Wayland Baptist turned what was approaching a run-rule loss into a close game but ultimately came up short against No. 14 Texas Wesleyan Saturday afternoon at Wilder Field, falling 13-8. The Rams' win – after the teams split Friday's doubleheader – allowed the visitors from Fort Worth to take the next-to-last Sooner Athletic Conference series of the season.
TXWES (32-12, 15-6 SAC) scored three runs in the second, two in the third and five in the fourth on 13 total hits to assume a 10-1 lead. The Pioneers (25-19, 10-11) fought their way back in it, plating three in the fourth on
Samuel Fabian's league-leading 17
th home run and
Caleb Rozier's RBI-single, two in the fifth on
Arturo Disla's single, and one in the seventh on
Justin Porter's sacrifice fly to close the gap to 11-7. But an error in the eighth allowed the Rams to tack on a pair of unearned runs that all but slammed the door on the Pioneers' comeback.
Wayland got an RBI-double by Porter in the ninth, but that was the only run in the Pioneers' final two at-bats.
The three-hour, 21-minute game featured 32 hits, including 19 by the Rams which was the most allowed by the Pioneers all season. The 13 runs were the second-most allowed by Wayland in 2023.
Five WBU pitchers – starting with
Tyler Wade (3-3) – tossed 219 pitches. They combined to strike out 13 (seven by
Tyson Potts), while three TXWES pitchers fanned 11 with only one walk.
Porter wound up 3-for-4 while Rozier,
Jake Green,
Delvis Claudio and
Cooper Jauz all got two hits each.
Wayland winds up the regular-season with three games against Southwestern Christian next weekend, starting with a 2 p.m. Friday doubleheader. The Pioneers and Eagles (31-16, 10-11), who swept last-place Central Christian this weekend, are tied for sixth in the SAC standings.
