OKLAHOMA CITY – Keisy Portorreal has been one of the brightest spots for the Mid-America Christian University baseball team in 2018. On Monday, he turned in another gem of a performance, but until the bottom of the sixth frame, he was on the hook for the loss.
Enter Felix Martinez.
Martinez blasted his ninth homer of the season as the second batter of the bottom of the sixth inning, a two-run blast that put MACU (16-27, 7-14 SAC) on top for good. The Evangels added four runs in the seventh to beat Southwestern Christian University (28-16, 12-12 SAC) 6-1.
Manny Lopez doubled for SCU on the fourth pitch of the game, but Axel Poesmans fired a strike to third on the next pitch to nab Lopez stealing third. Portorreal fanned the next two hitters, and the game took on the tone of a pitchers' duel.
Portorreal allowed only one base runner in the next three innings – a catcher's interference to Trevor Hudgens, and Portorreal promptly picked off the pinch runner to end the second inning. MACU, meanwhile, put runners on base in each of the first four frames, but SCU starter Shelby Sherrill managed to strand four runners and a fifth was put out on the bases, and the game was scoreless after four complete innings.
In the fifth, SCU broke the ice. Slayton Vaughan hit a knuckling line drive to right field that MACU right fielder Antonio Dorado dove for but missed, and it rolled to the wall. The Evangels hurried the relay back into the infield, but a throwing error allowed Vaughan to score to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead. SCU's next batter reached on an error, but Portorreal dug in and fanned the next three hitters in succession, and that turned the momentum in favor of the Evangels.
Diego Pichardo singled to start the bottom of the sixth inning, and Martinez strolled into the box. Martinez got ahead in the count 2-0, and he blasted the third pitch of the at bat over the left-center field wall to put the Evangels out in front 2-1. Martinez doubled home another run in the seventh, and he and Pichardo scored on a one-out single from Junior Aracena to push MACU's lead to 5-1. Raymond Rodriguez followed later in the seventh inning with an RBI double that plated Aracena to cap the scoring, and Seth Keith slammed the door for the Evangels in relief, as MACU salvaged one game of the three game SAC series.
Portorreal (9-2) allowed one unearned run on three hits and one walk with a dozen strikeouts in the game. The junior from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic eclipsed the 100 strikeout mark on the season in the game, and he now has the second highest strikeout total in a season in MACU history. Sherrill (4-2) allowed six earned runs on 15 hits in seven innings, and he had two strikeouts in the loss.
Martinez finished the day 3-for-4 with a double, a homer, two runs scored, and three RBIs. Pichardo singled and scored twice, Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Luis Sanchez added two singles.
MACU will step out of conference play on Tuesday for a twin bill in Lindsborg, Kansas. The Evangels will take on the Bethany College Swedes (18-21) at 1 p.m.
