HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The No. 11 MACU Baseball team put together an incredible rally to take a one-run lead late in the ballgame, but the Evangels unfortunately saw their phenomenal season come to a tough end as Milligan hit the game-tying and walk-off home runs in the bottom of the ninth to hand MACU the 8-7 defeat at Milton Wheeler Field on Wednesday, eliminating MACU from the NAIA Tournament.

SCORE

• Milligan 8, Mid-America Christian 7
  • Mid-America Christian (41-13)
  • Milligan (35-21)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Austin Maxey (2-2)
• Loss: Zane Robeaux (10-2)

TOP PERFORMERS

• D'Andre Gaines – 2-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, BB, HBP, SB
• Taiga Sakuma – 2-5, HR, RBI, 2 R
• Jacob Police – 1-4, 2 R, HBP, 2 SB
• Zane Robeaux – L, 3.2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – MACU – Taiga Sakuma homered to right-center, RBI – MACU 1, MU 0
• TOP 1^st – MACU – Jacob Police scored on a wild pitch – MACU 2, MU 0
• BTM 2^nd – MU – Ryan Molinari hit a sac fly to cf, RBI; Braden Spano scored – MACU 2, MU 1
• BTM 2^nd – MU – Cade Kalehuawehe homered to left-center, 2 RBI; Vasili Kaloudis scored – MU 3, MACU 2
• BTM 3^rd – MU – Jose Paula grounded out to ss, RBI; Caleb Berry scored – MU 4, MACU 2
• BTM 4^th – MU – Andrew Mathias bunt singled to third; Roangeraud Fraai scored on a throwing error by 3b – MU 5, MACU 2
• BTM 5^th – MU – Braden Spano homered to left, RBI – MU 6, MACU 2
• TOP 6^th – MACU – D'Andre Gaines homered to left-center, 4 RBI; Jacob Police scored; Taiga Sakuma scored; Zachary Stark scored – MACU 6, MU 6
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Jason Thurman singled up the middle, RBI; Anthony Hampton scored – MACU 7, MU 6
• BTM 9^th – MU – Jose Paula homered to left, RBI – MACU 7, MU 7
• BTM 9^th – MU – Vasili Kaloudis homered to left, RBI – MU 8, MACU 7

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian opened the scoring in emphatic fashion in the top of the first when Taiga Sakuma lofted a leadoff solo homer over the right-center field fence before eventually loading the bases on a Jacob Police single to left, a D'Andre Gaines walk and Noel McGarry-Doyle reached on a fielding error by the shortstop with no outs.
• However, MU starting pitcher Spencer Rife was able to limit the damage to one more run on a wild pitch as he struck out the next two batters before getting Zachary Stark to ground out to second to keep it to a 2-0 game.
• In the bottom of the second, Milligan put together a three-run frame to take the lead. After the first two batters reached on a single and a double to put runners at second and third, it appeared MACU starting pitcher Devan Quesada might limit the damage after inducing a popout to third in foul territory and a sacrifice fly to center. However, MU's Cade Kalehuawehe put the Buffaloes in-front by launching a two-run homer over the left-center field wall to make it a 3-2 game.
• Milligan added one more run of insurance in the bottom of the third when Caleb Berry reached on a leadoff single to left, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved down to third on an errant throw by Quesada on the pickoff attempt before Jose Paula hit an RBI groundout to short to make it 4-2.
• The Buffaloes added another run in the fourth by taking advantage of an Evangels miscue as a bunt single and throwing error by Anthony Hampton at third allowed the runner at first to come all the way around to score before adding another in the bottom of the fifth on a Braden Spano solo homer over the left field fence, setting the score to 6-2.
• In the top of the sixth, the Evangels erased the deficit with one swing of the bat. Following Stark's bunt single to third with a Tanner Graves hit-by-pitch and a Taiga Sakuma single to center to load the bases, D'Andre Gaines lofted a grand slam over the left-center field wall to tie the game up at 6-6.
• In the seventh, MACU recaptured the advantage when Hampton reached on a leadoff infield single to short and a steal of second before Jason Thurman grounded a two-out RBI single up the middle to make it a 7-6 Evangels advantage.
• The Evangels held their advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth, but disaster struck for MACU as Milligan hit the game-tying solo home run to left off the bat of Paula before Vasili Kaloudis hit the walk-off solo shot down the left field line with two outs to give the Buffaloes the 8-7 win.

