OKLAHOMA CITY – Playing at home for the first time this season, the MACU baseball team continued to stay red-hot as the Evangels cruised to an 11-1 victory over Friends at the MACU Baseball Field on Tuesday afternoon.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 11, Friends 1 (7 Inn)
  • Mid-America Christian (9-4)
  • Friends (10-4)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Cameron Brown (1-0)
• Loss: Spencer Davidson (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Cameron Brown – W, 6.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 SO
• D'Andre Gaines – 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R
• Taiga Sakuma – 2-3, 3 R, BB
• Noel McGarry-Doyle – 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R

SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 1^st – MACU – D'Andre Gaines homered to center, RBI – MACU 1, FRND 0
• BTM 2^nd – MACU – Zachary Stark singled to center, RBI; Jordan Crawford scored – MACU 2, FRND 0
• BTM 3^rd – MACU – Kyle Williams scored on a wild pitch – MACU 3, FRND 0
• BTM 3^rd – MACU – Jordan Crawford grounded out to 1b, RBI; Carlos Medina scored – MACU 4, FRND 0
• BTM 3^rd – MACU – Jacob Police singled to short, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 5, FRND 0
• BTM 4^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle homered to right-center, 2 RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored – MACU 7, FRND 0
• TOP 5th – FRND – Zeke Henson scored on throwing error by p – MACU 7, FRND 1
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Jacob Police hit a sac fly to rf, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 8, FRND 1
• BTM 7^th – MACU – Jordan Crawford grounded out to 2b, RBI; Joel Nieves scored – MACU 9, FRND 1
• BTM 7^th – MACU – Carlos Medina scored on a wild pitch – MACU 10, FRND 1
• BTM 7^th – MACU – Zachary Stark hit a sac fly to lf, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 11, FRND 1

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its 11 runs on nine hits and committed one error while Friends tallied its lone run on four hits with one error.
• D'Andre Gaines sparked some life in the Evangels bats in just the second at-bat in the bottom of the first when he launched a line drive solo homer over the center field wall to make it a 1-0 game.
• The Evangels added to it in the bottom of the second when Zachary Stark dropped a soft fly into center field that the diving outfielder couldn't quite snare, bring home Jordan Crawford to extend the edge to 2-0.
• MACU started gaining some major breathing room in the bottom of the third by bringing home three. After the Evangels loaded the bases on a Kyle Williams single, a Carlos Medina hit-by-pitch and a Taiga Sakuma walk, Williams came home on a wild pitch before Crawford hit a chopper to first to plate Medina. Jacob Police rounded out the scoring by hitting a bouncer up the middle that the shortstop knocked down, but couldn't get the throw over to first in time for the out, bring the score to 5-0.
• The top of the MACU order delivered once again in the bottom of the fourth. After Gaines reached on a one-out bunt single to third, Noel McGarry-Doyle hit a towering two-run shot to the trees in right-center, extending the edge to 7-0.
• Friends' only run of the contest came in the top of the fifth when MACU starter Cameron Brown made an errant throw to third on a pickoff, scoring Zeke Henson.
• After Police hit a sac fly to right in the bottom of the fifth to get the run back, the Evangels put the game away in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh. With MACU leading 8-1, Crawford hit another RBI groundout to second to bring in Joel Nieves, Medina later scored on a wild pitch and Stark ended the contest by hitting a sacrifice liner to left field that Sakuma beat home on the throw to wrap-up the 11-1 final.
• Cameron Brown picked up his first win of the season on the mound, throwing six innings and allowing just one unearned run on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. The victory also allowed Brown to continue climbing up MACU's career wins record book with his 12^th, moving into a four-way tie second in the book with three of his current teammates: Isaac Baez, Kelton Lachelt and Zane Robeaux.
• Four different Evangels recorded two RBIs in the contest as Noel McGarry-Doyle went 1-for-3 with his two-run homer, Jacob Police batted 1-for-1 with an infield single and sac fly, Zachary Stark batted 1-for-3 with an RBI single and a sac fly and Jordan Crawford slashed 0-for-3 with two RBI groundouts.
• D'Andre Gaines swung MACU's hottest bat, going 3-for-4 with double and a homer for an RBI and two runs. Taiga Sakuma turned in a three-run day after slashing 2-for-3 with a walk.
• The Evangels are scoring runs at peak offensive efficiency over the last eight days as MACU has scored more than 10 runs in the five games during that stretch.  It is the first time since the program joined the NAIA the team has scored 10 or more runs in five consecutive games.
• In their 25^th meeting since 2004, the 11-1 win marked MACU's largest margin of victory ever over the Falcons.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now have an eight-day break before its next contest as the Evangels will open a big home stretch against Tabor (Kan.) on Wednesday, Feb. 28 for a 1 p.m. first pitch at the MACU Baseball Field.