WAXAHACHIE – Wayland Baptist batters produced 13 hits – including three homers and five doubles – and WBU pitchers recorded 15 strikeouts as the Pioneers defeated No. 23 Southwestern Assemblies of God University in a Sooner Athletic Conference series final here Sunday afternoon, 10-7.
The win followed a pair of wins for SAGU on Saturday, 3-0 on a one-hitter and 9-6. Those losses snapped Wayland's eight-game winning streak, but the Pioneers (22-12, 7-5 SAC) hopefully started a new streak Sunday with a win over the league-leading Lions (26-10, 10-4).
The Pioneers never trailed in game 3, but they needed three runs in the ninth to seal it.
Wayland started the scoring with a solo home run by Arturo Disla in the second before Caleb Rozier got a two-run shot as part of a four-run third when Jake Green and Samuel Fabian added RBI-doubles.
The Pioneers extended their lead to 7-1 in the fifth when Green homered and Disla came through with an RBI-single.
The Lions, held in check by Wayland starter Tyler Wade through five innings, showed out in the sixth with four runs on three hits. SAGU added single runs in each of its next two at-bats, which tied it at 7 going into the ninth.
Nine-hole left-fielder Carson Parham opened the Pioneers' final at-bat with a single, prompting the Lions to put their center fielder on the mound. Rozier greeted him with the first of three consecutive RBI-doubles, followed by similar smacks by Ingram and Green.
That trio of run-scoring doubles forced another pitching change, and the Lions were able to record three outs on a ground-out, fly-out and, after an intentional walk to Disla, a fielder's choice.
Wayland sophomore William Flowers took over on the mound in the bottom of the ninth and ended it without much drama, allowing only a two-out walk before a pop-out to third to end it.
Wade, who tied a single-season WBU record with 17 strikeouts in a 1-0, seven-inning win over Tabor (Kan.) earlier this season, fanned 11 Sunday in his 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks. Connor Leach recorded one out before Nathan Baca got Wayland out of the sixth and through the eighth, striking out four. Flowers (1-0) earned his first win in his fifth appearance of the season.
Green ended the day 3-for-5 with a homer, two doubles, three RBIs and a pair of runs. Rozier, Ingram and Disla all got two hits each, with Rozier's homer and double accounting for three RBIs with two runs.
This weekend's games were pushed back a day due to the threat of inclement weather Friday.
Wayland, which has played its last seven games and 10 of its last 11 on the road, returns home this week to host Mid-America Christian, which is ranked the equivalent of 33rd in the NAIA. The Pioneers and Evangels meet in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Friday followed by a single game at noon Saturday.
MACU (29-8, 11-4) will bring a nine-game winning to Plainview, which started with a 6-5 victory over Oklahoma City and includes sweeps of last-place Central Christian and Oklahoma-Panhandle State, teams which fourth-place Wayland also swept.
