KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the first time in program history, the MACU baseball team will advance to the third day of the NCCAA World Series at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy as the Evangels held off a furious rally from No. 5 seed Oakland City (Ind.) to claim the 7-6 victory on Saturday afternoon.
GAME ONE
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 7, Oakland City 6
- Mid-America Christian (37-16)
- Oakland City (34-23)
PITCHING DECISION
TOP PERFORMERS
- Noel McGarry-Doyle – 2-5, 3B, 3 RBI
- Caden Harris – 2-4, 2 RBI, R
- Yan Ely Adames – 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI, R
- Zane Robeaux – 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 SO
SCORING SUMMARY
- BTM 1st – OCU – Sam Pinckert singled to center, RBI; Aron Busick scored – OCU 1, MACU 0
- BTM 1st – OCU – Xander Willis hit a sac fly to cf, RBI; Noah Baugher scored – OCU 2, MACU 0
- TOP 3rd – MACU – Ryan Reed hit a sac fly to rf, RBI; Caden Harris scored – OCU 2, MACU 1
- TOP 4th – MACU – Yan Ely Adames homered to left-center, RBI – MACU 2, OCU 2
- TOP 5th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle tripled down the rf line, 3 RBI; Carlos Medina scored; Ryan Reed scored; Jacob Police scored – MACU 5, OCU 2
- BTM 6th – OCU – Noah Baugher tripled to left-center, 2 RBI; Jared Kirkman scored; Victor Alvarez scored – MACU 5, OCU 4
- TOP 8th – MACU – Caden Harris singled thru right side, RBI; Makael Shaw scored; Tylor Richey scored – MACU 7, OCU 4
- BTM 9th – OCU – Treven Madden singled thru left side, RBI; Sam Pinckert scored – MACU 7, OCU 5
- BTM 9th – OCU – Connor Oxley hit a sac fly to cf, RBI; Garrett Causey scored – MACU 7, OCU 6
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian scored its seven runs on 11 hits while Oakland City pushed across its six runs on 15 hits and committed one error.
- The Evangels found themselves in some trouble early as four of the first five batters reached on a base hit off of MACU starter Ryan Harney before Xander Willis hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate Noah Baugher to give the Mighty Oaks the 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
- After going down in order through the first two innings, the Evangels were finally able to get the bats going in the top of the third as Caden Harris reached on a lead-off single before getting moved down to second on Cole Fuecker's sac bunt and Jacob Police hammered a single to right to put runners on the corners. Police stole second to put a pair in scoring position before Ryan Reed hit a deep flyball to right to score Harris on the sac fly, cutting the MACU deficit to 2-1.
- In the top of the fourth, Noel McGarry-Doyle led off with a single through the left side, but was unfortunately thrown out trying to steal second. However, later in the inning, Yan Ely Adames would make sure MACU would tie it up as he hammered a solo blast that just barely got over the left-center field fence.
- In the fifth, the Evangels did some major work with two outs. After Police legged out an infield single to the right side, MACU managed to load the bases as Ryan Reed and Carlos Medina were pegged on back-to-back pitches. With the bases juiced, the Evangels' RBI leader McGarry-Doyle came up clutch by smashing a hard line drive triple that just barely stayed fair inside the first base bag and rolled all the way to the wall to allow everyone on-base to score as the triple gave MACU the 5-2 advantage.
- In the bottom of the fifth, Harney got into some major trouble as he loaded the bases on three straight singles with just one out. However, Harney got out of it by inducing a shallow flyout to center before Harney got Treven Madden to strike out to end the threat.
- Despite OCU coming up empty in the fifth, they were able to finally get to Harney in the sixth. The Mighty Oaks scattered a pair of singles between a pair of outs, prompting MACU to go to their pen. With Zane Robeaux coming in relief to face the red-hot hitting Baugher, he was unable to keep the bat quiet as Baugher blasted a triple to the left-center field fence to bring home both runners and cut it to a 5-4 ballgame.
- Even though the Evangels came up empty with runners in scoring position in the sixth and the seventh, MACU was finally able to make it home again in the top of the eight. With Adames getting a lead-off infield single and German Sepulveda reaching on a throwing error by the third baseman, the speedy pinch-running tandem of Tylor Richey and Makael Shaw put MACU in a great scoring situation as each nabbed stolen bases to put a pair in scoring position with one out. With Harris at the plate, the junior centerfielder hammered a screeching bouncer toward the OCU first baseman that just got by, allowing both Richey and Shaw to score on the base hit to set the score to 7-4.
- After Robeaux allowed just two base runners in 2.1 innings, the Evangels elected to go to Maycin Smothermon to close the game out in the bottom of the ninth. After inducing a flyout to left to start it off, Smothermon ran into tons of trouble by loading the bases with a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch before Madden smashed a single through the left side just barely out of the reach of the glove of Julian Martinez, cutting it to a 7-5 game and the bases still loaded.
- Despite coming off a two-inning outing on Friday night, the Evangels made the call to their closer Kelton Lachelt. The Mighty Oaks did get another run on Connor Oxley's RBI sac fly to center, but Lachelt closed the door on the OCU comeback by getting Alec Pruitt to hit a bouncer to third as Julian Martinez made throw over across the diamond to first for the final out.
- Ryan Harney earned his eighth win of the season on the mound for MACU after giving up four earned runs on 11 hits with no walks and two strikeouts. With the victory on the mound, Harney moved into a tie with his teammate Isaac Baez for the second-most wins in a season by a MACU pitcher during the NAIA Era (2008-present), sitting just one back of Keisy Portorreal (2018) in the books.
- Kelton Lachelt continued to add to his incredible saves total, tallying his second save in less than 24 hours and his ninth save of the year after throwing two-thirds of a scoreless inning.
- By batting 2-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs, Noel McGarry-Doyle continued his ascent up the MACU record books. His fourth triple of the season moved him into a tie for the program's NAIA Era single-season lead with Nathan Milton (2009) and teammate Isaiah Leon (2022) while his 50th RBI of the year placed him in a tie with squad mates Andrew Enwiya (2022) and Yan Ely Adames (2022) for the fifth-most in a single season.
- Adames also put together a stellar day at the dish, finishing just a triple away from the cycle by swatting 3-for-4 with a double and a homer with an RBI and a run scored. By smashing his 13th home run of the season, he also matched one of Enwiya's 2022 marks as he now sits just one homer back of Adrian Bravo-Carmona (2010) for the program's NAIA Era single-season record.
- Caden Harris and Jacob Police also turned in multi-hit days for MACU, as Harris slashed 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and a run while Police slashed 2-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch and stole three bases, tying the fourth-most nabbed bases in a single game in the NAIA Era.
- The Evangels take the all-time series lead against Oakland City as the two programs faced each other for the first time in the two programs' histories.
UP NEXT
- By getting the win, Mid-America Christian will be guaranteed to play two games on Monday as the Evangels advance in the winner's bracket and will play at 11 a.m. against the winner of the Saturday night contest between No. 2 seed Southwestern Christian (Okla.) and No. 6 seed College of the Ozarks (Mo.). MACU will then play in one of the two 6 p.m. semifinal games on Monday night.
