OKLAHOMA CITY - After a tough weekend offensively their last time out, the Mid-America Christian University baseball team got well in a hurry at the plate in their double dip at home on Saturday. MACU belted four homers against Ecclesia College in two games, and the Evangels rode that power surge to a sweep of the Royals.
MACU (4-6) pounded 11 extra base hits in 14 innings of play on Friday, as the Evangels beat Ecclesia (5-5) in both games of the double header, by scored of 9-3 and 9-6 in the two contests.
Ben Donnell took the ball for MACU in game one, and he retired the side without allowing a ball out of the infield, and the MACU bats immediately staked him to a comfortable lead. The Evangels opened the game with a double from Oliver Fernandez, an RBI double from Diego Pichardo, and a two-run home run from Felix Martinez, and a walk to Luis Sanchez. Sanchez later scored on a sacrifice fly from Edgar Martinez, and after one inning, MACU held a 4-0 lead.
The teams traded runs in the second, with MACU's tally coming on Diego Pichardo's second home run of the season, and they swapped scores again in the third with Kevin Lentzner picking up an RBI double that scored Edgar Martinez, and after three innings, MACU led 6-2.
Raymond Rodriguez led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer, and after the Royals plated an unearned run in the top of the sixth, Yan Ely Adames and Rodriguez each picked up RBIs in the bottom half of the frame to cap the scoring and give MACU the 9-3 margin of victory.
MACU tallied nine runs on 12 hits and played errorless baseball, and Ecclesia tallied three runs on nine hits with three errors.
Donnell (1-1) earned the win, and he gave up three runs - two earned - on eight hits, five walks, and four strikeouts. Cooper Gordon (0-1) was tagged for five runs, four earned, on six hits, one walk, and one strikeout in two innings of work.Pedro Reyes (1) recorded the final four outs in the game to earn the save, and he allowed one hit and one walk.
Pichardo, Felix Martinez, Sanchez, Rodriguez, and Kevin Lentzner each had two hits for MACU in the game. Pichardo, Felix Martinez, and Rodriguez each homered in the game; Fernandez, Lentzner, Pichardo, Rodriguez, and Sanchez all doubled; Pichardo scored three times; and Pichardo, Felix Martinez, and Rodriguez each knocked in a pair of runs.
Arcangel Soto took the baseball for MACU in game two of the twin bill, and he battled command issues, but managed to keep the Ecclesia offense at bay in spite of that. In the bottom of the first inning, MACU plated six runs on four hits, highlighted by a two-run single from Sanchez, as MACU built a 6-1 lead early.
As rain began to fall at the ballpark, Ecclesia scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second to cut the gap to 6-3, and another unearned tally in the top of the fourth pulled the Royals within two at 6-4, but in the bottom of the frame, Felix Martinez put the game out of reach.
Martinez blasted his second homer of the day, a long three-run shot that pushed MACU's lead to 9-4, and despite single runs in the fifth and sixth from Ecclesia, the Evangels held on to win the game 9-6, and they completed the double-header sweep.
MACU scored nine runs on nine hits with three errors, and Ecclesia tallied six runs on six hits and made one error.
Soto got a no-decision despite only giving up one earned run, as he lasted only three and two-thirds innings. Noel Diaz (1-1) gave up one earned run on one hit, one walk, and two strikeouts in an inning and one-third to earn the victory, and Reid Bukowski gave up one earned run on two hits and a walk with five punch outs in two innings of work.
Felix Martinez was 2-for-4 with the homer, two runs scored, and three RBIs to pace the Evangels' offense in the game. Sanchez singled and doubled in four trips with a pair of runs knocked in, and Edgar Martinez had a pair of singles and a run scored in the game. Fernandez and Pichardo each scored twice in the game.
MACU will be off for the rest of the weekend, and they will resume play next Thursday, February 28, when they host Wayland Baptist University (8-3) to open Sooner Athletic Conference play. The teams will play a three game weekend series with the order of the games still to be determined.
