OKLAHOMA CITY – After splitting yesterday's doubleheader at James Curtis Field, the Mid-America Christian baseball team made an emphatic statement on Saturday by sweeping Bethany College in a doubleheader, opening with a 2-1 win in game one before closing out with a 7-2 victory to take 3-of-4 from the Swedes in the series.
GAME ONE
Making his return from a season-ending injury from a year ago, redshirt senior starter Keisy Portorreal took the mound in game one and put together a strong performance by giving up just one earned run on six hits and a walk while striking out four in 5.1 innings of work.
Scoring opportunities were limited in the early going, but MACU pieced together a threat in the bottom of the second when Colin Minor led off the inning with a bloop single to third and Yan Ely Adames drew a walk to put runners at first and second with no out.
However, Bethany promptly put a stop to the threat when the Swedes center fielder Justan Bailey gunned down MACU pinch runner Andres Gonzalez trying to advance to third on a Grant Roberts flyout, ending the inning a batter later.
The Evangels broke through in the third inning when leadoff hitter Brandon Reese notched a two-out single to center field and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch during Edgar Martinez's at-bat. Martinez took advantage of the miscue by slapping a single to right to score Reese from second to make it a 1-0 MACU advantage.
The Swedes mounted a major threat in the top of the fifth when a single, a walk and an infield single loaded the bases with no outs. In a high stress situation, Portorreal was able to limit the damage by getting BC's Cody Burkhalter to ground into a double play as Reese tagged out the runner from 1st before tossing over to Joshua Fernandez to complete the 4-3 putout. Portorreal ended the threat by getting Bailey to ground out to third to only allow Bethany to score one run in the inning.
Mid-America Christian reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the frame. The Evangels loaded the bases after Grant Roberts reached on an error while Leonel Bejaran-Specht slashed a single to left and Oliver Fernandez drew a walk following a Joshua Fernandez fielder's choice. Reese took advantage of the opportunity, slapping a fielder's choice groundout to the shortstop and beating out the potential double play relay to first to allow Joshua Fernandez to score from third.
In the top of the sixth, BC's Alex Martinez led off the inning by smacking a single down the first base line, but Adames was able to gun down the Swedes second baseman trying to stretch the hit into a double for the 9-6 putout. After Braden Scrivner notched a single to center in the next at-bat, MACU closer Bernardo Moreno came in relief of Portorreal and shut the door on the Swedes by inducing back-to-back flyouts following a hit-by-pitch.
Moreno was even more dominant in the Swedes' half of the seventh, striking out the side to pick up his second save of the 2020 season.
Mid-America Christian scored its two runs on five hits with an error while Bethany notched its run on six hits and an error.
Minor went 2-for-2 from the plate to lead the MACU batting while Reese slashed 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored and Edgar Martinez finished 1-for-2 with an RBI.
GAME TWO
While offense was at a premium in the first three games as the two teams combined to score just five runs in the first 24 innings, Mid-America Christian was able to get the bats going in the final game of the series.
In the bottom half of the first, a Felix Hernandez single to left and MacKenzie Gross reaching on an error put runners on the corners for Adames. The MACU catcher smashed a double to deep left center to score both Hernandez and Gross from first to make an early 2-0 Evangels edge.
The Evangels continued to pour in insurance runs in the bottom of the second. Following a Bejaran-Specht one-out triple down the right field line, MACU right fielder Romi Rinehart scored him with a single up the middle to extend the lead to 3-0.
Rinehart was able to advance to third while Edgar Martinez reached on an error by the Swedes shortstop and then scored on a double steal during Felix Martinez's at-bat to make it 4-0.
The Swedes got a run back in the third, but MACU retaliated by getting two runs across in the fourth. Joshua Fernandez reached on an error to lead off the frame and a Bejaran-Specht infield single put runners at the corners with no one out. During Reese's at-bat, the Evangels perfectly executed the double steal once again as Fernandez scored while the Swedes tried to nab Bejaran-Specht stealing second.
Bejaran-Specht came around to score after a wild pitch moved him to third, followed by Reese driving him home on a single through the hole at short, setting the score to 6-1.
In the top of the fifth, the Swedes smashed the only home run of the series on a leadoff drive over the left center field fence by Nunez, but the Evangels were able to once again get the run back in the sixth.
Bejaran-Specht led off the frame by drawing a walk and managed to steal both second and third prior to Edgar Martinez driving him home with a single through the hole at shortstop to bring the MACU advantage to 7-2.
Mid-America Christian tallied its seven runs on seven hits and committed no errors while Bethany notched its two runs on four hits to go with three errors.
Bejaran-Specht wreaked havoc on the Swedes, slashing 2-for-2 with a walk and three runs to go with three stolen bases. Adames finished with a pair of RBIs after batting 1-for-2 to go with a walk.
David Lechuga picked up the win in relief after giving up no runs on just a walk to go with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of action.
Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its first road trip of the season as the Evangels will head to Victoria, Texas next weekend for a four-game series against the University of Houston-Victoria. MACU will open the series on Friday, Feb. 6 with a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. before wrapping up the series on Saturday with another doubleheader slated for a noon start.
