Wayland rallied from 10 down to win another high-scoring game against Southwestern Christian, 18-13, but the Pioneers couldn't quite pull off the sweep as the Eagles won the regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at Wilder Field, 10-7.
The results allowed Wayland, which prevailed in Friday's record-breaking series-opener, 25-19, to secure the No. 6 seed in the upcoming Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament ahead of the seventh-place Eagles. The Pioneers will go into that event, set to take place May 5-8 in Oklahoma City and Chickasha, Okla., sporting a 27-20 record. WBU finished conference play with a 12-12 mark. SCU wound up 32-18 overall, 11-13 in the league.
On a day that started on a high with the recognition of 11 seniors, the Eagles quickly put a damper on the day as they soared to a 12-2 lead going into the bottom of the third inning. But Wayland fought its way back in it by scoring four runs in the third and again in the fourth, the action highlighted by a three-run homer by
Delvis Claudio in the third and a two-run blast in the fourth.
After the teams traded homers in the fifth, with senior
Justin Porter getting his third of the weekend for Wayland, the Pioneers exploded in the sixth, scoring seven. In a series full of offense – including a program-record 28 hits and record-tying eight homers and nine doubles Friday – the seven runs represented the most in any frame this weekend.
The flurry started with singles by
Cooper Jauz and
Arturo Disla.
Jake Green, after his record-breaking 7-for-7 performance Friday, boarded on an error. A wild pitch plated the first run, then after Claudio walked to reload the bases and SCU recorded an out on a fielder's choice,
Samuel Fabian delivered a two-RBI double down the left field line to give WBU its first lead of the game, 14-13.
A groundout got the Eagles one out from getting out of the inning, but the Pioneers weren't done. Another wild pitch cost SCU another run before Porter came through with an RBI-single. After that,
Caleb Rozier, who had two homers Friday, sent out a third, a two-run shot to center that finalized the scoring.
William Flowers took over on the mound for
Zachary Raichel, who shut down the powerful Eagle offense and allowed just one run on four hits in 3 2/3 innings, striking out four to earn his first win of the season. Flowers finished it off, coaxing a groundout, foul-out and, after a hit-batsman, a fielder's choice to end it.
The game featured only 31 hits (only because the team's combined for 47 Friday), with Wayland getting 16 and SCU 15. Rozier and Disla had three hits and a homer each while Claudio's two homers provided five RBIs to add to the seven he logged Friday.
In the regular-season finale, SCU again got off to a fast start, scoring four in the first. The Pioneers answered with three in the second on an RBI-double by
Danny Arambula and two-run homer by Fabian, but then immediately gave up five runs to the Eagles in the third.
WBU put up three in the fifth on an RBI-groundout by Arambula, a second homer by Fabian who went 3-for-3 and Rozier's RBI-double to get within 9-7, but the Pioneers ran out of offense after that, although they left the bases loaded in the sixth.
SCU pitcher Gabriel Figueroa improved to 9-1, allowing seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits but getting eight of his team's 10 strikeouts.
Branin Seibert (3-2) took the loss, knocked out after 2 1/3 innings. Fellow freshman
Antonio Mejia turned in his longest outing of the season in relief, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out five in 4 2/3.
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