OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 18 MACU baseball team had to battle back from a three-run deficit in its Senior Day contest against No. 17 MidAmerica Nazarene at the MACU Baseball Field on Saturday afternoon, but the Evangels pushed across six runs over the final four frames to come away with the 7-4 victory to complete the three-game sweep.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 7, MidAmerica Nazarene 4
  • Mid-America Christian (29-19)
  • MidAmerica Nazarene (26-14)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Breyllin Suriel (4-2)
• Loss: Reece Helland (3-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Breyllin Suriel – W, 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 SO
• Taiga Sakuma – 3-5, 3 RBI
• Jacob Police – 3-4, 3B, RBI, 2 R

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – MNU – Noah Castillo singled up the middle, RBI; Bryce Sherwood scored – MNU 1, MACU 0
• BTM 1^st – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle reached on a throwing error by 2b; Marcus Burton scored – MACU 1, MNU 1
• TOP 5^th – MNU – Noah Castillo doubled down lf line, 2 RBI; Bryce Sherwood scored; Drew Woodley scored – MNU 3, MACU 1
• TOP 5^th – MNU – Kaden Owens hit a sac fly to cf, RBI; Javier Melendez scored – MNU 4, MACU 1
• BTM 6^th – MACU – Jacob Police tripled to right-center, RBI; Carlos Medina scored – MNU 4, MACU 2
• BTM 6^th – MACU – Taiga Sakuma singled to right, 2 RBI; Caden Harris scored; Jacob Police scored – MACU 4, MNU 4
• BTM 8^th – MACU – Zachary Stark singled to right, RBI; Jacob Police scored – MACU 5, MNU 4
• BTM 8^th – MACU – Caden Harris scored on a wild pitch – MACU 6, MNU 4
• BTM 8^th – MACU – Taiga Sakuma singled to center, RBI; Tylor Richey scored – MACU 7, MNU 4

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its seven runs on 11 hits and committed one error while MidAmerica Nazarene tallied its four runs on seven hits with two errors.
• The Pioneers cracked into the scoring column first as a one-out walk and back-to-back singles by Javier Melendez and Noah Castillo in the top of the first allowed MNU to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
• The Evangels got the run back in the bottom of the first by capitalizing on a MidAmerica Nazarene error. After Marcus Burton reached on a one-out hit-by-pitch and was moved down to second on a sac bunt, an errant throw by the second baseman on Noel McGarry-Doyle's chopper allowed Burton to score, tying it up at 1-1.
• While MACU starting pitcher Devan Quesada was able to setting in, allowing no more than one baserunner in each of the next three innings, the Pioneers put together their most productive inning of the series with a three-run fifth. A two-RBI double down the left field line by Castillo and a Kaden Owens sacrifice fly allowed MNU to extend its edge to 4-1.
• Despite being held in-check through the first five innings as MACU notched just four hits before putting together a massive three-run sixth. Following Carlos Medina's one-out single up the middle, Jacob Police hammered an RBI triple just past the sliding right fielder in the right-center field gap, allowing Medina to score to set the score to 4-2.
• After back-to-back walks drawn by Guillermo Velasco and Zachary Stark loaded the bases with two outs, Taiga Sakuma came up with the game-tying two-RBI single to right to bring it even at 4-4.
• In the bottom of the eighth, the Evangels completed the rally when back-to-back one-out singles by Police and Harris set up Stark for the game-winning RBI single to right before Caden Harris crossed home on a wild pitch. Sakuma wrapped up the scoring with an RBI single to center to set the score to 7-4.
• MACU reliever Breyllin Suriel notched his fourth-straight win in his last four appearances after throwing three shutout innings of one-hit ball. During his four-game streak, Suriel has allowed only one earned run in 14.2 innings of work that covers a pair of victories over NAIA Top 25 opponents in the 17^th-ranked Pioneers and No. 17 Oklahoma Wesleyan.
• Sakuma led the MACU batting efforts in his 3-for-5 day with a team-high three RBIs.
• Police wrapped up his incredible week from the dish with a 3-for-4 effort while hammering a triple for an RBI and scored a pair of runs. With his three-bagger, Police moved into a 13-way tie for the fourth-most triples in a season in the NAIA Era (2008-present) with three
• By completing the sweep, the Evangels have now won eight consecutive regular season series that consist of three or more games. With just one more home game left in the regular season, MACU also improved to 16-3 at the MACU Baseball Field this season.
• Mid-America Christian also continued to beef up its NAIA postseason resume as the Evangels own an 8-4 record against teams currently ranked in the NAIA Top 25.
• Prior to the start of the game, the Evangels held a Senior Day ceremony to honor its 12 graduating seniors: Gabriel Aponte, Isaac Baez, Cameron Brown, Reese Cusiter, Anthony Garcia, Tristin Hampton, Caden Harris, Kelton Lachelt, Noah Prince, Devan Quesada, Tylor Richey and Zane Robeaux.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its final regular season home game on Tuesday as the Evangels host McPherson (Kan.) for a 1 p.m. first pitch at the MACU Baseball Field.