GOODWELL, Okla. – In what will be their final game for the foreseeable future, the Wayland Baptist baseball team defeated Oklahoma-Panhandle State here Thursday afternoon, 13-1.
The game, the first of a scheduled three-game Sooner Athletic Conference series, ended about the time it was decided that, due to concerns relative to Coronavirus (COVID-19), the SAC suspended indefinitely all practices and competitions for athletics programs of its 11 member institutions, including Wayland.
The Pioneer baseball team (23-7, 6-1), ranked the equivalent of 26
th in the NAIA, won its seventh-straight game against OPSU (10-16, 3-4), getting a combined one-hitter from
L.J. Diaz and
Chase Jones.
Diaz (4-1) had a no-hitter going until the Aggies ended it with a solid double to deep left-center field with one down in the seventh inning. Diaz ended with 10 strikeouts for the third time in four games while walking just two. Jones added one strikeout and walked none in his two innings on the mound,
Wayland ended with a dozen hits, two each by
Gregory Ozuna,
Luis Vargas and
Jake Green. Ozuna and Vargas, as well as
Brendon Foust, all homered. It was the 20
th of the season, and sixth in seven games, for Vargas as he upped his NAIA-leading total. After a 10-game drought, it was the 11
th dinger for Foust. Ozuna and Vargas drove in three runs apiece, while Foust scored three runs.
The Pioneers held a 2-1 lead after five innings, but scored three in the sixth, five in the seventh and three more in the ninth to win going away.
Five OPSU pitchers combined to strike out 10 and walk eight.
The game saw seven errors, five by the Aggies.
The win boosted coach
Brad Bass' career victory total to 995.
