KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MACU baseball team has locked up its spot on Championship Tuesday at the NCCAA World Series as the Evangels were able to hold off another late rally against second-seeded Southwestern Christian to come away with the 6-3 victory at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy on Monday afternoon.
GAME ONE
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 6, Southwestern Christian 3
- Mid-America Christian (38-16)
- Southwestern Christian (35-21)
PITCHING DECISION
TOP PERFORMERS
- Isaac Baez – W, 6 IP, 0 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 7 SO
- Kelton Lachelt – SV, 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Ryan Reed – 3-5, RBI, R
- Andrew Enwiya – 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, HBP
- Yan Ely Adames – 3-5, 3B, RBI
SCORING SUMMARY
- TOP 2nd – MACU – Cole Fuecker singled thru left side, RBI; Tylor Richey scored – MACU 1, SCU 0
- TOP 4th – MACU – Jacob Police singled thru left side, RBI; German Sepulveda scored – MACU 2, SCU 0
- TOP 5th – MACU – Andrew Enwiya doubled to left, 2 RBI; Ryan Reed scored; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 4, SCU 0
- TOP 6th – MACU – Ryan Reed singled to center, RBI; Caden Harris scored – MACU 5, SCU 0
- BTM 7th – SCU – Dario Paredes homered to left-center, RBI – MACU 5, SCU 1
- BTM 7th – SCU – Joseph Boone singled to rf, advanced to second on an error by rf, scored on throwing error by 2b – MACU 5, SCU 2
- BTM 8th – SCU – Draike Sparks grounded out to first, RBI; Jake Cox scored – MACU 5, SCU 3
- TOP 9th – MACU – Yan Ely Adames singled up the middle, RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 6, SCU 3
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian scored its six runs on 12 hits and committed three errors while Southwestern Christian tallied its three runs on 16 hits.
- The Eagles mustered the first major threat of the ballgame in the bottom of the first when Draike Sparks lined a double into right-center before an error on a sac bunt put runners at the corners with no one out. However, MACU starter Isaac Baez got out of the jam by striking out the next three batters to keep the Eagles off the board.
- MACU took advantage of Yan Ely Adames' lead-off single down the left field line as pinch-runner Tylor Richey advanced to second on a balk before eventually coming across on Cole Fuecker's two-out single through the left side to make it a 1-0 ballgame.
- Southwestern Christian was on the brink of tying the ballgame up in the bottom of the third with two outs when Braden Brown smashed a single to center, but Caden Harris came up with one of the biggest defensive plays of the game when he gunned down Tyler Reeves at the plate trying to score from second, keeping it to a one-run game.
- It appeared the Evangels were going to strand another lead-off baserunner when German Sepulveda led off the fourth with a double to left, but MACU came through with another two-out RBI hit as Jacob Police put a base-hit through the right side to score Sepulveda to make it 2-0.
- After two of the first three batters reached in the top of the fifth on Ryan Reed's single to center and Noel McGarry-Doyle's base-knock through the right side, Andrew Enwiya gave MACU some big-time insurance by blasting a double off the left-center field wall to bring in both runners and swell the advantage to 4-0.
- MACU notched a run for the third straight frame in the top of the sixth as another two-out RBI single to center, this time off Reed's bat brought in Caden Harris off a lead-off walk, pushing the Evangels' edge out to five.
- The Eagles put together a scoring threat in the bottom of the sixth as a pair of two-out singles put runners at the corners with two outs. However, Baez closed out his sixth scoreless frame by striking out Tyler Reeves to keep it to a 5-0 game.
- In the bottom of the seventh, the Eagles were finally able to get on the scoreboard off MACU's pen as Dario Paredes sent a one-out solo jack over the left-center field fence before Joseph Boone singled to right and scored off a pair of Evangels errors to put it to a 5-2 ballgame. The Eagles threatened to add more when Braden Brown hit a one-out triple to left-center, but Maycin Smothermon was able to get back-to-back groundouts to limit the damage.
- SCU chipped in one more in the bottom of the eighth as Jake Cox bashed a lead-off triple to left-center, but MACU closer Kelton Lachelt kept it to just one run at 5-3 on a Sparks RBI groundout to first.
- The Evangels gave Lachelt some insurance in the top of the ninth as back-to-back hit-by-pitches drawn by McGarry-Doyle and Enwiya led up to Yan Ely Adames driving in an RBI single up the middle to put it back to a three-run lead at 6-3.
- Southwestern Christian didn't go down without a fight as the first two Eagles batters reached on a single and a hit-by-pitch before an unsuccessful fielder's choice loaded the bases with two out. However, Lachelt was able to close out his third save in four days by getting Sparks to pop-out in foul territory to third to end the contest.
- Even though SCU out-hit the Evangels by a 16-12 margin, hitting with runners in scoring position played the biggest factor in the contest as the Eagles batted just 1-for-17 while MACU slashed 6-for-21 with RISP.
- Isaac Baez joined some elite company with his scoreless six-inning outing as the junior starter improved to 9-3 on the mound, tying Keisy Portorreal's NAIA Era (2008-present) single-season wins record. In the win, Baez allowed 10 hits and just one walk while striking out seven batters. Baez also pushed his season strikeout total to 93, surpassing Arcangel Soto (2019) for the sixth-most strikeouts in a year.
- Kelton Lachelt continued to pitch at an incredible pace on the mound as MACU's closer as he notched his third save of the NCCAA World Series while also becoming the first Evangels closer in program history to tally 10 saves in a season. Lachelt tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with no walks and tallied one strikeout.
- Yan Ely Adames and Ryan Reed led the MACU bats with each tallying three hits apiece, as Reed swatted 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run while Adames slashed the same with a triple and an RBI. By notching his third three-bagger of the year, Adames became the 13th player in the NAIA Era to record three or more triples in a season while his fourth career triple moves him into a tie for second in the NAIA Era record book.
- Andrew Enwiya was the lone Evangel to record multiple RBIs as he finished 1-for-4 with a double and a hit-by-pitch.
- Noel McGarry-Doyle continued to add to his team-leading runs total, scoring a pair to push his annual total to 58 while reaching base four times on a 2-for-3 day at the plate to go with a pair of hit-by-pitches. McGarry-Doyle is close to matching a MACU record as he is just one hit-by-pitch for tying the most in the MACU single-season book with Trent Daniels (2013).
- With the win, Mid-America Christian has won three of the five meetings between the Evangels and the Eagles. MACU won the regular season series 2-1 before avenging a tough 16-6 loss to SCU in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament on May 6 at Bill Smith Ballpark in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now await to see who it will play in the late game on Monday as the Evangels will play the lowest remaining seed at 6 p.m. on Motley Field at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy.
