STERLINGTON, La. – Catcher
Jake Green drove home the tying and winning runs in addition to cutting down a runner in the ninth as Wayland Baptist knocked off No. 12 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) in the Pioneers' opening game of the Cajun Collision here Thursday night.
It was the fifth straight win for Wayland, which improved to 7-2; MNU fell to 1-3.
Wayland trailed 4-1 before scoring two runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh to force extra innings. The two in the sixth came after a pair of costly MNU errors, the first allowing
Samuel Fabian on base after an inning-opening walk by
Carson Parham.
Delvis Claudio followed with an RBI-single to right. Fabian later scored after an error by the MNU second baseman on Claudio's steal attempt.
In the seventh, after shortstop
Hayden Ingram and second baseman
Danny Arambula turned an inning-ending double-play, Ingram led off the bottom with a walk, went to third on a single by
Hans Doughtie then scored on Green's sacrifice to left.
In the eighth, junior pitcher
Garrett McClain recorded a pair of strikeouts with a runner on second, then in the ninth fanned two more before Green retired the side by throwing out a runner at second. In the bottom of the frame, after the first two Pioneers struck out,
Matthew Unangst walked before Green sent him home with a walk-off single to left. Unangst was waved home by third base coach
Brett Cook and scored after a head-first slide just ahead of the tag by the MNU catcher, resulting in a celebratory rundown of Green in the outfield.
Wayland scored its first run in the first when freshman lead-off hitter
Caleb Rozier walked, went to second on a wild pitch and took home on clean-up hitter
Arturo Disla's RBI-single to left.
WBU won despite being outhit, 12-6, and despite striking out 15 times, compared to nine for MNU. McClain (2-0) and senior starter
Ty Jackson logged four Ks apiece, while freshman
Branin Seibert fanned the only batter he faced after replacing Jackson after six complete.
The Pioneers take the field for second of their four tournament games at 11 a.m. Friday against another Kansas college, Benedictine.
