Pioneers settle for split with Aggies

Wayland Baptist smacked a dozen home runs – including three each by Carlos Collazo and Marco Rivera – as the Pioneers split a Sooner Athletic Conference doubleheader with Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Friday afternoon at Wilder Field. Wayland won game 1, 19-8, before narrowly dropping game 2, 10-9.
 
The Pioneers (18-13, 5-3 SAC) and Aggies (9-19, 4-7) meet at noon Saturday for the series-deciding game.
 
Wayland captured its fourth straight win with a 17-hit performance in game 1. That included Collazo going 4-for-4 and Rivera 3-for-5, with both hitting a pair of homers. Collazo also had a double as he ended with five RBIs and scored four runs, while Rivera also had five RBIs and scored three runs.
 
Rivera moved into a tie for the NAIA home runs lead (15) with teammate Luis Vargas, who also homered in the game along with Dawin Santos, both three-run shots. After Vargas' first-inning homer, he didn't see another strike the rest of the game as the 2019 NAIA home run hitter was hit by a pitch then intentionally walked three times.
 
Wayland scored five runs in the first and four more in the second to assume a 9-2 lead. Ahead 11-6 going into the bottom of the sixth, Wayland erupted for eight runs in its final at-bat to put it away.
 
On the mound, Tanner Solomon (2-3) went the distance for the second straight start, allowing eight runs on 10 hits with eight strikeouts and a pair of walks.

Game 2 got off to the same start as the first with the Aggies scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first. Vargas got both back in the bottom of the first with his 15^th homer of the season, tying him for the NAIA lead. The homer came on the first pitch Vargas saw after those three intentional walks in the first game, including twice in one inning.
 
The Aggies scored four runs in the third and two more in the fourth with their second and third homers of the game. Collazo hit his third blast of the afternoon in the third before Tristan Galbreath went deep in the fifth when Wayland pulled to within 8-5.
 
The Aggies picked up a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh before the Pioneers made their final push. It started when Rivera knocked his third home run of the day. After an error allowed Santos to reach, catcher Brock Webber homered to left, his second of the season to make it 10-8.
 
It quickly became 10-9 when Adams sent the next pitch out of the park, his third homer of the season. After Goncalves walked on four pitches, OPSU brought in pitcher Joseph Goetze prior to Galbreath, Wayland's No. 9 hole hitter who went 3-for-4, slapping a single to put the tying run – in the form of pinch runner Justin Porter – on second with one out.
 
A strikeout by lead-off Gregory Ozuna brought the red-hot Collazo to the plate, but before Collazo could do his thing Porter was picked off and thrown out at third.