OKLAHOMA CITY - Tuesday provided the Mid-America Christian University baseball team with an opportunity to inch closer to the break-even mark when they hosted a double-header with the Tabor College Blue Jays. The teams were meeting for the second time in eight days, and MACU took advantage of the warm weather and home field early, before the Evangels were forced to settle for a split.
MACU (11-19) got a solid outing from Yorick Henson in the opener, and Diego Pichardo drove in five in the game as MACU took an 8-6 win over Tabor (30-11) in the first game. In game two, though, walks and hit batsmen proved to be too much to overcome as MACU fell 10-1.
Tabor struck first in the first game. The Blue Jays got a leadoff single to start the ballgame, and after Henson struck out the next man, Cameron Pope stepped in and belted a 2-run home run to put Tabor up 2-0.
MACU, though, answered right back in the next two innings. The Evangels took advantage of a pair of errors that allowed Pichardo to reach second base with one away in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back singles from Felix Martinez and Junior Aracena plated Pichardo, and the Evangels loaded the bases with two outs before Tabor starting pitcher Tony Horn was able to get out of the jam. In the second, Oliver Fernandez was hit by a pitch, and his courtesy runner, Austin Cooper, scored on a two out Baltimore Chop single from Pichardo to level the score.
The score remained 2-2 into the bottom of the fourth frame. Kevin Lentzner blistered a one-out double down the left field line, and later in the inning Pichardo struck again - this time with a two-RBI double that scored Lentzner and Edgar Martinez. On the very next pitch, Felix Martinez launched a two-run blast to left field that capped a 4-run inning and gave MACU a 6-2 lead.
Tabor scored a single run in the top of the fifth, but they were threatening for much more. The Blue Jays opened the frame by putting the first five men on base, but a base running gaffe led to a caught stealing that helped minimize the damage. Reid Bukowski relieved Henson and got out of the inning with the Evangels still leading 6-3.
Pichardo added a two-run homer of his own in the bottom of the sixth inning to stretch MACU's lead to 8-3, and though the Blue Jays did score three in the top of the seventh, the Evangels held on for the 8-6 win.
MACU scored eight runs on eight hits and played an errorless game, while Tabor plated six runs on 10 hits and committed two errors.
Henson (1-1) earned the win, throwing four and one-third innings, yielding three earned runs on five hits, three walks, and six strikeouts. Horn (2-1) took the loss, giving up six runs, though only four were earned, in three and two-thirds.
Pichardo posted a 3-for-4 game, with three runs scored and five RBIs, and he finished a triple shy of the cycle. Felix Martinez and Aracena each also had two hits, and Edgar Martinez scored twice in the game.
Tabor Again jumped on top early in game two, plating a run in the first, but again MACU answered. Edgar Martinez blooped a double into right center field to lead off the home first, and after a wild pitch sent him to third, he came home on a sacrifice fly from Pichardo to tie things at 1-1.
That was where the similarities in the two games ended. Tabor scored five runs in the top of the third inning on only one hit, and they added three more in the fourth on their way to a 10-1 win.
Tabor scored their 10 runs in game two on only six hits, and the Blue Jays were not guilty of an error in the game. MACU, meanwhile, scored one run on three hits, and the Evangels had a pair of defensive miscues.
Drake Girard (2-0) earned the complete game victory, allowing one earned run on three hits and striking out five. Pedro Reyes (2-3) took the defeat, as he gave up six earned runs on only one hit in two and two-thirds innings. Reyes walked six and struck out four in the game.
In addition to the double from Edgar Martinez, Lentzner and Colin Minor each had singles for MACU in the game.
The Evangels will get back into Soner Athletic Conference play on Thursday when they head south to Waxahachie, Texas. There, MACU will play a 3-game weekend set with the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lions (19-21, 5-12 SAC). The single game will be on Thursday night at 7 p.m., and the double-header will be on Friday at Noon.
