OKLAHOMA CITY – On Friday afternoon, the Mid-America Christian University baseball team missed chances to get timely hits, and it cost them two games. On Saturday, the Evangels found some of those timely hits, and that led to an offensive explosion.
Diego Pichardo and Luis Sanchez each had 4-hit games and four RBIs, as MACU (1-2) salvaged the final game of a 3-game weekend set with William Woods University (2-1) with a 15-6 win.
William Woods struck first, plating a pair of runs in the top of the first by taking advantage of three walks and two MACU errors, but the Evangels managed to strand two more runners on base, and the Evangels answered in the bottom of the inning. Pichardo singled up the middle with one out, and he moved up to second base on a groundout. Luis Sanchez then bounced an infield single up the middle, and when the throw went to first, Pichardo dashed around third and beat the relay throw home to cut the MACU deficit to 2-1, and the play gave MACU some much needed momentum.
The score remained 2-1 in favor of the Owls into the bottom of the third inning, but Sanchez struck again, this time with a double that scored Pichardo and Kevin Lentzner to give MACU the lead, 3-2.
The Owls answered with an RBI-triple from Marquise Doherty with two outs in the top of the fourth that scored Brian Granton to tie the score at 3-3, but that was all the Evangels allowed, and in the bottom of the fifth, MACU's offense turned to the long ball.
With one out and the bases empty, Pichardo stepped to the plate and launched a solo home run over the scoreboard in left-center field, and after Sanchez beat out an infield single with two outs, Antonio Dorado belted a 2-run bomb to dead center field to give MACU a 6-3 lead.
The Owls scored three times in the top of the sixth to tie the game again, but the MACU offense broke the game open in the bottom of the inning. Axel Poesmans drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and two batters later, Abdiel Quinones also walked to put runners at first and second with one out. After a fly out from Lentzner, Pichardo singled home the courtesy runner Trey Jackson, and that set off a 5-run rally. Logan Gipson had a 2-RBI double, and he scored on an RBI base knock from Sanchez. Manuel Hazoury capped off the rally with an RBI-single that scored Sanchez as MACU claimed an 11-6 lead.
In the seventh, the Evangels loaded the bases with nobody out, and Pichardo followed with a two-RBI single through the right side to push the Evangels' lead to 13-6, and in the eighth the Evangels put the capper on the rout when Dorado and Hazoury homered on consecutive pitches to provide the final margin of 15-6.
Jake White (1-0) earned the win out of the bullpen for MACU, tossing two and two-thirds innings of shutout relief, yielding one hit and two walks while fanning five Owls. Chase Putnam (0-1) took the loss after facing only one batter in the sixth frame when he issued a free pass to Poesmans.
Pichardo was 4-for-4 with his first homer of the season, a walk, four runs scored, and four RBIs. Sanchez was 4-for-5 with a double, two runs scored, and four RBIs; Dorado belted his first two home runs of the season with three RBIs; and Hazoury was 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs. Quinones also scored twice in the game.
MACU will head south to Dallas, Texas next weekd for four games at the Dallas Christian College tournament. The schedule is yet to be finalized, but MACU will play four games over the two-day trip. Please check the MACU website for final times and opponents.
