GRAND PRAIRIE, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University baseball team (26-14, 10-4 SAC) took both ends of a Sooner Athletic Conference doubleheader from 22nd ranked Wayland Baptist University (32-11, 9-5 SAC) with scores of 6-2 and 5-0 at The Ballpark in Grand Prairie on Friday. The Rams stretched their current winning streak to 11 consecutive games.
The Pioneers boast one of the nation's top offenses, but Ram pitching held them to just two runs in 14 innings while delivering WBU's first shutout of the season. Starters
Zach Aitken and
Ricky Hull both went the distance allowing the bullpen to rest for Saturday's nine-inning finale with WBU.
Wayland strung together three hits off of Aitken in the first inning of game one including an RBI single from Gregg Veneklasen, but
Garrett Crook threw out Taylor Grady trying to steal second for the last out of the inning.
The Rams got on the board with an RBI single from
Jake Davis in the second.
The Pioneers got an unearned run in the top of the third, but the Rams came back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from
Erick Quesada and a sac fly from
James Ziegler to take a 3-2 lead.
In the sixth, the Rams took advantage of a couple of defensive miscues to score three runs including a clutch, two-run pinch-hit single from
Hayden Muns that broke the game open at 6-2.
Aitken (5-3) turned in his sixth complete game of the season, allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits while walking none and striking out five. Tyler Adams (7-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits in five innings of work.
In game two, Hull limited the vaunted Wayland Baptist offense to eight hits while walking none and striking out three. The Pioneers entered Friday's action ranking sixth in the NAIA with 331 runs scored. They had been limited to a single run on two occasions, but had not been shutout in their first 42 games of the season.
Meanwhile, the top of the Rams order got to Pioneer starter Taylor Bridges for five early runs. The top five hitters in the order went 7-for-9 in the first three innings.
Ryan Adam led off the bottom of the first with a triple into the right-center gap. Two batters later,
Casey Moses doubled, and the Rams were on the board. Quesada followed with a single, and
Alex Gudac plated Moses with a base knock.
In the third, Adam again led things off, this time with a sharp single. Moses drew a walk, and Quesada and Gudac followed with consecutive singles. A passed ball tacked on a third run, and the Rams led 5-0.
Hull improved to 5-2 with his second complete game shutout of the season. Bridges (7-4) allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits in 3.1 innings pitched.
The top five in Texas Wesleyan's lineup (Adam,
Blake Seaton, Moses, Quesada, and Gudac) finished the game 8-for-16 at the plate. Adam, Quesada, and Gudac all went 2-for-3 as the Rams outhit the Pioneers 10-8.
The same two teams will complete their Sooner Athletic Conference series with a single game on Saturday. That contest is scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. start at The Ballpark in Grand Prairie.
Ramblings
- The triple from
Ryan Adam was the team's 21st of the season, just two behind LSU-Shreveport's NAIA-best 23. It was also the 5th of the season for Adam leaving him one shy of the school's single season record of six. That record is currently held by Brandon Frazier (2006) and Brock Huggins (1998).
- Aitken and Hull lowered their ERA's to 2.69 and 2.98 respectively. They lead the team with 65 and 51 strikeouts respectively.
- The Rams have outscored their opponents 83-28 during their 11-game winning streak.
- Texas Wesleyan leads the all-time series with Wayland Baptist 11-6. They are 36-26 all-time in SAC play.
- Wayland Baptist is coached by former Texas Wesleyan head coach Brad Bass who led the Rams to a record of 258-182-1 in nine seasons (1987-95).
