PLAINVIEW, Texas – The No. 17 MACU Baseball team suffered a tough one in its series finale at Wilder Field on Sunday afternoon as Wayland Baptist scored seven runs over the final three innings, rallying to defeat the Evangels 7-4 to take the series.
 
SCORE

• Wayland Baptist 7, Mid-America Christian 4
  • Mid-America Christian (17-7, 7-2 SAC)
  • Wayland Baptist (14-11, 5-4 SAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Juan Gil-Franco (3-2)
• Loss: Andrew Long (2-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jesse Ortega – 1-1, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Cristopher Munoz – 2-4, HR, RBI, R
• D'Andre Gaines – 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Gabriel Dixon – 6 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 5 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Cristopher Munoz homered to left center, RBI – MACU 1, WBU 0
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Jesse Ortega homered to right center, 2 RBI; Giordany Mendoza scored – MACU 3, WBU 0
• BTM 7^th – WBU – Delvis Claudio homered to center, RBI – MACU 3, WBU 1
• BTM 7^th – WBU – Felix Polanco homered down lf line, RBI – MACU 3, WBU 2
• TOP 8^th – MACU – D'Andre Gaines homered to right, RBI – MACU 4, WBU 2
• BTM 8^th – WBU – Cooper Jauz singled thru left side, 2 RBI; Christian Toledo scored; Riley Watson scored – MACU 4, WBU 4
• BTM 8^th – WBU – Felix Polanco homered down the rf line, 3 RBI; Cooper Jauz scored; Delvis Claudio scored – WBU 7, MACU 4

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian put together a dangerous threat in the top of the second when Brett Justice led off with a walk and Payton Matthews dropped a single into second as both runners came up with a stolen base to have a pair in scoring position with no outs. However, WBU pitcher Felix Polanco got out of the jam by inducing a popout to second, a shallow flyout to left and a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.
• Cristopher Munoz continued to stay hot with the bat in the top of the third when he launched a solo shot over the left center field wall to make it a 1-0 game. The Evangels had the opportunity to add more when Noel McGarry-Doyle slapped a single through the left side and advanced to second on a passed ball and third on a groundout to short, but MACU was unable to drive him in to keep it a one-score game.
• After striking out just one batter through the first three innings, Gabriel Dixon tossed his first clean inning in the bottom of the fourth by striking out the side.
• The Pioneers were not able to muster much of a threat until the bottom of the sixth when WBU loaded the bases on a pair of singles by Arcadio Frausto and Sinclair Pementel to go along with a Riley Watson walk. However, MACU narrowly escaped as Carlos Medina flipped a fielder's choice to second to just barely beat the runner on Christian Toledo's at-bat to keep it a 1-0 contest.
• Mid-America Christian added two crucial insurance runs in the top of the seventh. After Giordany Mendoza slapped a two-out single through the left side before pinch-hitter Jesse Ortega hammered a two-run homer that just barely crawled over the right-center field fence to extend the edge to 3-0.
• The Pioneers immediately got both runs back in the bottom of the seventh when Delvis Claudio launched a lead-off solo shot over the left field wall before Felix Polanco bashed a one-out solo homer down the left field line, cutting the Evangels' lead to 3-2.
• MACU got one of those runs back in the top of the eighth as D'Andre Gaines lofted a full count, two-out pitch over the right field wall, making it a 4-2 ball game.
• However, the Evangels bullpen was unable to contain the Pioneers rally as Wayland Baptist scored five runs in the bottom of the eight as Cooper Jauz hit the game-tying RBI single through the left side before Felix Polanco hammered a three-run blast down the right field line for his second homer of the game to secure the 7-4 victory for Wayland.

GAME NOTES

• Wayland Baptist scored its seven runs on 14 hits while Mid-America Christian tallied four runs on nine hits.
• Despite the result, the Evangels got a stellar outing from starting pitcher Gabriel Dixon, who tossed six shutout innings while allowing just six hits, all of which were singles and three walks while striking out five batters.
• All four of MACU's runs were generated off the long ball as the Evangels got homers from Cristopher Munoz, Jesse Ortega and D'Andre Gaines.
• The pinch-hit homer for Ortega was his second of the season as he's now notched two homers in only six at-bats.
• With his 2-for-4 game, Cristopher Munoz put together a downright excellent week from the plate as he finished the three-game slate plus the midweek win at Friends 10-for-18 (.556) with two doubles and three homers to tally six RBIs and scored seven runs.
• By suffering the defeat, the Evangels lost their first Sooner Athletic Conference series since suffering three losses to Texas Wesleyan from Apr. 29-30, 2023, snapped the SAC series streak at 10.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will have a short turnaround as the Evangels will head across town for a Monday contest at Randall with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.