OKLAHOMA CITY - Injuries were a big part of the story of the 2019 Mid-America Christian University baseball team. After an upset win in the first game of the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament on Sunday afternoon, those injuries caught up to MACU in a pair of losses on Sunday and Monday that ended the Evangels' season.
MACU (19-26) finished their 2019 season with back to back losses in the Oklahoma City Bracket of the SAC tournament, the first of them being a 26-2 loss to NAIA #8 Oklahoma City University (45-11) in a game that featured a 17 1/2 hour suspension, and following that loss, MACU saw their season end in an 11-1 defeat at the hands of NAIA #14 Texas Wesleyan University (43-13).
MACU drew first blood in their game against Oklahoma City when Leo Bejaran led off the bottom of the second inning with a bunt single and came around to score on an RBI single from Edgar Martinez.
OCU tied the game with an unearned run in the top of the third, and they surged in front with tallies in the fourth and fifth to take a 3-1 lead. MACU plated a run in the fifth frame to cut the margin to 3-2, but OCU answered with five runs in the sixth to take an 8-2 lead.
The game was suspended at shortly before 11:30 p.m. on Sunday night with a line of heavy rains inundated Jim Wade Stadium to the point that the field was not playable on Monday and the game was relocated to Putnam City High School. There, the Stars finished the Evangels off with 18 more runs over two innings and OCU took the win, 26-2 in eight innings.
Justin Berry (4-1) earned the win for OCU, throwing six innings and allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with a career-high 13 strikeouts. Arcangel Soto (5-5) took the loss as he yielded seven runs on 10 hits in five innings with two walks and 10 punch outs.
Edgar Martinez had two of MACU's five hits - both singles - and the Evangels' only RBI in the game, and Bejaran and Colin Minor each tallied a run.
After the OCU game, MACU had to turn around and face Texas Wesleyan in a rematch of their first round game.
The Rams scored first with a single run in the first inning, but MACU starting pitcher Noel Diaz battled his way into the fourth inning without allowing anything further. In the fourth, though, Texas Wesleyan asserted themselves with a five run inning to open a 6-0 lead. The Rams added four more in the fifth frame, chasing Diaz from the game and stretching their lead to 10-0. Yan Ely Adames scored for MACU in the bottom of the fifth on a dropped pop-up, but MACU was unable to add any further runs, and after a run in the top of the ninth, Texas Wesleyan took the 11-1 win to move on to Championship tuesday in the SAC tournament.
Jordan Granado (2-0) earned the win for Texas Wesleyan in relief, and he gave up one run on one hit, one walk, and one strikeout in one inning of work. Diaz (2-5) took the loss for MACU, allowing nine earned runs on 11 hits in four and two-thirds innings.
Raymond Rodriguez doubled for MACU's only extra base hit in the game, and Adames, Edgar Martinez, Felix Martinez, and Oliver Fernandez each also singled in the game.
The loss ends MACU's season.
