OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian baseball team will return to Sooner Athletic Conference play on Thursday as the Evangels will travel to Fort Worth, Texas to take on (RV) Texas Wesleyan in a three-game series. MACU will open the series with a doubleheader on Thursday, starting at 1 p.m. before closing out the slate with a single nine-inning game at noon on Friday.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (21-8) won its seventh straight game on Monday as the Evangels hosted Doane (6-7) at Wendell Simmons Field on the campus of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla., cruising to a 15-5 victory in seven innings.
The Evangels put together some strong at-bats against the Tigers, drawing a season-high 13 walks while ripping 10 hits.
Edgar Martinez was the big bat in the Evangels lineup, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run while Felix Martinez and also notched three RBIs apiece. Joshua Fernandez and Leonel Bejaran-Specht each scored three times in the contest as Fernandez drew three walks while Bejaran-Specht drew two walks and drove in two.
Despite a rough start from Frank Souza, junior reliever Pedro Reyes bounced back with a solid outing in getting the win, going 3.2 innings and allowed no runs on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Texas Wesleyan comes into the slate just outside the NAIA Top 25 with 72 votes after posting a 16-12 overall record and a 3-3 mark in SAC play. The Rams are coming off a 10-8 home loss to Arlington Baptist on Tuesday after dropping 2-of-3 at No. 10 Oklahoma City last weekend.
The TWU bats are led by senior catcher Tanner Amaral, who possesses a .390 batting average while ranking second on the squad in home runs (8), third in RBIs (24) and has scored 20 runs. Junior centerfielder Marcos Sanchez has driven in the most runs on the team with 27 and has scored 22 times while senior catcher Michael Higgins has scored the most runs (27) and has hit the most home runs (9) while ranking second in RBIs (26) and second in batting average (.361).
Junior lefty Gabriel Sequeira is the team's ace, posting a 5-0 record in seven starts, allowing a 1.98 ERA with 12 walks and 73 strikeouts over 41 innings of work. The Rams have another strong lefty in Jesse Ramirez, as the junior possesses a 4-1 record over five starts, giving up just a 2.14 ERA with five walks and 43 strikeouts over 33.2 innings. Sophomore righty Cameron Calhoun would be the likely closer with a 0.00 ERA in nine appearances, making three saves with five walks and 15 strikeouts through 10 innings.
HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
Since 2013, Texas Wesleyan has won 17 of the previous 22 meetings. The Rams swept the season series last year, but the Evangels were able to spring an upset over TWU in the first game of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament with a 6-4 victory on May 5, 2019. Felix Martinez hit a two-run homer for the Evangels while Ben Donnel picked up the win and Reid Burkowski held on to get the save. However, the Rams got their vengeance on the Evangels with an 11-1 win in the following game of the double elimination tournament.
O CANADA!
In his return to the MACU lineup, junior infielder Andres Gonzalez has been on-fire in the month of March. In the Evangels' seven victories, the Toronto, Ontario, Canada native is batting a team-leading .478 after going 11-for-23 with three doubles and a triple while scoring a squad-best 10 runs and driving in five. Overall, the Connors State College transfer is reaching base on a .517 clip with four walks.
THE DOMINICAN DOMINATORS
While Keisy Portorreal has been a household name for the Evangels the past three seasons, the Evangels have been getting outstanding work out of another Dominican Republic native in junior Jaily Paredes. A 6-5 righty from Santo Domingo, Paredes is so far posting a team-low 1.16 ERA and is 2-0 in seven appearances and two starts. After tossing six innings of one-hit ball with a career-best 10 strikeouts against Bacone, Paredes was named the NCCAA Pitcher Student-Athlete of the Week. Portorreal has also returned to his 2018 NCCAA All-American form, allowing just a 2.18 ERA with only eight walks and 34 strikeouts over 37.2 innings. In his last start over Bacone, Portorreal tossed a complete game, giving up only one unearned run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
