WICHITA, Kan.– No. 13 MACU Baseball extended its win streak to 12 with a 10-2 victory over Friends on the West Side Athletic Field behind an early 7-2 advantage through two that was too much for the Falcons to handle.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 10, Friends 2
  • Mid-America Christian (17-5)
  • Friends (6-12)

PITCHING DECISION

• Win: Bradley Waite (1-0)
• Loss: Max Van Dam (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Cristopher Munoz – 3-5, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI
• Brett Justice – 1-3, HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
• Payton Matthews – 1-2, 3 RBI, 3 BB, SB
• Bradley Waite – W, 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – MACU – Cristopher Munoz homered to right-center, RBI – MACU 1, FRND 0
• TOP 1^st – MACU – Payton Matthews grounded out to first base, unassisted, RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 2, FRND 0
• TOP 1^st – MACU – Carlos Medina singled to left field, 2 RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored, Brett Justice scored – MACU 4, FRND 0
• BTM 1^st – FRND – Bernie Socarras homered to left field, RBI – MACU 4, FRND 1
• BTM 1^st – FRND – Zeke Henson homered to left field, RBI – MACU 4, FRND 2
• TOP 2^nd – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle flied out to cf, sacrifice fly, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 5, FRND 2
• TOP 2^nd – MACU – Payton Matthews singled to right field, RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored; Cristopher Munoz scored – MACU 7, FRND 2
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Cristopher Munoz flied out to cf, sacrifice fly, RBI; Giordany Mendoza scored – MACU 8, FRND 2
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Brett Justice homered to center, RBI – MACU 9, FRND 2
• TOP 8^th – MACU – D'Andre Gaines grounded out to 3b, RBI; Cristopher Munoz scored – MACU 10, FRND 2

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian outhit Friends 9-5 while plating ten runs, the Falcons struggled on the defensive side of things, committing five errors while MACU played a flawless nine innings with no errors made.
• The Evangels sent all nine starters up to bat in the first, plating four in the process behind a solo homer to right-center by Cristopher Munoz, an RBI groundout to first by Payton Matthews and a two-out two-RBI single on a liner to left by Carlos Medina giving MACU an early 4-0 lead.
• Friends responded in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back homers by Bernie Socarras and Zeke Henson cutting the Evangels lead in half.
• MACU kept the momentum going on offense, adding on three more in the second. Taiga Sakuma hit a grounder to third that kicked into the outfield, Munoz then legged out a sac bunt single for a hit, and on the throw Sakuma hustled all the way from first to third allowing Noel McGarry-Doyle to hit him home on a sac fly to center.
• With the bases loaded Matthews delivered again, this time with a base hit through the right side, scoring D'Andre Gaines and Munoz extending the Evangels lead to 7-2.
• Giordany Mendoza led off the third with a free pass and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Zachary Stark, Stark beat out the throw that was slightly bobbled by Falcons third baseman Dominic Arellano. Sakuma grounded out to first, but moved the runners over in the process, creating a sac fly opportunity for Munoz who did so with a fly out to center making it 8-2 in favor of MACU.
• Bradley Waite tossed his second scoreless inning in relief of Jordan Smith getting a 4-6-3 double play to put down the Falcons in the fourth with the 8-2 lead still intact.
• MACU scored another in the top of the sixth on a solo homer of the bat of Justice on a moonshot to center making it 9-2 Evangels.
• Jaxon James threw a pair of shutout innings allowing just one Falcons baserunner on a base on balls.
• Munoz started off the eighth with a single to left and went first-to-third on a line drive base hit to right by McGarry-Doyle. The speedy McGarry-Doyle took advantage of the bobble in right by Nijai Amrbrister, advancing to second on the error, setting up second and third with nobody out. Gaines then grounded out to third, but Munoz scored on the throw to first, providing MACU with a 10-2 advantage.
• Carlos Escobosa worked a scoreless eighth and passed it off to Andrws Acosta, who worked around a walk picking up a 6-4-3 double play turned by Medina and Munoz closing out a 10-2 victory for the Evangels.
• Cristopher Munoz led the offense, he went 3-for-5 with a homer, three runs and two RBI's.
• Noel McGarry-Doyle was the other Evangel with a multi-hit game, he went 2-for-3 with a run, RBI, walk and a stolen bag. He extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his two-hits today.
• Payton Matthews had a game-high three RBIs, he slashed 1-for-2 with a season-high of three walks and stealing a pair of bases.
• D'Andre Gaines scored twice, he went 1-for-5 with an RBI and a walk.
• Brett Justice added on to his team-leading in homers, hitting his eighth. He added on a walk and a run in addition to his blast.
• MACU did the heavy lifting early on in the ballgame, plating eight of its 10 runs through the first three innings.
• The MACU pitching staff turned in a solid day using five different arms, Jordan Smith allowed two in the first but settled in putting up a zero in the second. Waite, James, Escobosa and Acosta combined for seven innings of shutout ball allowing just one hit while walking five and striking out one falcons hitter.
• Bradley Waite turned in his best outing of the season, he went three scoreless, allowing a hit, walking a pair and striking out one receiving his first career win as an Evangel.
• Jaxon James turned in his third scoreless outing in his third appearance, he allowed a walk and did not give up a hit across his two frames.
• The Evangels have now won four consecutive games over Friends dating back to 2022.
• MACU has now won 12 straight games, looking to not only match but overcome a streak of 14 that occurred last season.

UP NEXT

• MACU returns to SAC play with heading on the road for the first time during conference play to Plainview, Texas taking on Wayland Baptist for a three-game series starting Friday Mar. 7, at 4:00 p.m.