Baseball blasts Arkansas Baptist in Triumphant Return to Coker Field
Friday, February 7, 2025, will go down in history for the defending Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season champion Wiley University baseball team, making its triumphant return to its home Coker Field with everyone contributing offensively and pitchers Isaac Burciaga, Jerrius Vickers and Chance Guidry combining for the program's second no-hitter in 24-2 and 22-2 victories over Arkansas Baptist College.
The games were the first played at Coker Field since March 2020. The Wildcats played their home games at Airport Park, a public complex, the previous three seasons. The wins move Wiley above .500 for the first time this season.
In the first game, 14 Wildcats scored runs, 10 recorded hits and nine drove in runs. Wiley scored multiple runs in every inning. Ivan Del Villar went 2-for-3 with four runs batted in and two runs scored. Adrian Cindo went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Eddie Garza scored four runs in his 2025 debut. Jhan Carlos Javier hit his first home run of the season with a three-run blast over the left-center field wall. Ryan Ready hit an RBI double and drove in a second run with a walk.
With the game well in hand, head coach Kendrick Biggs pulled all his starters except for catcher Brendan Mendoza in the top of the fifth. Smauri Abram went 2-for-2 with a run and three RBI. Julian Rosales went 2-for-2 with a double and four RBI. Laker McPherson hit two doubles and scored twice. Ajari Camp got a hit and scored two runs.
Keyon Guillory picked up his second win, holding the Buffaloes to two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out six in five innings. He only faced one tight situation when Arkansas Baptist loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning. He got a strikeout and the next batter hit a ground ball to Ready at third. He stepped on the bag and threw home to Mendoza to complete the double play.
Wiley (5-4) set the tone from the start. Guillory held the Buffaloes scoreless in the first and his teammates provided plenty of run support. Garza led off with a walk, Jacob Perez walked and Ready was hit by a pitch. Del Villar drove in the first runs of the game with a single to left field which was followed by Javier's home run. The Wildcats added two runs in the second and two in the third. They chased Arkansas Baptist's starting pitcher Angel Camacho out of the game with six runs in the fourth. Three were scored on walks. Del Villar hit a two-run single and Abel Rodriguez Jr. hit a sacrifice fly.
Burciaga was untouchable in his third start. He only allowed two baserunners in five innings and struck out six. Burciaga retired the side in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Jerrius Vickers pitched a scoreless sixth inning and struck out one batter. Chance Guidry pitched the seventh and struggled with command, hitting four batters and walking two. Anthony Castaneda recorded the only out by throwing out a runner at third. The game was called due to darkness. It was the second no-hitter since 2007, the last occurring in 2020.
Just like the first game, the Wildcats scored in every inning in Game 2, scoring multiple runs in four, including eight in the bottom of the sixth. All nine starters recorded hits, scored runs and drove in runs. Wiley peppered Arkansas Baptist pitchers Matthew Howard and Henner Gonzalez with 25 hits.
Del Villar became the second Wildcat since 2007 to hit for the cycle with a triple in the fourth inning, a two-run home run in the fifth, a double and a single in the sixth. He scored five runs and drove in four. Garza went 4-for-5 with a double, two runs and two RBI. Javier went 3-for-5 and hit his second home run in the fifth inning. He scored three runs and drove in two. Tyson Minter made his first appearance in 2025 and was a home run shy of the cycle. He tripled in the second, hit a two-RBI single in the third and a double in the fourth. Minter scored four runs. Anthony Castaneda went 3-for-4 with an RBI single and an RBI double. Perez went 2-for-4, hitting his second home run of the season. He scored two runs and drove in three. Ready recorded two hits with an RBI double, scored three runs and drove in two. Rodriguez went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI.
Garza led off with a single and scored on a double to deep left field by Ready. Minter's triple with one out in the second set up a RBI opportunity for Castaneda. Cindo hit an RBI double and Minter's two-run single increased the lead to 5-0 in the third. Wiley added five in the fourth, and four in the fifth.
Wiley wraps up the series at noon on Saturday.
For more coverage on the Wildcats visit https://wileyathletics.com/sports/bsb/index
About Wiley University Athletics
Wiley University sponsors 12 varsity sports, women's volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field and baseball. It competes in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) and the Continental Athletic Conference for men's and women's soccer.
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