OKLAHOMA CITY – Mid-America Christian Athletic Director Marcus Moeller is proud to announce that Brett Stanton has been promoted to Interim Head Coach of the MACU baseball program on Thursday.
"As a player, assistant coach and associate head coach, Brett has had tremendous success at several different levels of small college baseball," said Moeller. "His extensive recruiting experience, tenacious work ethic and passion for developing young men make him a great fit for the MACU family. I'm really excited to see Brett's impact on our baseball program moving forward."
Stanton was hired as the Assistant Coach in June 2019 and made an immediate impact, helping lead MACU to its first winning season since joining the NAIA in 2008 by going 21-10 before the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stanton will be replacing Adrian Savedra, who served as the Head Coach of the program for the last five seasons.
"I am thankful that our administration has entrusted me to lead the MACU baseball program," said Stanton. "Moving forward, our top priority is to continue to build off of last season's momentum while creating the best environment for our student-athletes."
Despite opening the 2020 season with a doubleheader split against Bethany on Jan. 31, the Evangels bounced back by putting together its winningest month in the NAIA era, winning 13 of 20 games in the month of February.
MACU was off to a strong start in the month of March as well, going 7-2 before the season was cancelled on Mar. 13.
Even though the season was cut short, the Evangels will be gunning for another successful campaign next year as all nine seniors on the 2020 roster have elected to return next season after having an extra year of eligibility granted by NAIA.
"We are returning a good group of players who experienced success last season," Stanton added. "Our expectations for next season are to be strong contenders in the Sooner Athletic Conference."
Returning a team that averaged an NAIA-era program record 7.4 runs per game, the MACU bats will be led by All-Sooner Athletic Conference honoree in junior catcher Yan Ely Adames as well as former NCCAA All-American senior outfielder Felix Martinez and junior shortstop Edgar Martinez.
The Evangels also return a stellar pitching staff that allowed a team-record low 3.53 ERA, headlined by former NCCAA All-American Keisy Portorreal as well as Jaily Paredes, who finished with the second-lowest ERA in the NAIA era (0.99) and Frensly Leito, who is only the second pitcher in the NAIA era to record at least seven no-hit innings since Junior Obeso tossed a perfect game against Central Christian on Apr. 9, 2016.
Before coming to MACU, Stanton served as the Associate Head Coach of Western Oklahoma State College from 2015-19, where his teams compiled a 230-73 (.759) record, earning at least 40 wins in all five seasons and made two appearances in the NJCAA World Series in 2015 and 2017.
Stanton also served as the Pitching Coach for NCAA Division II Southwest Baptist, where his players set nine program pitching records as well as qualified for the program's first ever MIAA Tournament.
From 2012-14, Stanton was an Assistant Coach for Warner University (Fla.) from 2010-11 after completing a stellar four-year pitching career with the Royals.
Stanton lives in Oklahoma City with his wife, Erica Alvarez Stanton as well as his nine-year old daughter, Alexa.
