OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 20 MACU Baseball Team pulled away with two gut-wrenching wins over Texas Wesleyan behind a gem in game one by Fabian Hernandez and a come from behind 11-8 victory in game two.
 
GAME ONE
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 4, Texas Wesleyan 2
  • Mid-America Christian (27-11, 14-5 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (25-15, 9-9 SAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Fabian Hernandez (5-1)
• Loss: Samuel Mendoza (3-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Fabian Hernandez – W, 7 IP, CG, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 SO
• D'Andre Gaines – 1-2, 2 RBI, SF
• Zachary Stark – 2-3
• Carlos Medina – 1-3, RBI

SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 1^st – MACU – D'Andre Gaines flew out to center, sac fly; RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 1, TXWES 0
• TOP 3^rd – TXWES – Rody Garcia tripled to right center, RBI; Brandon Rincones scored – MACU 1, TXWES 1
• TOP 5^th – TXWES – Rody Garcia reached on a fielder's choice to first base; Idelfonso Garcia advanced to third, scored on a throwing error by c – TXWES 2, MACU 1
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-D reached on a fielder's choice to third base, RBI; Dyson Kinnaman scored – MACU 2, TXWES 2
• BTM 5^th – MACU – D'Andre Gaines singled through the right side, RBI; Cristopher Munoz scored – MACU 3, TXWES 2
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Carlos Medina singled to right center, RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 4, TXWES 2

GAME SUMMARY

• Starting pitcher Fabian Hernandez worked way around a leadoff bunt single, retiring the next three Texas Wesleyan hitters to keep it scoreless in the first.
• Mid-America Christian jumped on the board first behind a leadoff walk to Taiga Sakuma, an infield single by Noel McGarry-Doyle that was then thrown away by starting pitcher Samuel Mendez, allowing Sakuma to advance to third and then score on a sac fly to center off the bat of D'Andre Gaines.
• TXWES tied it up at 1-1 in the third behind back-to-back hits by Brandon Rincones, including an RBI triple by Rody Garcia.
• The Rams took the lead in the fifth behind a leadoff single, a couple walks and scored on an overthrow on a double play attempt by Zachary Stark, giving the Rams a 2-1 lead.
• The Evangels responded in the back half of the frame, Stark started it up with a one-out single, Sakuma walked and Cristopher Munoz singled through the left-side. With the bases juiced, McGarry-Doyle sliced one down the third base line that Ryan Flores gloved on a slide, getting an out at third but allowing courtesy runner Dyson Kinnaman to score in the process.
• D'Andre Gaines then stepped up with a go-ahead single on a grounder that just went past the outstretched glove of first basemen Austin Hubbell and Carlos Medina followed up with a bloop single to right-center, extending the lead to 4-2.
• Hernandez surrendered singles in both the sixth and seventh, but he worked his way around them both, including getting Rincones to fly out to right to end the game with a 4-2 MACU victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian and Texas Wesleyan both put up seven hits while the Rams committed a pair of errors to one error for the Evangels. Both teams left five on the basepaths and walked twice.
• Fabian Hernandez turned in his second complete game of the season, he went seven innings giving up just two runs while allowing seven hits, two walks and punching out five. He extended his win-loss record to 5-1.
• D'Andre Gaines contributed with two of the four RBIs four MACU, he came through with a sac fly in the first and had to go-ahead single in the fifth.
• Zachary Stark was the only player on both sides to record a multi-hit game, he finished 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
• Cristopher Munoz went 1-for-3 with a run scored, he has now put up at least one hit in 15 of his last 16 games.
• Carlos Medina added an RBI single in his three plate appearances.
• Taiga Sakuma reached base twice via a walk, he scored one of the four MACU runs.
• MACU swiped a pair of bags, the first by Noel McGarry-Doyle was a historic one, with now 109 stolen bases on the year it surpassed the lifetime stolen base record during the NAIA-era (2007-present) of 107 in 2010.

