HOBBS, N.M. – In the first 11 games of their season, the Mid-America Christian University baseball team has needed extra innings twice to decide games. The Evangels are 2-0 in those games, and as a result of the second such contest on Saturday afternoon, the Evangels took a series win over the University of the Southwest.
MACU (7-4) scored three times in the top of the 10th in game one of a double-header at Southwest (3-5), grabbing a 6-3 win before the Mustangs rallied to salvage the series finale 7-5 in a game shortened by lack of daylight.
Mid-America jumped out in front in game one with three runs in the top of the third. Antonio Dorado and Logan Gipson started off the inning with back-to-back singles, and Luis Sanchez followed one out later with a two-RBI double to score both Dorado and Gipson. With two outs in the frame, Kevin Lentzner lined a single to center that knocked in Sanchez to give MACU a 3-0 lead.
Kenneth Corona belted a one out triple in the bottom of the fourth to score two and cut MACU's lead to one at 3-2, but Bernardo Moreno dug in on the hill and retired the next two hitters to keep the Evangels in front. Southwest attempted to steal the tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning, but MACU executed well defensively as Jacob Harris was cut down stealing home on the 2-4-2 sequence to end the inning.
MACU was one out away from victory in the bottom of the seventh when the strike zone seemed to vanish for MACU pitchers. Two walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases and led to a MACU pitching change, but a third walk forced home the tying run before Jairo Aparicio was able to escape the jam, and the game went to extra innings tied at 3.
Neither team put more than one man on base in the eighth or the ninth, but in the 10th, Sanchez got the Evangels rolling with a leadoff single. Diego Pichardo pinch ran for Sanchez, and Felix Martinez ripped an RBI-triple to right center that scored Dorado easily to give MACU the 4-3 lead. Axel Poesmans singled home Martinez, and the Evangels added a third run on an error to take a 6-3 lead, and Aparicio made the lead stick.
Aparicio faced three pinch hitters in the bottom of the 10th, retiring all three and fanning two of them, as MACU took the win, 6-3.
Lentzner was 4-for-5 with an RBI in the game, Sanchez was 3-for-5 with a double, and Poesmans singled three times in five at bats. Gipson added two singles as MACU pounded out 17 hits in the game.
Aparicio (1-0) tossed three and a third innings of hitless, shutout relief to earn the win. He walked only one and struck out three. Marvin Ortiz (0-1) gave up three runs – two earned – on five hits in an inning and a third and he was saddled with the loss.
Southwest drew first blood in the series finale. The Mustangs tallied two in the bottom of the first inning against MACU starter Josh Stevenson, and they added a third tally in the second on a rare triple steal.
Gipson and Aaron Davis had RBI hits for MACU as a part of a 3-run top of the third frame as MACU tied the game, but the momentum was short-lived. Southwest tallied a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth, and they added two more in the fifth on a two-out double from CJ Aviles to take a 7-3 lead.
With daylight fading, MACU came to the plate knowing they needed offense and they needed it quickly. The Evangels scored twice on a throwing error from the Mustangs, and MACU put the tying runs on base with a single and a hit batsman, but Sanchez struck out swinging to end the inning, and the game was called due to darkness.
Gipson had the only multi-hit effort for either team in the game, and Davis had two RBIs in the contest.
Ben Tingen (2-0) earned the win for the Mustangs, lasting five and a third innings and giving up five runs – four earned – on six hits and four walks while striking out three Evangels. Stevenson (1-1) allowed five runs – three earned – in four innings with two walks and two strikeouts in the loss.
The Evangels return home for a single game on Tuesday afternoon, and they will face a tough test at James Curtis Field. MACU will welcome in the NAIA #5 Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles (6-0) to Oklahoma City for a nine-inning contest at 1 p.m.
