SHREVEPORT, La. – The No. 19 MACU Baseball team was able to survive two elimination games in the NAIA Opening Round on Tuesday as the Evangels cruised to a 16-7 win over Southern-New Orleans in the afternoon before putting together a ninth-inning rally for a walk-off 7-6 win over Ottawa.
 
GAME ONE / Mid-America Christian vs. Southern-New Orleans

• Mid-America Christian 16, Southern-New Orleans 7
  • Mid-America Christian (39-16)
  • Southern-New Orleans (24-27)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Ryan Harney (1-0)
• Loss: Enrique Herazo Jr. (3-4)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Taiga Sakuma – 4-6, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 4 R, SB
• Noel McGarry-Doyle – 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R, BB
• D'Andre Gaines – 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 BB
• Ryan Harney – W, 4.1 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – MACU – D'Andre Gaines doubled to left, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 1, SUNO 0
• TOP 1^st – MACU – Carlos Medina scored on a balk – MACU 2, SUNO 0
• BTM 1^st – SUNO – Miles Bowens tripled to center; RBI; Kerrigan Edmundson scored – MACU 2, SUNO 1
• BTM 3^rd – SUNO – Miles Bowens singled down lf line; RBI; Damian Lantigua scored – MACU 2, SUNO 2
• BTM 3^rd – SUNO – Dylan Jimenez homered to left, 2 RBI; Miles Bowens scored – SUNO 4, MACU 2
• TOP 4^th – MACU – D'Andre Gaines homered to left center, RBI – SUNO 4, MACU 3
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Cristopher Munoz homered to left center, RBI – MACU 4, SUNO 4
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle homered to right, RBI – MACU 5, SUNO 4
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Brett Justice doubled down lf line, RBI; Carlos Medina scored – MACU 6, SUNO 4
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Jason Thurman hit a sac fly to lf, RBI; D'Andre Gaines scored – MACU 7, SUNO 4
• BTM 5^th – SUNO – Dylan Jimenez reached on a fielder's choice to short, RBI; Kerrigan Edmondson scored – MACU 7, SUN0 5
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Taiga Sakuma homered to left, RBI – MACU 8, SUNO 5
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Guillermo Velasco doubled to right center, RBI; Julian Martinez scored – MACU 9, SUNO 5
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Taiga Sakuma hit an inside-the-park homer to left center, 2 RBI; Elijah Lee scored – MACU 11, SUNO 5
• TOP 8^th – MACU – Julian Martinez doubled to left center, RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 12, SUNO 5
• BTM 8^th – SUNO – Brandon Watson walked, RBI; Danny Aleaga Fonseca scored – MACU 12, SUNO 6
• BTM 8^th – SUNO – Kerrigan Edmondson walked, RBI; Bryce Garrett scored – MACU 12, SUNO 7
• TOP 9^th – MACU – Payton Matthews singled to right, RBI; Elijah Lee scored – MACU 13, SUNO 7
• TOP 9^th – MACU – Payton Matthews stole second, RBI; Taiga Sakuma stole home – MACU 14, SUNO 7
• TOP 9^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle homered to center, 2 RBI; Payton Matthews scored – MACU 16, SUNO 7

