Oklahoma City, Okla.- No. 1 seeded Mid-America Christian University opened the National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region Tournament by cruising past fourth seeded Crowley's Ridge University 10-0 in six innings at James Curtis Field. Second seeded Colorado Christian University run-ruled the third seed, Central Baptist College 13-3 in five innings. Central Baptist eliminated Crowley Ridge in the third game of the afternoon 9-8 after an hour delay due to tornado warnings.
The Evangels will take on Colorado Christian on Tuesday at 12 p.m. The loser will face CBC while the winner receives a bye and a spot in the Championship game.
Taylor Foster, a left-handed pitcher from Owasso, Okla., threw a complete game one-hitter in MACU's win over CRC. He struck out 13 batters while walking four.
Foster had help from the Evangel offense who plated runs in every inning but one. They opened the game with two runs in the bottom of the first. Sam Lewis led of the inning with a walk and stole second. He scored off a groundout by James Frederick. Dan Heskin doubled to plate Pete Feurtado who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning.
In the second frame MACU extended their lead, adding four runs. With runners on first and second Lewis singled up the middle to push Scott Mulhearn across home plate. Feurtado followed with a triple, sending Matt Allen, who singled earlier in the game, and Lewis home. Feurtado scored on a pass ball to round out the scoring.
Mulhearn gave the Evangels an 8-0 lead in the third with a two-run homer over the right field fence.
After a scoreless fourth frame, CRC got their lone hit of the game. With one out, Andrew Alderman dropped a ball into shallow centerfield, just out of Lewis' reach, breaking up the no hitter.
In the next frame, Lewis doubled to right-center, plating Brian Carter who singled earlier in the inning. MACU finished off the game in the sixth using back-to-back doubles to end the game with the 10-0 run-rule.