BETHANY, Okla. – Wayland Baptist led most of the afternoon but couldn't close out Southwestern Christian here Saturday as the Sooner Athletic Conference-leading Eagles rallied for three runs in the eighth inning before winning it in the 10
th, 11-10.
It was the second one-run loss for Wayland (20-19, 6-9 SAC), which fell to the Eagles in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday, 9-8. Southwestern Christian won the series opener by two, 6-4.
For the second straight weekend, Wayland traveled home from Oklahoma after being swept. Last weekend it was by No. 15 Science & Arts of Oklahoma before suffering the same fate to the Eagles, ranked the equivalent of 31
st in the NAIA.
After a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday in Portales against Eastern New Mexico, Wayland gets a crack at another Oklahoma power, the Oklahoma City University Stars, next weekend. The Pioneers will host that series, starting with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Friday then a single game at 1 p.m. Saturday.
In game 3 against Southwestern Christian, WBU jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead when
Luis Vargas hit his NAIA-leading 18
th home run, a two-run blast that immediately preceded
Marco Rivera's 16
th homer.
The Eagles took a 4-3 lead in the third on the strength of just one hit – a solo homer – four walks and a hit batsman.
Wayland regained the lead with two runs in the fourth.
Gregory Ozuna delivered an RBI-triple and
Carlos Collazo an RBI-sacrifice fly.
After SCU tied it at 5 following a pair of WBU errors, the Pioneers struck for four runs in the top of the fifth. Three came on a homer by
Jake Green before Ozuna came up with an RBI-double.
Both teams added a run in their next at-bats, resulting in a 10-6 Wayland lead. The Eagles picked up a run in the seventh on back-to-back leadoff doubles then tied it in the eighth on an RBI-groundout and a two-run, two-out homer by Parker Henderson.
While Wayland managed one base runner in each of the ninth and 10
th innings, the Eagles won it in the 10
th with a one-out double, a walk, a sac bunt then a walk-off single with two outs.
Rivera went 3-for-6 for Wayland while Ozuna, Vargas and Green contributed two hits apiece. Both teams had 10 hits.
Four WBU pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts, eight walks, three wild pitches and a hit batsman, while four SCU hurlers totaled seven Ks, 10 walks and two wild pitches.
