LUBBOCK –
Samuel Fabian hit two more home runs – including a grand slam – and Wayland Baptist scored the last seven runs of the game but came up just short of Lubbock Christian University here Tuesday evening, 11-9.
LCU (22-16) scored four runs in the fourth and sixth innings and led the Pioneers (24-14) 10-2 going into the seventh. That's when Fabian – three days after setting a school-record with four homers in a series finale against Mid-America Christian – followed a lead-off double by
Delvis Claudio and walks by Cooper Jaux and
Matthew Unangst with a one-out grand slam.
Wayland picked up another run in the eighth when Ingram opened with a walk and Jauz delivered an RBI-single. The Chaps then turned an inning-ending double play.
Garrett Soukup struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth to keep Wayland's deficit at 11-7 going into the ninth. The Pioneers' offense got cranking once again, starting with a single up the middle by Unangst. Fabian, the sophomore right-fielder batting eighth in the order, then delivered his sixth homer in his last nine at-bats, closing the gap to two runs.
After a pop-up by
Justin Porter and a strikeout by pinch-hitter
Carson Parham, Ingram walked to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of
Jake Green, but the clean-up hitting catcher flied out to center to end it.
Wayland produced 13 hits, one more than the Chaps, and stranded a dozen runners, four more than the home team.
Both Fabian and Ingram went 3-for-4, with Ingram also drawing two walks. Unangst and Claudio popped two hits apiece. Seven different Pioneers scored runs.
The mid-week staff game saw 15 pitchers take the mound. Wayland's seven hurlers combined to strike out 10, including three each by starter
Nathan Baca and Soukup.
It was the first meeting between the former NAIA rivals since 2016, when the Pioneers won, 4-3. LCU, now an NCAA Division II member, leads the all-time series, 27-79.
It was the final non-conference game of the regular-season for Wayland, which plays its final road series of the regular-season this weekend in Chickasha, Okla., against University of Science and Arts (24-14). The Drovers are 10-5 in conference play and tied for second place with Texas Wesleyan and Oklahoma City, a game-and-a-half behind MACU and a game up on sixth-place Wayland (9-6).
