OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian baseball team's pitching was on-point in its season-opening doubleheader against Bethany College as the Evangels fell 1-0 in 10 innings in the first game before bouncing back with a 1-0 win in game two on Friday afternoon at James Curtis Field.
GAME 1
Making his Mid-America Christian debut, junior starter Frensly Leito pitched a phenomenal game, throwing seven shutout innings and giving up no hits, two walks and tallied 12 strikeouts.
Leito and the Swedes' Chase Lorg went toe-to-toe as scoring opportunities were extremely limited throughout the contest. The Evangels were finally able to get their first runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth when Yan Ely Adames was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to second on a Grant Roberts SAC bunt. However, the Evangels were unable to drive him in as a Joshua Fernandez strikeout and a Leonel Bejaran-Spect groundout to short ended the threat.
In extras, MACU had a second chance to drive in the winning run when Roberts hit a leadoff single to left and advanced to second on Joshua Fernandez's SAC bunt, but Bejaran-Specht and Oliver Fernandez were unable to drive him in with a strikeout and a flyout to left to end the frame.
In the top of the 10th, Bethany's Rancys Nunez reached on a one-out, in-field single and advanced to second on a fielder's choice. In the ensuing at-bat, Nunez came around to score when Edgar Martinez's errant throw pulled Joshua Fernandez off the bag at first and slipped past Oliver Fernandez on the throw to home.
Mid-America Christian was able to get the game-tying run to scoring position in its bottom half of the frame when Joshua Fernandez drew a walk after an Adames single and a Roberts fielder's choice, but Lorg struck Bejaran-Specht to thwart the Evangels chance.
Bethany scored its one run on one hit and committed no errors while the Evangels were shutout on three hits while committing just one error.
In his Evangels debut, junior reliever Frank Souza was credited with the tough-luck loss, giving up just one unearned run on one hit, one walk and five strikeouts in three innings of work.
GAME TWO
Bethany was able to get a leadoff single to center off sophomore starter Ryan Wimbush making his MACU debut, but the crafty righty quickly stopped the threat by inducing a 6-3 double play and got out of the inning two batters later.
The Evangels were able to quickly put together a threat in the bottom half of the first inning when MACU leadoff hitter Brandon Reese was hit by a pitch and got over to third with one out after a passed ball and an Edgar Martinez groundout to second. However, Felix Martinez and Colin Minor were unable to push the go-ahead runner across with a strikeout and groundout to end the frame.
Mid-America Christian was able to push across its first run of the season in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Joshua Fernandez slashed a single to center and Bejaran-Specht followed with a single to left put runners at first and second. On the ensuing at-bat, Romi Rinehart dropped a single in left center and Fernandez came around to score to make it a 1-0 edge.
Bethany put together a major threat in the top of the fourth as a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with two outs, but Wimbush was able to get out of the jam by getting BC's Tyler Tosh to fly out to center to keep the Swedes off the board.
The Swedes threatened in the top of the fifth as BC got runners to first and third with two outs, but MACU reliever David Lechuga managed to get catcher Evan Schwab to hit into an unassisted fielder's choice to Edgar Martinez to keep the shutout intact.
Mid-America Christian had one last chance to add an insurance run fifth when Reese reached on a two-out infield single and advanced to third on two passed balls, but BC starter Manuel Rodriguez got out of the jam by getting Edgar Martinez to ground out to second.
In the top of the seventh, the Swedes put themselves in a strong position when BC got a leadoff single to start off the frame, but during the following at-bat, Adames was able to pick a pitch out of the dirt and sling a rocket to Joshua Fernandez at first to tag out the runner and clear the bases.
Two batters later, Bethany's Justan Bailey smashed a double to deep left center field to put a runner in scoring position with two outs, but MACU closer Bernardo Moreno came in and shut the door on the Swedes with a punch-out of BC's Alex Martinez to seal the Evangels' first win of the season
The Swedes managed to outhit the Evangels, but scored no runs on six hits and an error while MACU closed out with a run on four hits, but played a perfect defensive game with no errors.
Wimbush became MACU's first winning pitcher of the 2020 season after throwing 4.1 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts. Lechuga was solid out of the pen, tossing 2.1 innings of two-hit, no walk and one strikeout ball while Moreno picked up the one-out save with a strikeout.
Mid-America Christian will wrap up its four-game series against Bethany College tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at noon at James Curtis Field.
