CHICKASHA, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian baseball team got roughed up in the first game of a doubleheader at No. 3 Science & Arts, falling 10-0, but gave the Drovers a strong challenge in the second game before falling 4-3 on Friday evening at Bill Smith Ballpark.
GAME ONE
Mid-America Christian (14-7, 0-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) struggled on the mound and with the bats as Science & Arts (12-1, 2-0 SAC) cruised to a 10-0 win. The Evangels were held to just two hits and made two errors while the Drovers recorded 10 hits and made one miscue.
Ricky Alvarez and Edgar Martinez recorded the two MACU hits as Alvarez went 1-for-2 in his first start of the 2020 season while Martinez slashed 1-for-3 with a double.
Junior starter Pedro Reyes struggled in defeat, giving up nine runs, seven of which earned on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout in 2.2 innings. Junior reliever Jaily Paredes pitched well in relief, tossing 3.1 innings and allowing just one earned run on two hits, a walk and a pair of strikeouts.
GAME TWO
Mid-America Christian (14-8, 0-3 SAC) put up a much better fight in the series finale, but Science & Arts (13-1, 3-0 SAC) was able to survive a late MACU comeback to hold on for a 4-3 win to complete a series sweep. The Evangels tallied their three runs on five with an error while the Drovers scored their four runs on five hits and made three defensive mistakes.
USAO held the momentum early, pushing across two runs in the second and another in the third to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
The Evangels got a run back in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of two Drovers errors and a passed ball that allowed Yan Ely Adames to score from third to trim the deficit to 3-1. However, USAO got the run back in the bottom of the sixth as an Evangels error led to the Drovers' Luis Pelayo coming around to score to raise the USAO lead back to three.
In the top of the seventh with the Evangels having runners on first and second with two outs, Adames started the Evangels rally by dropping an RBI single into shallow center to score Alvarez and Felix Martinez followed by putting an RBI single into shallow left to score Oliver Fernandez to make it a 4-3 game.
However, MACU's comeback was promptly thwarted when USAO closer Ricardo Velez got Andres Gonzalez to strike out to end the ballgame.
Felix Martinez led the MACU bats by going 1-for-3 with an RBI while Adames notched the other RBI by going 1-for-4 from the plate. Grant Roberts was the only Evangel to record multiple hits in the contest by batting 2-for-4.
Sophomore starter Ryan Wimbush took the loss, giving up three earned runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts over three innings. Junior reliever Frensly Leito tossed a shutout inning, allowing just one walk with two strikeouts and MACU closer Bernardo Moreno gave up one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts over two innings.
Mid-America Christian will look to get back on-track next week as the Evangels will head to Arlington, Texas for a midweek doubleheader against Arlington Baptist. The first game is slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch.
