KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The top-seeded MACU baseball team extracted some revenge against No. 8 seed Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) on the first day of the NCCAA World Series at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy on Friday night as the Evangels gained an early lead and never looked back in a 6-2 victory over the Eagles.
GAME ONE
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 6, Fort Lauderdale 2
- Mid-America Christian (36-16)
- Fort Lauderdale (34-22)
PITCHING DECISION
TOP PERFORMERS
- Cameron Brown – W, 7 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 5 SO
- Kelton Lachelt – SV, 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Carlos Medina – 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI
- Yan Ely Adames – 2-4, 2B, BB
- Ryan Reed – 2-2, R, BB, HBP
SCORING SUMMARY
- TOP 3rd – MACU – Carlos Medina doubled down rf line, RBI; Jacob Police scored – MACU 1, UFTL 0
- TOP 4th – MACU – Cole Fuecker hit a sac fly to rf, RBI; Tylor Richey scored – MACU 2, UFTL 0
- TOP 7th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle singled thru right side, 2 RBI; Ryan Reed scored; Jacob Police scored – MACU 4, UFTL 0
- BTM 7th – UFTL – Aberlyn Cubilete singled to left, RBI; Wilbert Vargas scored – MACU 4, UFTL 1
- BTM 7th – UFTL – Chris Martin doubled down lf line, RBI; Erik Scott scored – MACU 4, UFTL 2
- TOP 8th – MACU – Carlos Medina hit a sac fly to lf, RBI; Makael Shaw scored – MACU 5, UFTL 2
- TOP 9th – MACU – German Sepulveda singled thru left side, RBI; Tylor Richey scored – MACU 6, UFTL 2
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian scored its six runs on nine hits and committed two errors while Fort Lauderdale notched its two runs on 11 hits and made four miscues.
- MACU put together an early threat in the top of the first when Ryan Reed led off the frame with a single through the right side before Carlos Medina reached on an error by the shortstop to put runners at first and second with no one out. However, facing the NCCAA South Region Pitcher of the Year Josh Crawford, the Eagles were able to retire the next three batters to end the threat.
- The Evangels were the first team to come across, pushing the go-ahead run in the top of the third. After Jacob Police reached on a fielding error by the UFTL shortstop and was moved to second on Reed's sac bunt, Medina drove him home with a scorching liner down the right field line to make it a 1-0 ballgame.
- MACU starting pitcher Cameron Brown found himself in a similar predicament in the bottom of the third when Eric Scott led off with an infield single to short and Aberlyn Cubilete singled to left. However, Brown also danced his way out of the jam by getting an unassisted fielder's choice groundout to third and a flyout to right before striking out JD Tibbs to keep the Eagles off the board.
- Mid-America Christian added one more to its lead in the top of the fourth when back-to-back singles by Yan Ely Adames and German Sepulveda put runners at first and third with no outs before Cole Fuecker hit a deep flyball out to right to score pinch-runner Tylor Richey from third, setting the score to 2-0.
- The Evangels scored two key insurance runs in the top of the seventh. After Police reached on a wild pitch strikeout and Reed was hit by a pitch, Medina put both into scoring position on a sac bunt before Noel McGarry-Doyle smashed a single through the right side to bring both runners home, making it a 4-0 game.
- MACU had a chance to add some more after Andrew Enwiya was hit by a pitch and both him and McGarry-Doyle advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. However, Crawford was able to strike out both Adames and German Sepulveda to keep it to a four-run game.
- After Brown struck out the lead-off batter in the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles got the bats going by recording four straight hits, including an RBI single by Cubilete and an RBI double by Chris Martin. However, Brown helped himself in the inning by picking off Cubilete at first before getting Luke Marquis to pop out to first to keep it to a 4-2 game.
- MACU got a run back in the top of the eighth as the Evangels loaded the bases with one on a walk by Fuecker, a Julian Martinez single through the left side and a Reed walk. In the next at-bat, Medina tallied his second RBI of the day on a sac flyout to left to score pinch-runner Makael Shaw, extending the edge to 5-2.
- After Kelton Lachelt tossed a scoreless eighth, Sepulveda gave the MACU closer another insurance run to work with by hitting a sharp grounder through the hole at short to score Richey from third easily, swelling the lead to 6-2.
- The Eagles tried to muster a rally in the bottom of the ninth as Gabe Mangual led off the frame with a sharply hit grounder that deflected off Lachelt for an infield single. However, Lachelt neutralized the threat by getting Wilbert Vargas to hit a grounder to short and was called out for a double play for interference on Mangual's aggressive slide into second when MACU was trying to turn two. After giving up a two-out single to Scott, Lachelt got Cubilete to flyout to center to end the ballgame.
- By getting the win on the mound, Cameron Brown became just the seventh MACU pitcher in the NAIA Era to record at least 10 wins, allowing just two earned runs on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts over seven innings of work.
- In earning his eighth save of the season, Kelton Lachelt moved alone at the top of the MACU record books for both single-season saves and career saves (13). Lachelt tied 2010s Team of the Decade member Wyatt Glasgow in both categories with his save in a 10-4 win at Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Apr. 14.
- Yan Ely Adames, Ryan Reed and German Sepulveda provided a large bulk of the MACU offense as each recorded a pair of MACU's nine hits.
- Reed reached safely on four different occasions, slashing 2-for-2 with a walk and hit-by-pitch and also successfully laid down two sac bunts to go with a run scored.
- Carlos Medina and Noel McGarry-Doyle each tallied a pair of RBIs, as Medina slashed 1-for-3 with a double and a sac fly while McGarry-Doyle batted 1-for-5 with both RBIs coming on his single in the seventh.
- It was just the second time the Evangels had ever battled the Eagles in the two teams' histories as their previous meeting came in the NCCAA World Series last season. In that game, MACU was unable to fight back from an early deficit as the UFTL held on for the 5-4 victory.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now face off against No. 5 seed Oakland City (Ind.) for a 3 p.m. first pitch on day two of the NCCAA World Series on Saturday.
