OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University baseball team was disappointed with the result in the second game of their double-header against Central Christian College on Friday afternoon. Seeking to make a statement on Saturday, the Evangels gave the baseball to Ben Donnell, and he delivered on the mound while Felix Martinez led the charge at the plate.
Martinez homered twice and finished a triple shy of the cycle as MACU (17-9, 8-4 SAC) put an emphatic stamp on their series with CCC (3-23, 2-9 SAC) with an 11-1 win in seven innings.
Donnell worked around a one out single in the top of the first, and in the bottom half, the MACU offense staked him to a lead.
Luis Sanchez belted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Antonio Dorado to put MACU up 1-0. Martinez doubled and scored in the third frame, and his afternoon was just getting started as MACU led the game 3-0 after three innings of play.
Dorado and Logan Gipson each had RBI singles in the fourth as MACU's lead swelled to 5-0, and Axel Poesmans drove in Kevin Lentzner with a sacrifice fly in the fifth to give MACU a 6-0 lead. Martinez launched his first homer of the day in the sixth inning, and he lined a 3-run blast to right field in the seventh to push MACU's lead to 10-1. MACU loaded the bases with one out in the frame, and Lentzner drove in the game ending run the painful way, wearing an inside fastball to force home Gipson and end the game in an 11-1 MACU win.
On the mound, Donnell was excellent for MACU. The junior southpaw tossed his second straight complete game, and he yielded only one earned run in seven innings of work. Donnell (3-0) scattered eight hits, he did not walk a batter, and he struck out a career high nine batters in the win. Jared Jones (0-4) allowed six earned runs on 10 hits in five innings, and he was hit with the loss.
Martinez finished the game 4-for-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle. He scored three runs and drove in four as well. Dorado singled twice, scored three times, and drove in a run; Lentzner singled in three trips, scored a run, and knocked in two; and Raymond Rodriguez singled and doubled in four at bats.
MACU will step out of conference play on Tuesday afternoon when they host the Southwestern College Moundbuilders (9-11) for a double-header at 12 p.m.
