CHICKASHA, Okla. – Wayland Baptist will play for its 2023 season tonight after suffering a 9-2 loss to 25
th-ranked Science & Arts of Oklahoma in the second round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament here Saturday afternoon.
The loss pushed sixth-seeded Wayland (28-21) into an elimination game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday against seventh-seeded Southwestern Christian (33-19), which followed a opening-round 22-20 loss to USAO on Friday with a 16-6, eight-inning triumph over Mid-America Christian in a win-or-go-home contest early Saturday afternoon. WBU defeated MACU in its tourney debut Friday, 11-2.
The Pioneers ended the regular-season by winning 2-of-3 games against Southwestern Christian at Wilder Field. The winner of Saturday night's game advances to the bracket championship against USAO at 1 p.m. Sunday. The winner of that game, or the "if necessary" game that would follow, moves on to the conference title game against the survivor of the Oklahoma City bracket at 1 p.m. Monday.
Against second-seeded USAO (33-17), the Pioneers suffered 15 strikeouts, 14 at the hands of starter Reed Butz, a senior left-hander who allowed one run on five hits in eight innings. He walked three. Claudio Rodriguez added one more K in the ninth.
The 15 strikeouts matched a season-worst for Wayland.
WBU's two runs came on solo homers by
Delvis Claudio in the second and
Samuel Fabian, who slapped his conference-leading 21
st dinger in the ninth. The Pioneers ended with six hits, two by
Arturo Disla.
The Drovers produced 14 hits – a dozen singles and two doubles – against WBU pitchers
Nathan Baca (4-3),
Tyson Potts,
Grayson Soukup and
Zachary Raichel, who combined for 11 strikeouts but also eight walks.
Three Pioneers' errors made for four unearned runs.