GAME NOTES

• Milligan scored its eight runs on 11 hits and committed two errors while Mid-America Christian scored its seven runs on 10 hits with three defensive miscues.
• While it was not the way senior pitcher Zane Robeaux would not have wanted to end his MACU career, the Mustang, Oklahoma pitched well heading into the ninth, tossing 3.2 innings of relief while allowing the two earned runs on the solo homers in the ninth with one walk and struck out four.
• Robeaux finishes his incredible Evangels career holding multiple program NAIA Era (2008-present) career record marks for strikeouts (209) and wins while also holding top 10 marks in innings pitched (185.1, 3^rd), WHIP (1.24, 4^th), opponent batting average (.226, 4^th), games started (29, 4^th), ERA (3.98, 6^th), complete games (6, 7^th) and games pitched (38, 10^th). Robeaux ended the season tied with the program single season wins with 10.
• Kelton Lachelt also made his final appearance in his third year with MACU, wrapping up his Evangels career as the program's record holder in saves (14) and appearances (61) while also holding top 10 marks in wins (12, 5^th), WHIP (1.51, 8^th) and ERA (4.75, 10^th).
• While not making an appearance in the contest, two other senior MACU pitchers also finished their MACU careers with multiple top 10 marks in Isaac Baez and Cameron Brown. Overall, Baez holds ranks in wins (19, 2^nd), games started (30, 3^rd), strikeouts (182, 4^th), WHIP (1.24, 4^th), shutouts (2, 4^th), ERA (3.79, 5^th), innings pitched (164, 5^th), and opponent batting average (.261, 7^th). Baez's SAC Pitcher of the Year season allowed him to finish with the most wins (10) to go with the third-lowest WHIP (1.06), the seventh-best opponent batting average (.208), eighth-most strikeouts (89), eighth-most games started (14) and ninth-lowest ERA in a season (3.00).
• Meanwhile, Brown holds the records for innings pitched (208.1), games started (37) and games pitched (61), while also holding top 10 marks in strikeouts (189, 2^nd), saves (6, 3^rd), wins (16, 3^rd), WHIP (1.44, 7^th) and opponent batting average (.274, 10^th). The Blanchard, Oklahoma native also closed out one of the best seasons of his four-year career with a 1.65 ERA, the third-lowest in a single season in the NAIA Era while also holding the third-most saves (6), sixth-most appearances (20), and seventh-lowest WHIP (1.12).
• D'Andre Gaines led MACU's batting efforts in the contest as his grand slam allowed him to finish 2-for-3 with a double, a homer, four RBIs and a run scored to go with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a stolen base. Overall, Gaines posted multiple NAIA Era single season marks, notching the record for runs scored (69) and total bases (130) while also tallying marks in triples (4, 2^nd), home runs (13, 3^rd), walks (32, 4^th), RBIs (52, 6^th), doubles (16, 7^th), slugging percentage (.695, 8^th), OPS (1.157, 8^th) and hits (67, 8^th).
• Jacob Police also closed out his phenomenal season with a 1-for-4 performance from the plate with two runs, two stolen bases and a hit-by-pitch. Overall, Police finished the season with top 10 marks in OPS (1.171, 5^th), home runs (12, 5^th), slugging percentage (.707, 6^th), triples (3, 6^th), runs (50, 8^th) while also tying the record for most hit-by-pitches (20).
• Despite coming up empty from the plate, McGarry-Doyle finished his sensational season with the program season record for RBIs (68) as well as top 10 marks in triples (4, 2^nd), hits (73, 3^rd), total bases (121, 4^th), runs (51, 7^th), batting average (.388, 9^th) and on-base percentage (.471, 9^th).
• On-top of all of the individual records that were broken during the season, the Evangels shattered multiple team single season records in the NAIA Era. With the bats, MACU finished with the record for runs scored (440), hits (553), doubles (115), triples (15), RBIs (394) total bases (878) and slugging percentage (.521). From the mound, the Evangels also finished with single season records in ERA (3.99), fewest runs allowed (211), fewest earned runs allowed (181) and opponent batting average (.253).
• Mid-America Christian wrapped up one of its greatest seasons in program history with the NAIA Era records for wins (41) and win percentage (.759) while winning the program's first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament as well as first SAC regular season title with a 20-4 league mark and NAIA Tournament appearance with an Opening Round win.