Plainview, Texas - Bronco baseball continued their hot hitting, collecting 31 hits and 24 runs in two seven-innings games against Wayland Baptist University’s JV squad. A solid effort by the Institute’s pitching staff, together with en fuego bats, gave NMMI two more wins on Wednesday, 13-5 and 11-4, completing the four game home-and-away series sweep over the Pioneers. It also evened up the Broncos record at 9-9 on the season.

The Broncos never trailed in game one, jumping on Wayland for five runs in top of the first. Pioneer starting pitcher Scott Lacey survived the first, but got knocked out before completing the second by giving up four more NMMI runs. Another two-spot in the third put the Institute up 11-0. Bronco starting pitcher Donald Fennell hurled two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the third and allowing five runs. He then went on to throw three and a third more shut-out innings before running out of gas and turning the ball over to closer Solomon Schneider. Schneider recorded the final two outs by facing just the next two batters. The last two NMMI runs came in the top of fifth to make the final score 13-5. Three Bronco batsmen had three hits apiece in the game: Jake Martin went 3 for 4 with three runs scored and 1 RBI, Ben Chavez was 3 for 5 with two runs and four RBIs, and Brandon Miller was 3 for 5 with three RBIs. Fennell got the win, his second on the season, while Lacey got tagged with the loss.

In game two, a nine-run sixth inning helped the Broncos go from three runs down to six runs in front. Wayland struck first,earning two runs against NMMI starter Chris Morgan. They got another run off Morgan in the bottom the third. The Broncos got one back in the top of the fourth, but in their half of the inning, the Pioneers got it right back off Institute reliever Jaime Sanchez. Neither team managed to score in the fifth. In the sixth, the Broncos plated nine runs off eight hits to surge ahead, then added another single run in the top of the seven for good measure. After giving up the run the fourth, Sanchez shut the Baptist offense down, holding them scoreless for the last three innings and picking up his team-leading fourth win of the season.

Next up for the Broncos will be a pair of nine-inning games in Lubbock, TX versus the Lubbock Christian University JV team on March 5th and 6th.