STERLINGTON, La. – In a rain-shortened Cajun Collision event, the MACU baseball team took advantage of its lone day of competition as the Evangels picked up two huge wins 2-1 over Georgetown (Ky.) and a 6-3 victory over No. 10 Missouri Baptist at the Sterlington Sports Complex on Friday.
 
GAME ONE
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 2, Georgetown 1
  • Mid-America Christian (3-4)
  • Georgetown (3-2)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Carlos Escobosa (1-0)
• Loss: Trevor Baker (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Carlos Escobosa – W, 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
• Devan Quesada – 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO
• Kyle Williams – 3-3, 2B
• Anthony Hampton – 1-3, HR, RBI, R

SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 1^st – GC – Jose Cazorla singled to right-center, RBI; Hank Schineller scored – GCC 1, MACU 0
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Anthony Hampton homered to left, RBI – MACU 1, GC 1
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Jordan Crawford singled to third, RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 2, GC 1

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its two runs on six hits and committed one error while Georgetown scored it lone run on four hits.
• The Tigers captured the early momentum as four of the first five batters reached with the go-ahead run scoring on Jose Cazorla's RBI single to right-center field, but MACU starter Devan Quesada was able to navigate out of the jam due in-large part to Zachary Stark throwing out a runner trying to steal before Jacob Police snared a liner with two outs and runners at the corners to keep it to a 1-0 game.
• Georgetown once again put together a major threat in the bottom of the second by getting a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs, but once again, Quesada induced a flyout to right to get MACU out of the inning unscathed.
• While the Evangels struggled to generate any offense against GC starter Trevor Baker through 5.2 innings, Anthony Hampton injected some life into the MACU bats by blasting a two-out solo home run to left to tie the game up at 1-1.
• MACU scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh after Noel McGarry-Doyle legged out a chopper to short for an infield single before Kyle Williams hammered a double to right to put a pair of runners at second and third with no outs.
• After the Tigers switched to a reliever in Bryson Huwar, the freshman pitcher was able to strike out Carlos Medina before Jordan Crawford hit a slow chopper to third that McGarry-Doyle was able to beat the throw home to make it a 2-1 game.
• Carlos Escobosa had no problems closing out the seventh as the junior reliever struck out three of the four batters he faced in the frame to seal the victory.
• Throwing three innings of scoreless relief, Escobosa earned his first career victory for MACU after allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out eight of the nine batters that were put out.
• MACU starter Devan Quesada tossed four innings and was able to navigate out of multiple jams after allowing just one earned run on three hits, two walks and four hit batters to go with three strikeouts.
• Kyle Williams continued to swing a hot bat for the Evangels as he notched three of the six MACU hits, going 3-for-3 with the all-important double in the top of the seventh.
• Anthony Hampton tallied MACU's first home run that left the yard this season as the only other homer that the Evangels hit in the previous six games came on Jacob Police's inside-the-parker against No. 3 LSU-Shreveport on Jan. 28.
• The win against Georgetown marked MACU's first ever meeting against the Tigers.

GAME TWO
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 6, Missouri Baptist 3
  • Mid-America Christian (4-4)
  • Missouri Baptist (5-2)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Isaac Baez (2-1)
• Loss: Jackson Wells (0-1)
• Save: Breyllin Suriel (1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Isaac Baez – W, 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
• Breyllin Suriel – S, 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
• Caden Harris – 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• D'Andre Gaines – 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 3^rd – MACU – D'Andre Gaines doubled to left, 2 RBI; Anthony Hampton scored; Jacob Police scored – MACU 2, MBU 0
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Kyle Williams grounded out to ss, RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored – MACU 3, MBU 0
• BTM 3^rd – MBU – Cole Robinson singled to right, RBI; Blane Besse scored – MACU 3, MBU 1
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Caden Harris homered to left, 2 RBI; Marcus Burton scored – MACU 5, MBU 1
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Noah Prince homered to left-center, RBI – MACU 6, MBU 1
• BTM 6^th – MBU – Alex Adams homered to center, RBI – MACU 6, MBU 2
• BTM 6^th – MBU – Cole Robinson homered to center, RBI – MACU 6, MBU 3

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian efficiently scored its six runs on six hits and committed a pair of errors while Missouri Baptist notched its three runs on five hits with one error. Impressively, the Evangels were able to get the power bats going with four of their six hits going for extra bases.
• MACU's first major threat came in the top of the second when Kyle Williams led off the frame with a single and went from first to third on a SAC bunt and a stolen base but after Marcus Burton drew a walk, MBU starter Jackson Wells snuck out of trouble with a pair of strikeouts to end the frame.
• After coming up empty in the second, the Evangels put together a big inning in the third. Following Jacob Police's double and Anthony Hampton reaching on an error to put runners at the corners, D'Andre Gaines hammered a double to deep left field to plate both Hampton and Police before later scoring on Williams' RBI ground out to make it 3-0 MACU.
• The Spartans got a run back in the bottom of the third when Cole Robinson slapped an RBI single to right, but MACU starter Isaac Baez was able to end the threat in the next at-bat by tallying his third strikeout of the frame to keep it to 3-1.
• Even though the first two MACU batters were retired in the top of the sixth, Burton got the offense started by hitting a single to left and stealing second before Caden Harris launched a no-doubt two-run homer down the left field line. In the very next at-bat, Noah Prince also went yard to left-center for the back-to-back homers, making it a 6-1 game.
• Missouri Baptist got a pair back in the bottom of the sixth when Alex Adams and Robinson led off with back-to-back solo jacks to cut it to 6-3 before eventually putting runners at the corners with one out. However, MACU reliever Breyllin Suriel came in and shut the door on MBU's comeback by inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
• Suriel tossed a three-up, three-down seventh inning to allow MACU to hold on for the 6-3 victory.
• By notching the victory on the mound, Baez continued his ascent up MACU's NAIA Era (2008-present) record book as he now has 11 career wins, moving him into a tie with teammate Cameron Brown and Madison Spencer (2016-17) for the fourth-most by a MACU pitcher.
• Suriel was credited with his first career save with the Evangels after throwing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief and not allowing a single base runner with one strikeout.
• Caden Harris and D'Andre Gaines led the MACU batting efforts with four of the six RBIs with Harris slashing 1-for-3 with a homer while Gaines went 1-for-4 with a 2-RBI double.
• By getting the win, MACU has already notched two NAIA Top 25 victories only eight games of the season after opening the year with an 11-1 win over No. 5 LSU Shreveport and now a 6-3 victory over No. 10 Missouri Baptist.
• The Evangels are now 4-2 all-time at the illustrious Cajun Collision.

UP NEXT

• With Mid-America Christian's Saturday games being canceled, the Evangels will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 13 as MACU will head down the road to Moore, Oklahoma for a nine-inning contest at Randall.