PINEVILLE, La. – It was a tough opening day for the No. 19 MACU Baseball team at Billy Allgood Field on Thursday as the Evangels dropped both games of the doubleheader at Louisiana Christian by scores of 5-4 and 13-5.
 
GAME ONE
SCORE

• Louisiana Christian 5, Mid-America Christian 4
  • Mid-America Christian (0-1)
  • Louisiana Christian (1-0)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Caleb Brown (1-0)
• Loss: Gabriel Dixon (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Fabian Hernandez – 5 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 SO
• Sammy Hallada – 3-4, 2B, 2 R, SB
• Nick Hill – 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
• Jahzeel Groetelaers – 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Cole Krepcik – 1-3, 2B, RBI

SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 2^nd – LCU – Chris Kelley grounded out to 2b, RBI; Harrison Waxley scored – LCU 1, MACU 0
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Nick Hill singled to left, RBI; Sammy Hallada scored – MACU 1, LCU 1
• TOP 4^th – MACU – Jahzeel Groetelaers homered to center, RBI – MACU 2, LCU 1
• TOP 4^th – MACU – Nick Hill doubled to left-center, RBI; Sammy Hallada scored – MACU 3, LCU 1
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Cole Krepcik doubled to left-center, RBI; Jalen King scored – MACU 4, LCU 1
• BTM 7^th – LCU – Chris Kelley doubled down lf line, RBI; Zephaniah Singleton scored – MACU 4, LCU 2
• BTM 7^th – LCU – Jake Messina singled thru left side, 2 RBI; Luke Morgan scored; Matthew Cody scored – MACU 4, LCU 4
• BTM 7^th – LCU – Sterling Sims walked, RBI; Gavin Vordick scored – LCU 5, MACU 4

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian had some early opportunities. In the top of the first, Sammy Hallada started off the contest by slapping a leadoff single through the right side and stealing second with nobody out. However, the next three Evangels struck out in-order to leave the runner stranded.
• The Evangels had a similar situation in the top of the second when Jalen King reached on an infield single to the pitcher before Josh Rodriguez replaced him on a fielder's choice groundout to short. MACU put a pair in scoring position when Rodriguez stole second and Julio Felix smacked a single to center and stole second as well. However, the Evangels once again weren't able to capitalize as Rodriguez was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice to the third baseman before Cole Krepcik struck out with runners at second and third to end the frame.
• Louisiana Christian scored the first run of the contest in the bottom of the second by taking advantage of a Harrison Waxley leadoff double to the right-center field gap. After moving Waxley on a sac bunt, Chris Kelley drove in the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout to second.
• After coming up empty the first two innings, MACU broke through in the top of the third. Hallada started things off by hammering a leadoff double to right before Nick Hill two batters later drove a one-out single to left, bringing in the speedy Hallada and making it a 1-1 game.
• In the fourth frame, the Evangels captured their first lead of the season when Jahzeel Groetelaers bashed a solo home run over the center field wall. MACU added one more following Hallada's single to right and Tuane Cope's walk as Hill notched his second RBI of the game on a double to the left-center field gap, making it a 3-1 contest.
• MACU continued to add to its lead in the top of the fifth when Jalen King and Rodriguez started off the frame with back-to-back singles. Just when it seemed like the Wildcats were going to get out of it by striking out the next two batters, Cole Krepcik batting out of the nine-hole hammered a double to left-center to bring home King and make it a 4-1 score.
• The game was cruising along into the bottom of the seventh when things came unraveled for the Evangels. After Gabriel Dixon was entered to try and get the save, the senior pitcher allowed three hits and two walks to the seven batters he faced as LCU's Jake Messina hit a game-tying two-RBI single to left on a full-count to tie the game at 4-4.
• MACU went to the pen in Ryan Smith to see if the righty could get the Evangels out of the jam, but the senior pitcher struggled to find his command, issuing back-to-back four-pitch walks as Louisiana Christian came away with the 5-4 win.

GAME NOTES

• Louisiana Christian scored its five runs on five hits while Mid-America Christian out-hit the Wildcats to the tune of four runs on 12 knocks.
• The Evangels pitching dominated the first six innings as MACU allowed only one run on two hits and one walk before allowing four runs on four hits and four walks in the seventh.
• Fabian Hernandez was sensational in this opening day start, allowing only one run on two hits and didn't issue a single walk while striking out six over five innings of work. Andrws Acosta also tossed one inning of scoreless relief to hold the save situation intact.
• Multiple Evangels shined in their debuts with the team. Sammy Hallada batting out of the leadoff spot slashed 3-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and scored a pair of runs. Nick Hill was the lone MACU player with multiple RBIs, batting 2-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBIs.
• Jahzeel Groetelaers hit the team's first home run of the season on a solo shot to center to finish 1-for-4 while Cole Krepcik recorded the other RBI with a double.
• Jalen King also posted a multi-hit game in his MACU debut, batting 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
• With the loss, Louisiana Christian tied the all-time series at 2-2.

