KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MACU baseball team completed its sensational 2023 NCCAA World Series run in magical fashion as
Carlos Medina ripped the walk-off RBI single through the left side in the bottom of the 10
th inning to propel the Evangels to a 3-2 victory over rival Southwestern Christian in the NCCAA National Championship game at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy on Tuesday afternoon.
SCORE
- Mid-America Christian 3, Southwestern Christian 2 (10 Inn)
- Mid-America Christian (39-17)
- Southwestern Christian (37-22)
PITCHING DECISION
TOP PERFORMERS
- Cameron Brown – W, 8 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 SO
- Carlos Medina – 2-4, RBI, R
- Noel McGarry-Doyle – 2-4, SB
- Ryan Reed – 1-5, R, SB
SCORING SUMMARY
- BTM 4th – MACU – Andrew Enwiya hit a sac fly to cf, RBI; Carlos Medina scored – MACU 1, SCU 0
- TOP 5th – SCU – Draike Sparks homered to right, 2 RBI; Jake Cox scored – SCU 2, MACU 1
- BTM 8th – MACU – Ryan Reed stole home – MACU 2, SCU 2
- BTM 10th – MACU – Carlos Medina singled thru left side, RBI; Tylor Richey scored – MACU 3, SCU 2
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian scored its three runs on eight hits and committed one error while Southwestern Christian scored two runs on six hits and also made one miscue.
- The Eagles put together the first major threat of the contest in the top of the second when Zane Bandfield slapped a single to right to put runners at the corners with two outs, but MACU starting pitcher Zane Robeaux got out of the jam by striking out Jake Cox on a full-count pitch to end the threat.
- After being held without a hit the first time through the order, the Evangels were finally able to get to SCU starting pitcher Gabriel Figueroa in the bottom of the fourth as Carlos Medina and Noel McGarry-Doyle started off the frame with a pair of singles to put runners at the corners before Andrew Enwiya drove a deep flyball to right-center for a sacrifice fly, bringing home Medina to make it a 1-0 game.
- With two outs in the top of the fifth, Southwestern Christian put together a rally as nine-hole hitter Jake Cox dropped a single into right field before leadoff hitter Draike Sparks smashed a two-run blast over the right field fence to give the Eagles its only lead of the ballgame at 2-1.
- MACU threatened to tie it up in the bottom of the sixth when McGarry-Doyle got a groundball through the left side for a base hit and managed to steal second. However, Enwiya and Yan Ely Adames each came up empty against Figueroa as the Eagles managed to hold on to the lead.
- In the bottom of the eighth, the Evangels picked up the equalizing run in dramatic fashion. After Ryan Reed smashed a lead-off single back up the middle, Medina moved him over to second on a sac bunt before advancing to third on McGarry-Doyle's groundout to second. With Enwiya batting, Reed took the biggest risk of the ballgame by stealing home during Figueroa's wind-up and was initially ruled out, but the call was promptly overturned to being ruled safe on the play, tying the ballgame up at 1-1.
- With both teams being held in-check the rest of the way, Mid-America Christian put together the finishing touches in the bottom of the 10th. After Caden Harris opened the inning with a single up the middle, pinch-hitter Gabriel Aponte successfully moved pinch-runner Tylor Richey over to second on a sac bunt. During Medina's at-bat with two outs, Richey was able to get down to third on a wild pitch before Medina pushed him home on a groundball through the left side that was just barely out of the reach of the shortstop to seal the walk-off 3-2 victory.
- The walk-off win for MACU marked the first walk-off victory for a team in the NCCAA National Championship since 2017, when Oklahoma Baptist pushed across the walk-off run in the bottom of the 10th of a 7-6 win over Campbellsville (Ky.).
- For the second time in the tournament, Cameron Brown picked up the win on the bump, tossing eight innings of relief and gave up just two earned runs on three hits with no walks and tallied five strikeouts.
- Carlos Medina and Noel McGarry-Doyle led the MACU batting efforts as the only two Evangels with multiple hits. Medina finished his day going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while McGarry-Doyle slashed 2-for-4 with a stolen base.
- After notching two wins after allowing just four earned runs on 12 hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts over 15 innings of work, Brown was named to the NCCAA All-Tournament Team.
- Finishing the tournament with a .476 (10-for-21) batting average with two doubles, a triple, two homers, five RBIs and three runs scored with a .522 on-base percentage and a team-best .952 slugging percentage, Yan Ely Adames was selected as the NCCAA World Series Most Outstanding Player.
- With the victory, Mid-America Christian is taking home it's first NCCAA World Series Championship since the two divisions were merged and the program's second ever NCCAA national title, joining the 2004 NCCAA Division II Invitational Champions.
- The Evangels wrapped up their historic 2023 season with the program's most ever wins in a single season (39), best overall winning percentage (.696) while also notching the program's first ever winning season in Sooner Athletic Conference play since joining the league in 2008, amassing a 15-9 SAC record.
- In the series with Southwestern Christian, the Evangels won four out of their six meetings, including winning the season-series 2-1 and avenged a 16-6 loss in the SAC Tournament in a big way with a 6-3 win in the semifinal game before picking up the 3-2 walk-off victory in the NCCAA Championship game.
SENIOR CAPSTONES
- At the conclusion of the tournament, the MACU baseball team had four highly distinguished seniors that played their final game with the Evangels in Yan Ely Adames, Andrew Enwiya, Ryan Reed and German Sepulveda.
- In five seasons of competition at Mid-America Christian, Adames wraps up his MACU career as the program's NAIA Era career leader in hits (267), doubles (53), home runs (36), RBIs (190), runs (120), total bases (436) and at-bats (768) while also notching the second-most hit-by-pitch (25), the third-most triples (4), drawing the third-most walks (56) and the fourth-most stolen bases (23) while also bashing the fourth-highest slugging percentage (.570) and the seventh-highest batting average (.348). Earlier in the tourney, Adames also tied the program's single-season home runs record, matching Adrian Bravo-Carmona (2010) with 14 on the year.
- In just two seasons at MACU, Enwiya produced incredible numbers from the dish as he wraps up his Evangels career with NAIA Era marks for second-highest on-base percentage (.483), second-best slugging percentage (.688), third-most walks (56), fourth-most home runs (24), fourth-most RBIs (93), fourth-most total bases (205) and fourth-most hit-by-pitches (23) to go with the fifth-best batting average (.359).
- Making his impact felt on both the offensive and defensive ends, Reed is closing out his two-year MACU career by scoring the seventh-most runs (78) and notched the eighth-best on-base percentage (.435) in the NAIA Era and just missed cracking into the program's top 10 for career batting average (.320). Overall, Reed smashed 15 doubles and 10 homers for 38 RBIs over 88 games. An All-SAC Gold Glover, Reed became just the second MACU player in the NAIA Era to not commit an error with 100 or more chances, as he was perfect in 122 chances, joining Andres Gonzalez (2022) as the only other Evangel to accomplish the feat.
- An All-SAC Second Team honoree last season, German Sepulveda will also leave behind a stellar bat for the Evangels as he closes out his MACU career with a .298 batting average on 64 hits with 12 doubles, a triple and 10 homers for 58 RBIs and 38 runs scored over two seasons.
