one run on three hits with six walks and seven strikeouts. Relievers
Deric Trevino and
Kyle Eifert wrapped up the day with one hitless inning apiece, striking out one each to give Wayland 19 Ks for the day.
Santos wound up 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, while Green and Valenzuela chipped in two hits each. Green also had two RBIs.
The Pioneers swiped 10 bases in the two games, including seven in the opener when Ozuna was credited with three, Adams two and Smith two. Wayland had 22 steals going into the day.