GAME TWO
SCORE

• Louisiana Christian 13, Mid-America Christian 5
  • Mid-America Christian (0-2)
  • Louisiana Christian (2-0)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Allan Mason (1-0)
• Loss: Josh Sterba (0-1)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Jesse Ortega – 1-1, 2 RBI
• Nick Hill – 1-3, 2B, 2 R
• Frankie Giacalone – 1-3, RBI, R
• Conner Thompson – 1-1, RBI, 2 BB

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – MACU – Frankie Giacalone hit a sac fly to cf, RBI; Sammy Hallada scored – MACU 1, LCU 0
• BTM 1^st – LCU – Braden Trull homered to center, 3 RBI; Brady Huffman scored; Sterling Sims scored – LCU 3, MACU 1
• BTM 1^st – LCU – Chris Kelley homered to left-center, 2 RBI; Harrison Waxley scored – LCU 5, MACU 1
• BTM 2^nd – LCU – Matthew Cody homered to left, 3 RBI; Harrison Waxley scored; Braden Trull scored – LCU 8, MACU 1
• TOP 3^rd – MACU – Jalen King singled to center, RBI; Nick Hill scored – LCU 8, MACU 2
• BTM 3^rd – LCU – Brady Huffman singled up the middle, RBI; Luke Morgan scored – LCU 9, MACU 2
• BTM 4^th – LCU – Caleb Brown singled to left-center, RBI; Matthew Cody scored – LCU 10, MACU 2
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Conner Thompson walked, RBI; Nick Hill scored – LCU 10, MACU 3
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Jesse Ortega singled up the middle, 2 RBI; Julio Felix scored; Frank Giacalone scored – LCU 10, MACU 5
• BTM 6^th – LCU – Chris Kelley homered to center, RBI – LCU 11, MACU 5
• BTM 6^th – LCU – Harrison Waxley singled to left, 2 RBI; Brady Huffman scored; Logan Lobell scored – LCU 13, MACU 5

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian managed to generate an early run in the top of the first when Sammy Hallada was hit by a pitch and advanced a pair of bases off of two wild pitches before Frankie Giacalone notched his first MACU career RBI with a sac fly to center to make it a 1-0 game.
• Unfortunately, that was the last lead the Evangels would hold in the contest as MACU's pitching and defense struggled the rest of the way. Over the next two innings, Louisiana Christian scored eight unanswered runs off of three homers, a three-run shot from Braden Tull, a two-run blast from Chris Kelley, and a three-run dinger from Matthew Cody to give LCU an 8-1 advantage.
• While Jalen King's RBI single in the top of the third allowed the Evangels to get a run back, the Wildcats swung back with two more runs of their own over the next two innings on RBI base knocks from Brady Huffman and Caleb Brown to make it a 10-2 contest.
• The Evangels finally broke through with the bats in the top of the fifth when Conner Thompson drew a bases-load walk to get an RBI the easy way while Jesse Ortega tallied a pair of RBIs on a pinch-hit single to cut MACU's deficit in-half at 10-5.
• However, MACU was unable to gain any more ground on the Wildcats as LCU scored another run on Kelley's second homer of the contest before Harrison Waxley added a two-RBI single in the sixth to ultimately seal the 13-5 result.

GAME NOTES

• Louisiana Christian flipped the script offensively in the second game as the Wildcats scored their 13 runs on 14 hits while the Evangels tallied their five runs on seven hits and committed four errors.
• While it was a tough day in the office for the MACU pitching staff, the four errors proved to be very costly as only six of the 13 runs put up by the Wildcats ended up being earned runs.
• The only Evangel to finish with multiple RBIs in the contest came from the pinch-hit of Jesse Ortega as he finished with a pair.
• No one finished with multiple hits in the game while Nick Hill was the lone Evangel to score multiple runs after slashing 1-for-3 with a double and a pair of scores.
• In his first start of the season, Conner Thompson reached base in all three of his plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with a single and a pair of walks to go with an RBI.
• With the defeat, Louisiana Christian takes over the lead in the all-time series at 3-2.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will make the return trip to Louisiana next weekend as the Evangels will play three games at LSU Shreveport. MACU will open with a Friday contest against No. 4 Hope International (Calif.) before playing back-to-back against HIU and The Master's (Calif.) on Saturday, Jan. 31.