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian got the offense going immediately in the top of the first as a pair of singles by Taiga Sakuma and Noel McGarry-Doyle got a pair on before D'Andre Gaines ripped an RBI double to left to plate Sakuma before a balk brought in Carlos Medina to set the score to 2-0.
• Southern-New Orleans plated its first run in the bottom of the first behind a two-out rally as a Kerrigan Edmondson double followed by a Miles Bowens triple to center cut it to a 2-1 game.
• The Knights gained their first and only lead in the bottom of the third when Bowens got his second RBI on a single before Dylan Jimenez hit a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it a 4-2 ballgame.
• The Evangels regained the lead over the next two innings by taking advantage of the long ball as Gaines hit a solo shot over the left-center field wall in the fourth and Cristopher Munoz blasted one over the same wall in the top of the fifth before Noel McGarry-Doyle gave MACU the lead with his solo shot to right in the very next at-bat to make it 5-4.
• MACU added two more insurance runs later in the fifth as Brett Justice punched an RBI double down the left field line before Jason Thurman hit a sac fly to left to score Gaines, setting score to 7-4.
• Jimenez tallied his third RBI on a fielder's choice ground out in the bottom of the fifth to cut it to a 7-5 game before the Evangels swung back with five-unanswered runs over the next three innings. During the run, Taiga Sakuma tallied a pair of homers, including a 2-run inside-the-park homer to the left-center field gap as well as a pair of RBI doubles by Guillermo Velasco and Julian Martinez to stretch the lead to 12-5.
• SUNO got a pair of runs back on bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the eighth to trim the deficit to 12-7.
• MACU answered back with four-unanswered in the top of the ninth as Payton Matthews hit an RBI single to right, both Matthews and Sakuma executed a perfect double steal to plate a run before McGarry-Doyle hammered his second homer of the day on a straight two-run shot to center field to ultimately wrap-up the 16-7 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its 16 runs on 15 hits and committed one error while Southern-New Orleans tallied its seven runs on 12 hits and made four errors.
• Taiga Sakuma continued to swing a red-hot bat for MACU as he led the offensive efforts with a 4-for-6 day with two dingers, three RBIs and four runs scored to go with a stolen base. The contest was the first multi-homer game of Sakuma's Evangels career.
• Noel McGarry-Doyle notched a multi-homer game of his own right, slashing 3-for-5 with two long balls, three RBIs and a trio of runs. The contest marked the second two-homer game of McGarry-Doyle's career with his last multi-dinger game coming against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Mar. 22, 2024.
• D'Andre Gaines was the only other Evangel to finish with multiple RBIs as he slashed 2-for-4 with double and a homer for two RBIs and scored a pair of runs. He also reached base four times by drawing a pair of walks. With his 14^th homer of the year, Gaines moved into a three-way tie for second in MACU's NAIA Era (2007-present) single season record book with Adrian Bravo-Carmona (2010) and Yan Ely Adames (2023). Also, with six total bases, Gaines tied his own single season record with 130, a mark he matched from last season.
• Ryan Harney notched his first win on the mound since the 2023 campaign after throwing 4.1 innings of strong relief, allowing only three runs, two earned on five hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts. Jordan Smith also tossed 1.2 innings of solid relief, allowing no runs on a hit and a walk.
• The six homers hit by the Evangels is the second-most they've hit in a game this season and tied for the third-most in the NAIA Era (2007-present). The 10 extra-base hits marked the third-most in a contest during the year.
• With his solo homer, Cristopher Munoz became MACU's outright NAIA Era single season home run record holder with his 15^th of the season.
• The victory marked MACU's second ever win in the NAIA Tournament and its first victory in the first ever meeting against Southern-New Orleans.

GAME TWO / Mid-America Christian vs. Ottawa (Kan.)

• Mid-America Christian 6, Ottawa 5
  • Mid-America Christian (40-16)
  • Ottawa (39-16)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Gabriel Dixon (6-2)
• Loss: Zach Melendez (5-2)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Noel McGarry-Doyle – 3-5, 3B, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
• Taiga Sakuma – 2-5, RBI, R
• Cristopher Munoz – 1-3, 2 R, 2 BB
• Carlos Medina – 1-2, RBI, BB
• Gabriel Dixon – W, 2.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – OU – Dylan Garcia doubled to left center, RBI; Cole Broughton scored – OU 1, MACU 0
• TOP 1^st – OU – Julius Ryan singled up the middle, RBI; Dylan Garcia scored – OU 2, MACU 0
• TOP 1^st – OU – Nicholas Sizemore doubled to left, RBI; Julius Ryan scored – OU 3, MACU 0
• BTM 1^st – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle homered to center, 2 RBI; Cristopher Munoz scored – OU 3, MACU 2
• BTM 3^rd – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle tripled to right center, RBI; Cristopher Munoz scored – MACU 3, OU 3
• BTM 3^rd – MACU – Carlos Medina hit a sac fly to left, RBI; Noel McGarry-Doyle scored – MACU 4, OU 3
• TOP 7^th – OU – Anthony Soria doubled to right center, RBI; Jaquavius Davis scored – MACU 4, OU 4
• TOP 7^th – OU – Jeremy Freeman Jr. doubled to center, RBI; Anthony Soria scored – OU 5, MACU 4
• BTM 7^th – MACU – Taiga Sakuma singled to right, RBI; Elijah Lee scored – MACU 5, OU 5
• TOP 8^th – OU – Jaquavius Davis struck out swinging; Nicholas Sizemore scored on a wild pitch – OU 6, MACU 5
• BTM 9^th – MACU – Payton Matthews scored on a wild pitch – MACU 6, OU 6
• BTM 9^th – MACU – Noel McGarry-Doyle singled to center, RBI; Taiga Sakuma scored – MACU 7, OU 6