GAME TWO
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 11, Texas Wesleyan 8
  • Mid-America Christian (28-11, 15-5 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (25-16, 9-10 SAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Andrws Acosta (2-3)
• Loss: Travis Belz (2-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Noel McGarry-Doyle – 3-4, HR, R, 3 RBI  
• Cristopher Munoz – 1-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB
• Jonluke Hobdy – 1-2, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
• Andrws Acosta – W, 4 IP, 2 H, 2 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – TXWES – Ryan Flores singled through the right side, RBI; Idelfonso Garcia scored – TXWES 1, MACU 0
• TOP 1^st – TXWES – Brandon Vela homered to right, 4 RBI Logan Silvertooth scored; Ryan Flores scored; Brandon Rincones scored – TXWES 5, MACU 0
• BTM 1^st – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle homered to right-center, 2 RBI; Cristopher Munoz scored – TXWES 5, MACU 2
• BTM 1^st – MACU – Jonluke Hobdy homered to right, 2 RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored – TXWES 5, MACU 4
• BTM 2^nd – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle singled up the middle, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – TXWES 5, MACU 5
• TOP 3^rd – TXWES – Dylan Masanda singled through the left side, RBI; Brandon Vela scored – TXWES 6, MACU 5
• TOP 3^rd – TXWES – Conner Leon singled up the middle, advanced to second on a throwing error by cf, RBI; Ryan Kramer scored – TXWES 7, MACU 5
• TOP 3^rd – TXWES – Tim Escamilla scored on a wild pitch – TXWES 8, MACU 5
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Payton Matthews flied out to rf to right center, sacrifice fly, RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored – TXWES 8, MACU 6
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Conner Thompson doubled to right center, 2 RBI; Jonluke Hobdy scored; Alek Guzman scored – TXWES 8, MACU 5
• BTM 5^th – MACU – Cristopher Munoz homered to left field, 3 RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored; Dyson Kinnaman scored – MACU 11, TXWES 8

GAME SUMMARY

• Texas Wesleyan came out the game break on a burner, scoring five in the top of the first behind four hits, including a grand slam to right by Ryan Flores that extended the lead to 5-0.
• Mid-America Christian answered in the bottom half on a two-run blast to right by Noel McGarry-Doyle. MACU kept the inning alive with a walk to D'Andre Gaines, and Jonluke Hobdy connected for a two-run shot of his own, sneaking one just over the right field wall, cutting the Rams lead to 5-4.
• The Evangels plated one in the second to tie it up at 5-5 on a single up the middle by McGarry-Doyle scoring Taiga Sakuma, who reached on a free pass earlier in the frame.
• With two outs and nobody on, the Rams rallied for three runs behind three singles, a walk and a wild pitch allowed TXWES to plate three in the third with an 8-5 advantage.
• In the fifth the Evangels scored six behind five hits and three mishaps by the Rams defense. Gaines started it off with a grounder through the left-side, Carlos Medina reached on a throwing error and moved to second on an error off the bat of Hobdy. With the bases full, Payton Matthews battled back from an 0-2 count and just missed a grand slam with a sac fly to the track in right-center.
• Giordany Mendoza then kept the inning going with a walk, loading it back up for Conner Thompson, who delivered a two-RBI double on a one-hopper to the right-center field fence, tying it up at 8-8. MACU then took the lead two batters later with a three-run bomb to left by Munoz, putting the Evangels ahead for the first time all game, with an 11-8 edge.
• MACU threatened in the sixth by putting a couple runners in scoring position, but reliever Travis Belz escaped the jam, keeping the score at 11-8 MACU.
• Andrws Acosta tossed a one-two-three seventh, allowing the Evangels to defeat the Rams in comeback fashion with an 11-8 win.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian narrowly outhit Texas Wesleyan 10-9, the Rams made three errors to the Evangels one. The difference maker was the extra-base hits, as MACU banged three homers and added two doubles, while TXWES had just one extra-base hit.
• Noel McGarry-Doyle led the Evangels, he went 3-for-4 with a homer and three driven in. He moved into sole possession of second place on the all-time home run list at MACU during the NAIA-era (2007-present) with 28, passing Jerry McNew (2013-2017).
• Cristopher Munoz added a go-ahead three-run shot in his lone hit of the contest, he tacked on another run after reaching via a walk.
• Taiga Sakuma scored a pair of runs, he went 2-for-3 with a walk.
• Jonluke Hobdy drove in a pair with one swing of the bat on his two-run homer, he joined Munoz, Sakuma and Gaines in scoring two runs.
• Conner Thompson played a big impact in his limited amount of playing time, he retired the fifth by catching Conner De Leon trying to take two on a wild pitch, then proceeded to hit the game tying double in the bottom half of the frame.
• Andrws Acosta received the win in relief, he logged a season-high four innings, allowing two hits for no runs and punching out two.
• With the win MACU defeats TXWES in the regular season series for the second straight year.

UP NEXT

• MACU aims for the sweep tomorrow afternoon with the first pitch slated for 11:00 a.m. at Putnam City High School.