Chaps Eliminate Pioneers

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 11, 2010) – Frank Corolla allowed a pair of earned runs over 7 1/3 innings to help No.5 Lubbock Christian University eliminate Wayland Baptist University from the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament with an 8-3 win Tuesday afternoon at Jim Wade Stadium on the campus of Oklahoma City University.

The pitching match-up of Corolla and WBU’s Calvin Lewis was a duplicate pitching matchup from last Tuesday’s regular season meeting, which the Pioneers won 18-5.  Corolla only lasted 3.2 innings in that contest and allowed nine runs off 11 hits.  Things turned out much better for Corolla in this outing, as he forced the Pioneers into hitting 14 ground outs.  He allowed 13 hits but only two were for extra bases, as he improved his record to 11-2.

Wayland threatened early and scored the game’s first run in the second inning.  The Pioneers produced four singles to lead off the inning, but Corolla and the Chaps got out of the inning with Marcus Limon fouling out and Oscar Rivera hitting into a 5-2-3 double play to avoid any further damage.

Lewis kept the Chaps off the board through the first three innings, but the Chaps offense woke up in the middle innings.  Ross Blondin tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning with a lead-off solo home run to become the fifth Chaps player to move into double-figures in homers with his tenth of the season.  Doug Kroll followed with a double off the top of the centerfield fence that centerfielder Jose Santiago tried to make a play on.  Kroll eventually scored on a wild pitch for a 2-1 lead.  The Chaps had four hits in the inning and added another four in the fifth inning, but it was a fielders’ choice by Kroll and a sacrifice fly by Dan Neumann driving in the only runs of the fifth inning for a 4-1 lead.  Each team had a homer in the sixth inning, as J.J. Muse hit a solo homer over the left-field fence to briefly give LCU a 5-1 lead before WBU’s Brian Embery hit a solo dinger.  The Chaps loaded the bases on a trio of walks and Muse hit a RBI-single in the seventh inning, and the Pioneers answered with Embery hitting a RBI-single to centerfield to cut the Chaps lead to 6-3.

Hunter Scott replaced Corolla in the eighth inning and allowed on hit the rest of the way for his sixth save of the season, while the Chaps offense grabbed some insurance with an RBI-single by Muse and a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by David Cruz.

Teams combined for 28 hits, but the two squads had trouble driving in runners in scoring position.  The Chaps were 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position and the Pioneers were 3-for-11, leading to a combined 24 runners stranded (13 by the Chaps).  Every player in the starting line-up for the Chaps collected at least one hit in the game.  Embery led Wayland in the loss by going 3-for-5 at the plate.  Lewis suffered the loss for WBU with five earned runs off 11 hits allowed in 6.1 innings of work.

Wayland Baptist is eliminated from the tournament with their pair of losses and they leave the Sooner State with a 29-22 record and aiming for an at-large bid for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.  LCU improves to 42-11 and they will remain in the winner’s bracket to play at 10 a.m. Wednesday against the winner of the contest pitting Southern Nazarene University against Oklahoma City University.  Wednesday’s game will air on SportsRadio 1340 AM “The Fan.”