GAME SUMMARY

• Ottawa was able to get the jump off of MACU starting pitcher Fabian Hernandez as the first five batters reached for the Braves as an RBI double by Dylan Garcia, an RBI single by Julius Ryan, and an RBI double by Nicholas Sizemore allowed OU to grab a 3-0 advantage. However, MACU was able to get two runners out on the basepaths on a pickoff and a throw out at home on a runner trying to score on a failed pickoff to keep it a three-run game.
• Mid-America Christian immediately went to work on getting the runs back in its half of the first as Cristopher Munoz one-out single up the middle put a runner on for Noel McGarry-Doyle to hit his fourth home run of the tournament on a two-run shot to straight center, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
• After the MACU defense came up with inning-ending double plays in the second and the third, the Evangels captured their first lead in the bottom of the third. After Munoz drew a walk, McGarry-Doyle put himself on cycle watch by hammering an RBI triple to the right center field wall, tying the contest at 3-3. Carlos Medina brought the go-ahead run home with a deep sac fly to left, setting the score to 4-3.
• Neither team was able to muster much of a scoring threat over the next three innings before Ottawa battled back to take the lead in the seventh. With a runner at second and two outs, Anthony Soria and Jeremy Freeman Jr. came up with back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 5-4 in-favor of the Braves.
• The Evangels got the run back in the bottom half of the seventh. Taking advantage of a pinch-hit situation, Giordany Mendoza launched a deep double to right before Elijah Lee re-entered and scored on Taiga Sakuma's line drive single to right that just barely got over the glove of the second baseman, drawing it even at 5-5.
• In the top of the eighth, Ottawa managed to take back the lead on an unfortunate circumstance. While MACU reliever Gabriel Dixon was able to strike out the first two batters, Sizemore hit a two-out double to left and got down to third on a wild pitch. Even though Dixon struck out the next batter, the spiked pitch got past Conner Thompson, allowing the go-ahead run to score and make it 6-5.
• Even though the Evangels were able to get the tying run to second in their half of the eight with Medina and Julian Martinez each drawing a walk with one out, MACU came up empty in the next two at-bat as the game stayed a one-run deficit.
• With Mid-America Christian getting a three-up, three-down frame in the top of the ninth, the Evangels gave themselves the golden opportunity in the bottom of the ninth. Payton Matthews got the rally started with a pinch-hit leadoff double down the right field line before Sakuma dropped a Texas Leaguer bloop single into center to put runners at the corners with no one out. During Munoz's at-bat, OU's closer Ben Hewitt threw a wild pitch to score the tying run and move the winning run into scoring position.
• With Munoz owning a 3-0 count, Hewitt elected to intentionally walk Munoz to face the hottest bat in MACU's line in McGarry-Doyle. Despite falling behind to an early 0-2 count, McGarry-Doyle battled back before slapping the walk-off bloop single into center to plate Sakuma and give the Evangels the walk-off 7-6 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its seven runs on 10 hits and committed a pair of errors while Ottawa tallied its six runs on 11 hits.
• Noel McGarry-Doyle refused to let his legendary MACU Baseball career come to an end as he led the MACU batting efforts, finishing just a double shy of the cycle at 3-for-5 with a triple and a homer for four RBIs and two runs scored.
• By getting his 74^th hit of the season, McGarry-Doyle moved into a tie with Pete Feurtado (2010) for the second-most base knocks in a season while his 12^th homer of the year moved him into a tie for seventh in the single season record book and marked the most in a single season in his three-year MACU tenure.
• McGarry-Doyle also continued to climb up MACU's single season record book in the RBI department as his four driven in moved his season total up to 65, surpassing Jerry McNew (2017) for the second-most in MACU's NAIA Era record book while he now only sits behind his own record of 68 set last season.
• Taiga Sakuma continued to be instrumental for MACU batting out of the leadoff spot as he was the only other Evangel to finish with multiple hits, slashing 2-for-5 with an RBI and scored the walk-off run.
• Cristopher Munoz crossed home plate twice for the Evangels as he reached base three times by slashing 1-for-3 with a pair of walks. Munoz is also making his own climb up MACU's season record book as his 62^nd run of the season moved him into a tie with McGarry-Doyle (2023) for the fourth on the list.
• It was a tough start for MACU ace Fabian Hernandez, who ran into only two trouble innings. Hernandez allowed five earned runs on 10 hits with one walk and four strikeouts, but all the runs Hernandez gave up came in two separate innings with three in the first and two in the seventh. By tallying his team-leading 84^th strikeout of the season, Hernandez moved into MACU's single season top 10, tying Cameron Brown (2023) for the 10^th spot.
• The result was MACU's third walk-off win of the season and its second in the last three weeks.
• The victory over the Braves was just the program's second ever against Ottawa as the two teams faced each other for the first time since 2014.
• The result also marked the first time the Evangels recorded two wins during the NAIA Opening Round. MACU went 1-2 in last year's inaugural trip to the NAIA Tourney.
• Mid-America Christian also reached 40 wins for just the second time in program history after going 41-13 during the 2024 campaign.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be seeking some revenge against No. 21 Johnson (Tenn.) in the Opening Round Semifinal elimination game on Wednesday as the contest is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch at Pilot Field.