LINDSBORG, Kan. – The Mid-America Christian University baseball team stepped out of Sooner Athletic Conference play to hit the road for a mid-week double-header on Tuesday – the second and third games of what is scheduled to be a six-game week. The Evangels and Swedes combined to plate 34 runs in 14 innings of play, and in the end, the day resulted in a split.
MACU (17-28) rallied with a five-run sixth inning in game two to take a 10-8 win over Bethany (20-22) after the Swedes had rallied from a four run deficit for a 10-6 win in game one.
Jake White took the baseball for MACU in the first game of the double-header, and the game proceeded scoreless into the top of the third frame. Diego Pichardo singled home Trey Jackson as the third hitter in the frame, and he moved up to third on the play as Antonio Dorado got hung up in a rundown between third and home for the first out of the inning. Felix Martinez knocked in Pichardo with a single two pitches later. Later in the frame, Martinez and Logan Gipson scored on a base hit from Junior Aracena, and the Evangels found themselves up 4-0.
Bethany rallied with two outs in the bottom of the inning, and on three hits and an error, the Swedes scored three runs with two outs to trim MACU's lead to 4-3. Two MACU errors in the fourth led to an unearned run that tied the game at 4-4, and in the fifth, Bethany took control.
White was lifted from the game in favor of Gustavo Escobar to start the frame, and Escobar issued a leadoff walk. The walk came around to score on a one-out double from Max Diaz, and the Swedes added three runs on a pair of hits and suddenly, MACU trailed 8-4. Bethany added two runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Diaz and an RBI groundout from Brandon Peters to push their lead to 10-4.
Martinez launched a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the seventh, but Gipson filed out to left to end the ball game in a 10-6 win for the Swedes.
Brandon Shoemaker (2-0) picked up the complete game win, though he yielded six earned runs on nine hits and two walks and one strikeout. Escobar (0-1) took the loss, as he yielded four runs on three hits and two walks in one inning.
Martinez was 2-for-4 with his 10th homer of the season and three RBIs in the game, and Pichardo singled and scored twice. Aaron Davis also had a double in the game.
Bethany struck first in the bottom of the first inning of game two on an RBI single from Tyler Horchem and a two-run home run from Diaz as the Swedes took an early 3-0 lead.
Axel Poesmans singled home Aracena in the top of the second frame to get MACU within two, but Bethany got that run back on an unearned tally in the bottom of the third. MACU scored twice in the top of the fourth, but the Swedes continued to hold the lead into the top of the sixth.
Luis Sanchez led off the sixth with a walk, Aracena followed with a single, and Raymond Rodriguez sacrificed them to second and third with one out. Poesmans drove in Aracena on his second single of the game, and Sanchez scored on an error later in the inning. The key blow was a two-out bases clearing double from Martinez that plated Jackson, Dorado, and Pichardo to cap a five-run frame and give MACU the 8-4 lead.
Bethany scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to cut the MACU lead to 8-6, but in the top of the seventh, MACU got those two runs back on an RBI triple from Aracena that scored Sanchez, and a run-scoring single from Jackson that allowed Aracena to score with two away. Evan Schwab doubled home two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Bernardo Moreno was able to shut the door, as MACU took game two 10-8.
Josh Stevenson (3-2) allowed four runs – three earned – on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts to earn the win in five innings of work. Moreno allowed four runs – three earned – on four hits and a walk in two innings of relief. Dalton Bidon (0-1) gave up four runs on three hits in one inning as he was saddled with the loss.
Martinez was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs in the game, and Poesmans and Jackson each had two singles and two RBIs. Sanchez scored twice, and Aracena dented the plate three times.
MACU will return home for Senior Day festivities on Thursday at 2 p.m., when they face the daunting task of taking on the NAIA #7 Drovers of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (33-6, 18-3 SAC). The game will be the final home game for eight seniors on the MACU team – Reid Wall, Antonio Dorado, Omar Frias, Gustavo Escobar, Josh Stevenson, Aaron Davis, Logan Gipson, and Axel Poesmans. First pitch of the game is slated for 2 p.m., with Senior Day festivities taking place before the game.
