OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 18 MACU Baseball team cruised to a 13-3 run-rule victory over McPherson Tuesday afternoon behind a big seven-run fifth and a program record of 10 stolen bases in a game, the most during the NAIA-era (2007-present).
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 13, McPherson 3
  • Mid-America Christian (26-11, 13-5 SAC)
  • McPherson (17-17, 14-10 KCAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Andrew Long (6-3)
• Loss: Matthew Bomersback (2-2)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Noel McGarry-Doyle – 2-3, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB, SB
• Giordany Mendoza – 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Andrew Long – W, 5 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 SO
• Cristopher Munoz – 2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2 SB

 
SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 2^nd – MACU – Giordany Mendoza reached first on a fielding error by ss, RBI; Jacob Police scored – MACU 1, MCPH 0
• BTM 2^nd – MACU – Taiga Sakuma flew out to left, sac fly; RBI; Carlos Medina scored – MACU 2, MCPH 0
• BTM 3^rd – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle homered to right field, RBI – MACU 3, MCPH 0
• TOP 5^th – MCPH – Jared Kramp doubled to right center, RBI; Koen Gakstatte scored – MACU 3, MCPH 1
• TOP 5^th – MCPH – Jace Essig grounded out to 2b, RBI; Braden Schiffner scored – MACU 3, MCPH 2
• TOP 5^th – MCPH –Jared Kramp scored on a wild pitch – MACU 3, MCPH 3
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Jacob Police doubled down the lf line, 2 RBI; Jonluke Hobdy scored; D'Andre Gaines scored – MACU 5, MCPH 3
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Giordany Mendoza homered to right field, 2 RBI; Jacob Police scored – MACU 7, MCPH 3
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Cristopher Munoz singled to left field, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; Payton Matthews scored – MACU 8, MCPH 3
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Jonluke Hobdy reached first on a throwing error by 3b, Cristopher Munoz scored on the error; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 10, MCPH 3
• BTM 6^th – MACU – Taiga Sakuma singled up the middle, advanced to second on the throw, RBI; Payton Matthews scored – MACU 11, MCPH 3
• BTM 6^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle singled to right center, 2 RBI; Cristopher Munoz scored; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 13, MCPH 3

GAME SUMMARY

• In the back half of the second Mid-America Christian struck first for a two-spot, Carlos Medina and Jacob Police started it off with singles, Police advanced to third on the overthrow to second on Medina's infield single. With first and third nobody out, Giordany Mendoza softly hit one to short that was misplayed by Braden Schiffner, allowing Police to score. Conner Thompson then dropped a beautiful sac bunt to first to put two in scoring position for Taiga Sakuma who flew out to left for a sac fly, scoring Medina and extending the lead to 2-0.
• McPherson threatened in the top of the third, with a runner at second with nobody out, but D'Andre Gaines gunned down courtesy runner Koen Gakstatter trying to tag up on a fly ball for the 8-5 double play. MACU starting pitcher Andrew Long allowed another pair of runners to get on following the double play, but he got Peyton Starr to weakly ground out to first to retire the threat.
• On the first pitch of the bottom of the third, Noel McGarry-Doyle sent one to the softball field on a towering shot to right, making it 3-0 Evangels.
• The Bulldogs at last got to Long in the fifth, behind three hits and a walk, including a RBI double by Jared Kramp, McPherson pushed three across in the frame to tie it up at 3-3.
• Gaines began the fifth with a walk and Jonluke Hobdy wore one, making it first and second nobody out, a double steal then put two in scoring position, and Jacob Police doubled home the pair on a liner down the third base line, retaking the lead for MACU with a 5-3 edge.
• MACU was not done in the fifth, the Bulldogs turned to their bullpen in lefty Marco Moncada, but the first pitch he threw left the yard, with Mendoza hammering one to right for a two-run blast, making it 7-3.
• The Evangels added on three more in the frame, with bases empty and one-down, Thompson drew a walk, Payton Matthews courtesy ran and stole second, Sakuma walked and Matthews stole third in the process. Sakuma then picked up a stolen bag of his own, allowing Munoz to single home Matthews on a grounder through the left side. McGarry-Doyle was drilled to load the bases, and a throwing error by third basemen Jared Kramp created two more runs on the board, wrapping up a seven-run inning with a 10-3 lead.
• Andrws Acosta entered in relief and retired the side in order in the sixth, in the bottom of the inning MACU pushed three more across behind an RBI single from Sakuma and a two-out two-RBI single by McGarry-Doyle, extending the advantage to 13-3.
• Acosta worked around a walk in the seventh and threw up his second scoreless inning, giving MACU an early run-rule victory by a 13-3 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian outhit McPherson 11-4 without committing an error, while the Bulldogs struggled on defense, committing three errors and walking seven MACU hitters.
• The Evangels struck out just twice while fanning eight McPherson hitters. The Evangels left nine on base while four were stranded for the Bulldogs.
• 10 stolen bases is a new program record for steals in a game, surpassing the previous record of nine that has been done three times. It last occurred back on May 21, 2022, against Carolina in the 17-10 win in the NCCAA World Series.
• MACU saw six different players steal a base today, including Payton Matthews' three. With three on the day Matthews moved into second place on the most stolen bases in a season during the NAIA-era, jumping ahead of Isiah Haddad's 22 he did back in 2021.
• Noel McGarry-Doyle had a great day at the plate, he went 2-for-3 with a homer, a run, three RBIs a walk and a stolen base. With the homer McGarry-Doyle is now tied for second in homers during the NAIA-era at MACU with 27, tying Jerry McNew (2013-2017).
• Cristopher Munoz reached base four times, he went 2-for-3 with two runs, an RBI, two walks and two stolen bases.
• Jacob Police also cracked a multi-hit game, he went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and two batted in.
• Giordany Mendoza drove in three, he went 1-for-3 with a homer.
• Taiga Sakuma had a productive day, the designated hitter went 1-for-2 with two runs, two RBIs, two walks and a stolen base.
• Jonluke Hobdy slashed 1-for-3 with a double, he also had a season high of two stolen bags.
• Andrew Long got the win, he moves to 6-3 on the season in the win-loss column, his six wins rank first on the staff. Long is now tied with three others for second in the SAC in wins and just one behind Elian Cuevas of SCU for the lead.
• Andrws Acosta logged two innings of shutout ball in his team leading 17^th appearance. Acosta walked one, had three strikeouts and no hits.
• MACU moves to 6-5 lifetime against McPherson dating back to 2014.

UP NEXT

• MACU gets back to SAC play with a huge three-game series at home against Texas Wesleyan with the first pitch slated for 4:00 p.m. Friday, however with incoming weather forecasts there is great potential for the series to be pushed back.