CHICKASHA, Okla. – The No. 14 MACU Baseball team locked up its spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship game with a record-breaking performance as the Evangels hit seven homers at Bill Smith Ballpark to get the 15-8 victory over third-seed Science & Arts on Monday afternoon.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 15, Science & Arts 8
  • Mid-America Christian (39-11)
  • Science & Arts (34-16)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Zane Robeaux (10-0)
• Loss: Brian Ereu (12-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jacob Police – 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, 2 HBP
• D'Andre Gaines – 2-6, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
• Carlos Medina – 3-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Noel McGarry-Doyle – 3-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R
• Taiga Sakuma – 1-2, 2B, 3 R, 4 BB, SB
• Cameron Brown – 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 1^st – USAO – Gunner Hansen singled up the middle, RBI; Gabriel Arroyo scored – USAO 1, MACU 0
• BTM 1^st – USAO – Ian Ortiz doubled to left, 3 RBI; Ryan Duncan scored; Peyton McDowall scored; Christopher Martinez scored – USAO 4, MACU 0
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Zachary Stark homered to left, RBI – USAO 4, MACU 1
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Jacob Police homered to left, RBI – USAO 4, MACU 2
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – D'Andre Gaines homered to center, RBI – USAO 4, MACU 3
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Jacob Police homered to left, 3 RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored; Joel Nieves scored – MACU 6, USAO 4
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Carlos Medina homered to left, 3 RBI; Anthony Hampton scored; Noel McGarry-Doyle – MACU 9, USAO 4
• TOP 6^th – MACU – D'Andre Gaines homered to right-center, 2 RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 11, USAO 4
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Anthony Hampton homered to left, 2 RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 13, USAO 4
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Jason Thurman scored on a wild pitch – MACU 14, USAO 4
• BTM 7^th – USAO – Ian Ortiz singled to left, RBI; Christopher Martinez – MACU 14, USAO 5
• BTM 7^th – USAO – Ben Lawson singled to left, RBI; Ben Bach – MACU 14, USAO 6
• BTM 8^th – USAO – Peyton McDowall doubled to left, 2 RBI; Christopher Martinez scored; Gage Ninness scored – MACU 14, USAO 8
• TOP 9^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle doubled to right-center, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 15, USAO 8

GAME SUMMARY

• Science & Arts put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. With the bases-loaded, the Drovers got an RBI single up the middle off the bat of Gunner Hansen before Ian Ortiz ripped a bases-clearing double that one-hopped to the left field wall, giving the Drovers the 4-0 advantage.
• Mid-America Christian emphatically chipped away at the deficit in the top of the third as the Evangels hit three solo home runs, one off the bat of Zachary Stark that just barely crawled over the left field wall before Jacob Police hit one off the scoreboard in left and D'Andre Gaines launched one over the dead-center field wall, closing the gap to 4-3.
• In the top of the fifth, the Evangels captured the advantage. After Stark singled up the middle and Taiga Sakuma drew a walk, Police homered for the second time by sending a no-doubter over the left field wall to make it a 6-4 MACU lead.
• MACU added one more three-run shot in the top of the fifth to stretch the edge to 9-4. Following a Noel McGarry-Doyle single to right and an Anthony Hampton walk, Carlos Medina lofted a deep three-run blast over the left field wall.
• With two outs in the top of the sixth, the Evangels added to their home run charge. After Sakuma put a double down the right field line, Gaines hammered his second home run of the day to right-center field to make it an 11-4 contest.
• Two batters later, MACU broke the program's single game home run record it its seventh of the contest. Following McGarry-Doyle's single to right, Hampton sailed a two-run homer over the left-center field wall to set the score to 13-4.
• The Evangels chipped in one more run in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded. With D'Andre Gaines batting, a wild pitch allowed pinch-runner Jason Thurman to score from third to extend the advantage to 14-4.
• It looked as though MACU was going to get the run-rule victory in the bottom of the seventh when MACU starter Zane Robeaux retired two of the first three batters he faced, but a walk and a swinging bunt single loaded the bases before back-to-back RBI singles by Ian Ortiz and Ben Lawson brought it back to an eight-run game at 14-6.
• The Drovers chipped in two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Peyton McDowall 2-RBI double down the left field line to trim the MACU lead down to 14-8.
• MACU added one more insurance run in the top of the ninth to make it a 15-8 game. After Sakuma reached on a walk and Police was hit by a pitch, McGarry-Doyle cranked an RBI double to right-center to plate one, but the Evangels missed a chance to add one more as Police was thrown out at home trying to score from first.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its 15 runs on 15 hits and committed one error while Science & Arts notched its eight runs on 15 hits as well.
