OKLAHOMA CITY – Wayland Baptist's pitching came through, but the Pioneers' normally reliable bats couldn't get the job against a pair of excellent Oklahoma City University pitching performances as WBU lost twice to the 21
st-ranked Stars, 4-1 and 2-1, on Sunday in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.
The losses at Jim Wade Stadium eliminated sixth-seeded Wayland (26-25) from the tournament while the host Stars, seeded second, advance to Monday's championship against top-seeded, 11
th-ranked Science & Arts (33-10), which advanced with a 10-5 victory over Southwestern Christian.
Participants for the NAIA National Championships will be announced via a selection show on the NAIA's Facebook page at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 13. Forty-five teams will be tabbed to play at nine opening-round sites May 17-20, with those winners advancing to the final site in Lewiston, Idaho.
Wayland, after finishing sixth in the conference in the regular-season, figures to be a long shot to earn an at-large bid.
The Pioneers only needed to beat OCU once Sunday after they downed the Stars in dramatic fashion Saturday. Wayland trailed 8-0 after two innings but slowly battled back, ultimately getting a pair of two-out home runs in the ninth inning by
Gregory Ozuna and
Carlos Collazo to win it, 14-12.
But less than 24 hours later – after the Stars survived Southwestern Assemblies of God University in an elimination game Saturday night, 17-14 – the Pioneer offense was stifled by OCU pitchers Jacob Wright and Tyler Polk, both of whom tossed complete-game five-hitters. Wright struck out nine and walked only one on 123 pitches before Polk (2-2) fanned five and walked one on 118 pitches.
Marco Rivera provided the lone Wayland runs on the day, slapping the tail-end of back-to-back doubles with
Luis Vargas in the fourth-inning of the opener then spoiling a shutout with a one-out home run in the ninth of the nightcap. After cutting the Stars' lead in half with his homer, the game ended when
Dawin Santos flied to shallow left and
Jake Green grounded out to third.
Wright and Polk weren't the only strong arms inside the stadium as Wayland got the most from
Deric Trevino in game 1 and from
Ty Jackson and
Chase Jones in game 2. Trevino pitched into the ninth, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out nine and walking four. Jackson recorded the final three outs of that one before getting the start in the second game, giving up just two runs on four hits with five Ks and two walks in 6 1/3. Jones blanked the Stars the rest of the way, striking out two.
Both games were remarkably fast-paced.
In game 1, the Stars scored on an RBI-double by Cross Factor in the first inning and a solo homer by Factor in the sixth before a balk and RBI-groundout in the ninth capped OCU's four runs.
In game two, the Stars' Cade Stephens ended a scoreless game with a homer to lead off the fifth before Dalton Reed did the same in the seventh.
