L.J. Diaz allowed just two hits and struck out 10 to lead Wayland Baptist to an 8-0 victory over Sterling College (Kan.) in the opening game of a four-game series Friday at Wilder Field. The Warriors took game 2, 8-5.
Diaz, a first-year senior transfer, threw Wayland's first complete game of the season in the opener as he matched a team season-high for strikeouts with 10. He walked only two.
The lone hits off the 6-foot-6, 235-pound right-hander were a tricky up-the-middle grounder to the second baseman in the third inning (it originally was ruled an error) and a two-out single up the middle in the fourth. They were the only things that kept Diaz (2-0) from offering the seventh no-hitter in WBU history. He threw 105 pitches.
At the plate, Wayland sprang for three runs in both the second and third innings.
In the second, a pair of hit-batsmen and a single by
Jacob Adams led to a bases-loaded walk drawn by
Ramon Cruz for the first run of the game.
Gregory Ozuna followed with a two-RBI double to right-center.
In the third,
Brendon Foust lifted a two-run homer to center field before Cruz connected on an RBI-single to right. It was Foust's ninth homer of the season, leaving him second in the NAIA two behind teammate
Luis Vargas.
The Pioneers' final two runs came in the fifth on an RBI-single by Adams and an RBI-sacrifice fly by Ozuna.
Wayland ended with 10 hits, two each by Foust, Adams and Cruz. Ozuna's three RBIs and three runs by
Dawin Santos led the team.
In game two, Wayland was hurt by three errors, although things got off to a solid start when the Pioneers scored two in the first when
Austin Moya singled and scored on Vargas' double, then a single by Foust made it 2-0.
Another RBI-single by Foust in the third gave Wayland its third run, but the Warriors managed single runs in the second, third and fourth that sent the game into the sixth tied at 3.
Sterling recorded the day's most explosive inning with a five-run sixth, scored on just two singles but with three walks, an error and a wild pitch.
Wayland rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI-double by Adams then an RBI-groundout by Cruz.
After WBU reliever
Irving Munoz struck out the side in the seventh, the Pioneers got lead-off man Moya on board with a nub-single. After a fielder's choice got the first out,
Marco Rivera singled to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Foust. But the senior slugger popped out to the second baseman before Santos flied out to right to end it.
Junior
Tanner Solomon (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits with seven strikeouts and three walks in five innings. Munoz finished and gave up three runs (two earned) on two hits with three Ks and two free passes.
Vargas wound up 3-for-4 with a pair of runs, while Foust repeated his 2-for-4, two-RBI effort from game 1. Moya also was 2-for-4.
The teams meet for another doubleheader beginning at noon Saturday.
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