Oklahoma City, Okla. --
Adrian Bravo-Carmona smacked three homers and drove in eight runs on the day to fuel a doubleheader sweep of the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers and clinch the Mid-America Christian Evangels' first appearance in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament in school history. The Evangels won by scores of 7-4 and 10-9.
Trailing 1-0 in the opener, Bravo-Carmona began his offensive barrage with a solo homer in the bottom of the second that tied the score and then hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third for a 5-1 lead.
Joe Cervantes led off the fourth with a homer for the Rangers to make it 5-2, but
David Rhoads got into the long ball act with a two-run shot that plated
Jose Flores for a five-run lead.
An RBI triple by Clint Dodds keyed a two-run Rangers sixth and J.C. Aguayo doubled to lead off the seventh, but was thrown out oversliding second base on a great throw by right fielder
Jeff Eubank to shortstop
Luis Martinez.
David Wynn then retired the next two batters to finish off the complete game victory. Wynn allowed four runs and struck out 10 in seven innings.
Bravo-Carmona wasted no time in the nightcap by fueling a five-run first inning with a three-run blast that made it 5-0.
Eridani Dume led off the inning with a single, stole second and third, before scoring the first run on a single by
Jose Flores.
An RBI double by Rhoads also scored Eubank in the inning.
Eubank continued the Evangels home run derby with a two-run shot in the bottom of the second for a 7-0 lead.
The Evangels added a run in the third for a eight-run lead before the Rangers offense got going.
Evangel starter
Sean Sanders cruised through the first three innings, blanking the Rangers on only one hit with eight strikeouts.
But a three-run homer by Wade Schwerdtfeger got the Rangers on the board in the fourth and a grand slam by Wes Brorsen keyed a five-run fifth that made it a two-run game after Flores had put the Evangels back up 10-3 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.
Things then got real interesting in the seventh as a solo homer by Richard Burdick brought the Rangers to within 10-9, but reliever
Derek Allen got the next two batters to close out the win.
Sanders gave up eight runs and wound up with 11 strikeouts in six innings of work to pick up the win.
Allen worked the final inning to get the save.
Rhoads and Dume were each 3-of-4 in the second game.
The Evangels will next play a non-conference doubleheader at Bacone College on Monday afternoon (Apr. 25) at 1 p.m. in Muskogee, Okla. The two schools split a doubleheader this past week in OKC.