• On the whole MACU brought the big bats with 11 total extra-base hits, including a single-game NAIA Era (2008-present) seven home runs.
• Jacob Police led MACU's batting efforts, slashing 2-for-4 with a pair of homers for four RBIs and two runs while also reaching twice by being hit by pitches.
• D'Andre Gaines also tallied two homers on the day, finishing 2-for-6 with three RBIs and a pair of runs.
• Carlos Medina and Noel McGarry-Doyle also turned in three-hit games for MACU as Medina slashed 3-for-5 with a double and a homer for three RBIs and a run while McGarry-Doyle slashed 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs.
• Taiga Sakuma wreaked havoc from the top of MACU's batting order. While the sophomore outfielder finished 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI, Sakuma tied a single-game program record by drawing four walks to ultimately finish with a team-high three runs scored.
• Overall, five different Evangels scored multiple runs with Hampton rounding out the two-run scorers after batting 1-for-5 with a homer and a pair of RBIs to go with his two runs.
• The seven homers MACU ripped broke the previous record of six long balls that the Evangels hit in a 14-4 victory at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Apr. 15, 2023. In that contest, Caden Harris hit a pair of home runs while Noel McGarry-Doyle, Carlos Medina, Isaiah Leon and German Sepulveda each tallied one.
• For the first time since the program joined the NAIA in 2008, the Evangels had two players hit two home runs in the same game as Police and Gaines became the 36^th and 37^th players in that time frame to record a pair in a contest. Police notched his second two-homer game of the year after tallying two in a 13-1 win at Friends on Apr. 23.
• The long balls also allowed both Police and Gaines to break into MACU's single season record books. Police's team-leading 12^th homer moved him into a five-way tie for fourth-most with Adrian Bravo-Carmona (2011), Jerry McNew (2016, 2017) and Yan Ely Adames (2021). Gaines' 11^th dinger also puts him in a five-way tie for ninth with Felix Martinez (2018), Diego Pichardo (2019), McGarry-Doyle (2023) and Andrew Enwiya (2023).
• On a day that had multiple players climb up MACU's single season record books, Gaines also moved into the top five for total bases as his eight-base effort marked his 118^th total base for the year, surpassing James Frederick for fifth (117, 2010) and needs just four more bases to climb all the way into second. By also scoring his 65^th run of the year, Gaines needs just one more to tie the single season record held by Leon set in 2022.
• On-top of his home run mark, Police also continued his ascent up the season record books for hit-by-pitches as his 14^th of the year moved him into a three-way tie for fifth with Matt Allen (2010) and Colt Pickens (2017).
• With Sakuma's four walks and three runs, he also broke into the single season top 10 in both categories. His 54 runs is tied for the fourth-most with Sam Lewis (2010) and the 29 walks he's drawn marks a tie for seventh with teammate McGarry-Doyle (2023) and Enwiya (2023).
• Despite facing one of his toughest starts of the season, starting pitcher Zane Robeaux still pitched well enough to get the win and join teammate Isaac Baez in the 10-win club as the pair of pitchers are the only ones to record 10 or more pitching victories in a season. Overall, Robeaux threw 6.2 innings and allowed six earned runs on 12 hits with two walks and struck out seven.
• After breaking the program's career strikeouts record last weekend against Southwestern Christian, Robeaux became MACU's first pitcher in program history to record 200 career strikeouts, boosting his career tally to 202 while also reaching a milestone in pitching wins by becoming MACU's first 20-game winner.
• Going back-and-forth with teammate Kelton Lachelt, Cameron Brown once again moved into a tie for the most appearances in program history after throwing 1.1 innings of relief with his 59^th career appearance. By notching a strikeout, Brown garnered his 180^th, moving him into alone for third on the career list.
• Impressively, the Evangels were the first team to hand the NAIA's wins leader Brian Ereu a loss, dropping the Drovers ace to 12-1 on the season. On the whole, Ereu allowed five earned runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts over four innings of work, marking the second-most runs the sophomore pitcher has allowed in a game this season.
• By getting the victory, MACU has posted a 4-2 record against the Drovers during the 2024 regular season and postseason, including going 2-1 against USAO in the SAC Tournament with a 5-2 win in the winner's bracket on Saturday and an 8-3 defeat in Sunday's first semifinal game.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now compete in the program's first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Championship game as the Evangels will face off against second-seeded No. 22 Oklahoma City in the title tilt on Tuesday. The contest is slated for a noon first pitch at Bill Smith Ballpark.