OKLAHOMA CITY - For the first time since 2015, the Mid-America Christian University baseball team welcomed former Sooner Athletic Conference rival Southern Nazarene University to James Curtis Field. MACU had chances to take the win, but in the end, the Evangels were unable to find the timely hit to take the win.
MACU (6-13) had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position in the eighth inning, but SNU (5-18) managed to strand the runners aboard and the Crimson Storm held on for the win, 5-3.
SNU drew first blood in the first inning. The Crimson Storm plated two runs off MACU's Yorick Henson, but the sophomore right-hander managed to get out of the inning with limited damage, and from there, he settled in nicely.
Henson tossed six innings, and he allowed only one additional run, on a pair of well-place doubles, in the SNU fourth frame. Henson scattered six hits and three walks in the game, and he struck out seven batters, and his 107-pitch outing went a long way toward keeping MACU in the game.
The Evangels got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. A single and a double put runners at second and third with one out, and the Crimson Storm brought the infield in. Edgar Martinez hit a sharp ground ball into the hole at short, but SNU's Tanner Ladon made a nice play to keep the ball on the infield, and while the Evangels got a run on the play, SNU was able to stop the rally with no further damage.
SNU added a fourth run in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom half of the inning, MACU loaded the bases with nobody out.
MACU's Junior Aracena led off the inning with a double, and Edgar Martinez singled into the hole at short to put runners at first and second. Colin Minor reached on an error from Ladon to load the bases, and Raymond Rodriguez singled home Aracena to trim the deficit to 4-2.
SNU then brought their infield in, and for the second time in the game, the move paid off. Leo Bejaran chopped a grounder to first base, and it initially looked like it would wind up in right field. SNU's Emilio Escobedo made a nice over the shoulder grab, however, to keep the ball on the infield, and he won the foot race to the bag to get Bejaran for the first out, though Martinez did score on the play to pull MACU to within a single run. The play changed the momentum in the inning, and Oliver Fernandez and after an intentional walk to Diego Pichardo, Felix Martinez flew out to left to end the threat.
SNU added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and while Bejaran reached on a dropped third strike to start the bottom of the ninth inning, a double play and a strikeout ended the game in a 5-3 SNU win.
SNU starter Tyler Thompson (3-3) earned the win with three shutout innings on the staff day for the Crimson storm. Thompson gave up one hit and walked one, and he notched one strikeout as well. Henson (0-1) took the loss for MACU, and Zach Birkle (1) got the last six outs to notch the save.
Aracena was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored, Sanches and Edgar Martinez both scored a run, and three Evangels - Edgar Martinez, Rodriguez, and Bejaran - drove runs in.
MACU will be back in action on Thursday afternoon when they head to Chickasha, Oklahoma to take on the NAIA #12 Drovers of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (23-4, 6-2 SAC). The teams will play the single game of the weekend set at Bill Smith Ballpark at 1 p.m.
