FORT WORTH, Texas - Ahead of Tuesday's expected rain, the Mid-America Christian University baseball team headed south to complete a Sooner Athletic Conference series that was started on the first weekend of April. The Evangels headed to Fort Worth to take on Texas Wesleyan University, and thanks to opportune hitting early and late, the Rams took the game and completed the series sweep.
MACU (17-22, 11-12 SAC)) suffered two big innings on the mound, and the bats were unable to get going as NAIA #14 Texas Wesleyan (38-12, 17-7) took the win, 10-0 in eight innings.
Diego Pichardo belted a one out double in the top of the first, but the Evangels were unable to move him any further, and in the second frame, Texas Wesleyan broke the ice.The Rams scored a run with one out in the inning, but Yorick Henson induced an inning-ending double play to get out of trouble.
The Rams broke things open in the third. They pushed across five runs on five hits in the inning to open a 6-0 lead.
MACU, meanwhile, generated base runners, but they were unable to get anyone across. The Evangels got two hits in the second inning, another in the fourth, and two more in the fifth, but each time the Rams were able to escape unscathed. A walk and a single in the sixth gave MACU a chance with two on and one out, but a double play ended the threat. Kevin Lentzner was hit by a pitch to lead off the seventh, but the Evangels could not advance him, and in the eighth, Pichardo drew a leadoff free pass and was stranded.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Rams took advantage of a MACU error to plate three unearned runs as a part of a four-run inning to end the game in a 10-0 Texas Wesleyan win.
Josh Brown (5-1) earned the win for the Rams, allowing three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in three innings of relief work. Henson (1-2) allowed six earned runs on seven hits in two and two thirds innings in the game, taking the loss. Pedro Reyes pitched well for MACU in relief, throwing five innings and allowing four runs - only one earned - on six hits? with one walk and one strikeout.
Lentzner was 2-for-2 in the game with two singles and he was hit by a pitch, and Yan Ely Adames had a pair of singles in four trips to the plate. Pichardo doubled and walked in four plate appearances.
MACU will hit the road this weekend to head to Goodwell, Oklahoma for the final weekend series of the season. The Evangels will battle the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies (18-24, 9-15 SAC) in a 3-game set, with a double-header slated for Friday at Noon, and a single game scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
