The 2009 baseball season didn't start off in quite the fashion the Pioneers envisioned when they got on the bus for the long ride to Brownsville Wednesday afternoon, but by the end of the day on Friday things looked much better.  The Pioneers responded to a 12-2 run-rule defeat in game one to pick up a 12-1 run-rule victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the University of Texas-Brownsville.

UTB pitcher Julian Moya threw a masterpiece in the opener, striking out 12 WBU hitters in six innings of work.  The junior from Brownsville whose devastating overhand curveball kept Pioneer batters off balance the whole game allowed just three hits and walked one.

First baseman Josh Lucas actually put the Pioneers on the board first with his first home run of the season, a towering fly ball that hit into the palm trees beyond the left field fence in the top of the third. 

The Scorpions responded with two runs on three hits off WBU starter Todd Jeffress in the bottom of the inning, and then got five more in the fourth.

Jeffress hit a one-out double to right center, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Eddie Allen's single to left in the fifth to give the Pioneers their final run of the game.

In the nightcap, Wayland got a masterpiece of its own from Christopher McNeil.  The junior transfer from San Jose State allowed just one unearned run on two hits to earn his first victory in a Pioneer uniform.  McNeil had six strikeouts in his five innings of work.

The WBU hitters finally began putting the ball in play after the sun went down.  Franky Busani hit a two-run double in the top of the first to get the Pioneers on the scoreboard.  They picked up two more in the second on Lucas' second hit of the day, a lead-off double down the line in left.  Marcus Limon followed with a walk, Allen advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Brett Cook got his first hit of the season, a double to left center that plated the runners.

The Pioneers scored eight runs in the third on six hits and five Scorpion errors.  Lucas got his third hit of the day on a RBI single, Limon walked in a run, and senior utility player Courtney Williams blistered a two-run pitch-hit single off the UTB shortstop's ankle.  Michael Prell and Busani also recorded RBIs in the inning.

The two teams meet again on Saturday with two more games beginning at 1 p.m.