DALLAS – When the Mid-America Christian University baseball team headed south to Dallas for the weekend, the Evangels had a goal of winning three of four games at the Dallas Christian College Round Robin. Thanks to a big weekend from Luis Sanchez, the Evangels accomplished that goal.
Salazar had a stretch of seven consecutive at-bats with a hit, and nine straight plate appearances reaching base, including a 3-for-3 game on Saturday afternoon with a go-ahead opposite field homer, as MACU (4-3) defeated Hannibal-LaGrange University (1-2) 5-2 before dropping their final game of the weekend to Eastern New Mexico University (3-1) 10-7.
Sanchez got things going in the top of the first inning for the Evangels against Hannibal-LaGrange with an RBI triple that drove home Logan Gipson, who had doubled with two outs in the frame, to give MACU the early 1-0 lead. An unearned run for HLGU in the bottom of the second inning tied the score at 1-1, and in the third, the teams traded solo homers. Felix Martinez (1) belted a long solo homer for MACU with one out in the inning to give MACU the 3-2 lead, but Hannibal-LaGrange's Tim Gurnow answered that long ball with one of his own with two outs in the bottom half.
The game remained tied at 2-2 into the top of the fifth inning, when Sanchez stepped to the plate with two outs and launched a prodigious opposite field homer – his first of the season – to put the Evangels in front 3-2. Martinez added an RBI single in the sixth that scored Raymond Rodriguez, and in the seventh, Rodriguez drew a bases loaded free pass to plate Antonio Dorado, and the Evangels made it stand up to take the 5-2 win.
Josh Stevenson (1-0) tossed four innings and allowed two runs, one of them earned, on four hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts to earn the victory on the mound. VJ Vinson (0-1) lasted four and two-thirds innings for the Trojans, but he yielded three earned runs on eight hits, one walk, and three strikeouts, and he was saddled with the loss. Jairo Aparicio (1) tossed three hitless, scoreless innings of relief for the Evangels with three walks and four strikeouts to earn the save.
Sanchez was 3-for-3 in the game, and he finished a triple shy of the cycle, scoring once and driving in two. Dorado was 3-for-4 with a run, Martinez was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs, and Gipson was 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
The final game of the weekend pitted the Evangels against the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in a rematch of MACU's first game of the weekend.
The Evangels struck first in the bottom of the first frame. After a 1-out walk to Martinez and another double for Gipson, Dorado singled to center to plate Martinez and give MACU the 1-0 lead. Eastern New Mexico answered with a pair of tallies on a 2-run single from Andrew Stubbs in the top of the second inning to take the 2-1 lead, but MACU came right back in the bottom half to take the lead back.
A single from Kevin Lentzner drove home Trey Jackson, who had led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a stolen base and a throwing error, to tie the score at 2-2, and the Evangels were just getting started. Martinez followed with an RBI double that plated Abdiel Quinones and sent Lentzner to third, and Lentzner scored on a throwing error after Gipson lined out to push MACU's lead to 4-2. Sanchez followed with an RBI groundout to put MACU up 5-2 as Martinez scored. Raymond Rodriguez scored on a play where Jackson was caught stealing in the third, and after three innings, MACU looked comfortable, up 6-2, but ENMU began to chip away.
Stubbs picked up another RBI-single in the fourth to cut the MACU lead to 6-3, and with two outs in the fifth, Julian Heredia singled to center to plate Alex DeLaCruz, and he came around to score as the ball was misplayed in the outfield and rolled all the way to the fence to tie the score at 6-6. Paul Tapia had a pinch-hit RBI double to give ENMU a 7-6 lead in the top of the sixth, and he later scored on a wild pitch, and in the seventh, the Greyhounds took advantage of three MACU wild pitches and an RBI-triple from Stubbs to push their lead to 10-6.
MACU's offense did not go quietly in the seventh, as Gipson led off with a double, and Sanchez drew a walk to bring the tying run out into the on-deck circle, but the tying run never made it to the plate. Axel Poesmans did have a sacrifice fly to drive in Gipson, but that was all the Evangels were able to push across, as ENMU held on for the 10-7 win.
Jonathan Joy (1-0) threw five inning of relief for the Greyhounds, and he gave up two earned runs on three hits, three walks, and four strikeouts to earn the victory for ENMU, and Enrique Perez (1) retired all three men he faced in the seventh to notch his first save. Seth Keith (0-1) gave up three runs – though only one was earned – on two hits, a walk, and three strikeouts as he was charged with the loss for MACU.
The Evangels will be back on the road next weekend, heading to Hobbs, New Mexico to battle the University of the Southwest Mustangs (0-0) for four games. The teams will play double-headers on Friday and Saturday at noon both days.
