CHICKASHA, Okla. –
Deric Trevino pitched seven strong innings as Wayland Baptist secured a 3-1 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Friday night in the opening round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament.
Arturo Disla homered and
Tyler Latham and
Jack Kolich had RBI-singles for the sixth-seeded Pioneers (28-21), whose win over the third-seeded Lions (33-13) set up a winner's bracket game against 10
th-ranked, second-seeded bracket host University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma (33-12), which defeated No. 7 seed Southwestern Christian, 12-7. That contest is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
WBU took one game off Science & Arts during their three-game series at Wilder Field two weeks ago. The Drovers won the first two games, 13-6 and 7-6, before Wayland won the finale, 6-5.
The WBU-USAO winner moves on to the bracket final at 2 p.m. Sunday, while the loser plays an elimination game at 6 p.m. Saturday against the winner of an elimination game between Southwestern Christian (26-24) and SAGU, who meet at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The bracket winner advances to the tournament final to meet the winner of the other bracket being played at Oklahoma City University. In those openers, the fourth-ranked, top-seeded Stars (44-4) defeated No. 8 seed Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 16-14, and fourth-seeded Texas Wesleyan (34-17) topped No. 5 seed Mid-America Christian, 12-10.
WBU was swept in its regular-season series by SAGU by a total of four runs, but the Pioneers won when it mattered most, snapping the Lions' seven-game winning streak.
The Pioneers got on the board first when Disla led off the bottom of the second with his 15
th home run. Wayland made it 2-0 in the third when
Justin Porter walked and stole second before scoring on Latham's single up the middle.
Trevino dominated the Lions through four innings, allowing just one base runner and recording eight strikeouts. SAGU registered its lone run of the game in the fifth on a trio of singles.
But Wayland got that run back in the bottom of the inning when
Jake Green doubled then scored on Kolich's two-out single through the right side.
Trevino (5-1) exited after the seventh having allowed just the one run and six hits while striking out 10 and walking just one. The 10 Ks matched a season-high for Trevino, who also struck out 10 in his first outing of the season on Jan. 29 against Houston-Victoria.
Chase Jones pitched the eighth before
Jose Suero closed it out by striking out the side in the ninth for his 10
th save of the season.
Disla provided three of WBU's nine hits while Kolich got a pair.
