OKLAHOMA CITY – With just over two months remaining until the 2018 season begins, Adrian Savedra and the Mid-America Christian University baseball program have announced their 2018 schedule. The slate features 52 games, with 27 Sooner Athletic Conference tilts, and 25 non-conference games. The Evangels will play 23 games at James Curtis Field, with 29 scheduled contests away from their home field.
"We are excited about the upcoming season and the quality of teams that we have the opportunity to play," noted Savedra. "We want to build our program to be able to compete on a national level and we feel that these slate of games will help to take us in that direction."
The Evangels will open their 2018 schedule at home on the final weekend of January. MACU will host a double-header against the Owls of William Woods University on Friday, January 26 at Noon, with the third game of the weekend set scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday the 27th.
After opening at home, MACU will play 13 of their next 14 games away from Oklahoma City, with only a single game against Oklahoma Wesleyan University on February 13 interrupting the long stretch of games away from home. The Evangels return home to open their SAC home schedule against Southwestern Assemblies of God University on February 23 and 24, and they will play their next six games at home. The Evangels' first split SAC weekend takes place on March 1st and 3rd when MACU will host a single game against Oklahoma City University on Thursday, followed by a double-dip at OCU on Saturday.
The Evangels will play a mixture of teams that will test them, and teams which should give better opportunities for victories. MACU will face eight teams who won at least 25 games in 2017, with five of those eight in the SAC. Of those eight teams, five are coming off seasons of 40 or more victories, and two – Oklahoma City and Oklahoma Wesleyan – won 50 games a year ago.
MACU will also face teams that struggled in 2017, but coach Savedra knows that those types of teams cannot be taken lightly. Teams like Bacone College, SAGU, Dallas Christian University, and Bethany University may not have had success in 2017, but that can turn around quickly. MACU will also face a brand new program, as the Evangels will twice take on the Southwestern College Moundbuilders in non-conference action as SC launches baseball this spring.
The Evangels will once again have two opportunities to qualify for the postseason. If the ball club finishes with a record of .500 or better, they will qualify for the NCCAA Central Regional Tournament, and if they finish in the top eight of the SAC, they will qualify for the SAC postseason tournament.
MACU is coming off a season in which they finished 22-33 overall, including a 10-13 mark in the SAC. Both of those numbers were high-water marks as coach Savedra and his staff work toward building a foundation of success in his third season at the helm.
