OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian baseball team battled back from an early three-run deficit to come away with an 8-5 victory over No. 14 Science & Arts at the MACU Baseball Field in the opener of a Sooner Athletic Conference three-game series on Thursday.
 
Mid-America Christian vs. No. 14 Science & Arts
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 8, Science & Arts 5
  • Mid-America Christian (22-8, 10-3 SAC)
  • Science & Arts (19-8, 9-4 SAC)

PITCHING DECISION

• Win: Zane Robeaux (5-1)
• Loss: Josh Harrel (4-2)
• Save: Kelton Lachelt (4)

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – USAO – Jake Womack hit a SAC fly to left, RBI; Gage Gaunt scored – USAO 1, MACU 0
• TOP 3^rd – USAO – Gage Gaunt homered to left-center, 2 RBI; Luke Lewis scored – USAO 3, MACU 0
• BTM 4^th – MACU – Yan Ely Adames doubled to left-center, RBI; Isaiah Leon scored – USAO 3, MACU 1
• BTM 4^th – MACU – Devon Villanueva doubled to left-center, RBI; Payton Walk scored – USAO 3, MACU 2
• BTM 4^th – MACU – Andres Gonzalez singled up the middle, RBI; Devon Villanueva scored – MACU 3, USAO 3
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Blake Diggle homered to right, 3 RBI; Isaiah Leon scored; Ryan Reed scored – MACU 6, USAO 3
• BTM 6^th – MACU – Isaiah Leon reached on a fielding error by 3b; Caden Harris scored – MACU 7, USAO 3
• TOP 7^th – USAO – Brandon Shumway singled thru right side, 2 RBI; Gabriel Arroyo scored; Will Hoch scored – MACU 7, USAO 5
• BTM 8^th – MACU – Andrew Enwiya singled thru left side, RBI; Ryan Reed scored – MACU 8, USAO 5

TOP PERFORMERS

• Blake Diggle – 1-5, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Yan Ely Adames – 2-5, 2B, RBI
• Kelton Lachelt – S, 2 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its eight runs on nine hits while Science & Arts pushed across its five runs on seven hits and committed one error.
• Science & Arts scored the first three runs after Jake Womack hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Gage Gaunt in the first inning before Gaunt smashed a two-run blast over the left-center field fence to make it a 3-0 game in the top of the third.
• The Evangels struggled in the early going as MACU went down in-order through the first three innings.
• Mid-America Christian finally gained some momentum with the bats in the bottom of the fourth. With a runner on second and two outs, Yan Ely Adames and Devon Villanueva hit back-to-back doubles to left-center field to close it to a 3-2 game before Andres Gonzalez tied it up after Austin Wood drew a walk by slapping a base-hit up the middle.
• After Ryan Reed led off the fifth with a single to center and Isaiah Leon was hit by a pitch, Blake Diggle put the Evangels in-front for good with a crushed three-run homer that sailed over the right field fence, making it a 6-3 contest.
• The Evangels continued to threaten in the fifth by getting runners to second and third on back-to-back singles by Andrew Enwiya and Adames before pinch-runner Payton Walk stole second. However, USAO reliever Sean Craig limited the damage by getting a pair of strikeouts and a shallow flyout to right to get out of the jam.
• MACU added an insurance run in the sixth after Caden Harris led off the inning with a single. Reed laid down a SAC bunt to advance him to second before a hard ground ball of the bat of Leon went through the legs of Luke Lewis at third, plating Harris and making it a 7-3 score.
• The Drovers cut their deficit in half in the seventh when two of the first three Drovers batters reached on singles and then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Brandon Shumway took advantage of the miscue by hitting a hard-hit ground ball through the right side for a two-RBI single, bringing the score to 7-5.
• Mid-America Christian pushed across another insurance run in the eighth. With Reed reaching on a walk and advancing to second on a Payton Walk SAC bunt, Reed moved down to third on a wild pitch before Enwiya won a hard-fought battle at the plate with a full-count single smashed through the left side, setting the score to 8-5.
• Kelton Lachelt shut the door on the Drovers by pitching a three-up, three down ninth inning to secure the victory.
• Zane Robeaux improved to 5-1 on the mound for MACU after giving up five earned runs on seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over seven innings of work.
• Kelton Lachelt continued his climb in the MACU record books by notching his fourth save of the season. With the save, Lachelt joined Bernardo Moreno in the NAIA Era single-season record book for the second-most saves. Lachelt tossed two innings and struck out a pair of batters while issuing no hits or walks.
• In his return to the starting lineup, Blake Diggle was the big run producer for MACU by driving in three of the Evangels eight runs with his three-run jack in the fifth. Diggle was making his first start since the Oklahoma Panhandle State series at the beginning of March as he missed three weeks due to a back injury.
• Andrew Enwiya and Yan Ely Adames were the only Evangels to record more than one hit in the contest, as Enwiya finished 2-for-4 with an RBI while Adames slashed 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI as well.
• Mid-America Christian notched its second win against a team ranked in the NAIA Top 25 after the Evangels defeated No. 5 Oklahoma City 3-2 on Mar. 26.
• The Evangels have now won three of the last four matchups against Science & Arts.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will continue the three-game series with the Drovers on Saturday as the Evangels will head down to Chickasha, Okla. for a doubleheader. The opening game is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch at Bill Smith Ballpark.