Baseballers stay perfect on Bass' birthday

On the occasion of Brad Bass' 62^nd birthday, the Wayland Baptist baseball team presented its veteran head coach with two more victories Friday at Wilder Field as the Pioneers defeated Adams State, Colo., 8-1 in seven innings and 5-3 in nine.
 
The wins kept the Pioneers undefeated on the young season at 6-0, the program's best start since the 2008 squad won their first seven outings as part of an 18-0-1 start. That team went on to win 43 games, the second-most in school history, and an NAIA ranking of 13^th.
 
In their first-ever meetings with NCAA Division II Adams State, the Pioneers blasted five home runs – four in the opener – by five different players.
 
The first game featured home runs accounting for the Pioneers' first five runs, the first three being solo shots by Brendon Foust, Austin Moya and Jake Green, prior to a two-run blast by Gregory Ozuna. That provided Wayland with a 5-0 lead after five innings.
 
The Pioneers scored their final three runs in the sixth on an RBI-double by Green, an RBI-triple by Ozuna, and an RBI-single ty Moya.
 
Wayland ended with a dozen hits, three by Moya and two each by Ozuna, Green and Marco Rivera. Ozuna ended with a team-high three RBIs and scored twice, the only Pioneer to cross the plate more than once.
 
On the mound, first-year transfer L.J. Diaz picked up his first win in his second start, throwing five scoreless innings while allowing just three hits with eight strikeouts and only one walk. Irving Munoz finished up the five-hitter, striking out three in his two frames for 11 combined strikeouts.
 
Game 2 saw the Pioneers record their closest victory so far.
 
Adams State scored just its second run of the day to take its first lead, 1-0 in the second inning. Wayland got it back when Jake Adams hit an RBI-double down the left-field line in the bottom of the second.
 
The Pioneers picked up another run, also unearned, in the third when Foust drew a bases-loaded walk, then took a 5-1 advantage with a three-run fifth. Two of those three runs came when Moya led off with a double before Luis Vargas, who opened his Wayland career with home runs in his first three at-bats last weekend, hit his fourth before Derek Farmer knocked a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
 
The Grizzlies made it interesting by picking up a run in the sixth and another in the eighth. Adams State left seven runners on base over the final five innings and stranded 10 total.
 
Tanner Solomon improved to 2-0 with five solid innings on the mound, giving up one run on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Ty Jackson threw the next three frames, allowing two runs on four hits, before newcomer Gloymer Cuevas earned his first save with a scoreless ninth. The final out, a groundout to second baseman Ramon Cruz, came with runners on second and third.
 
The Pioneers and Grizzlies will meet for another doubleheader beginning at noon Saturday.