FORT WORTH, Texas – No. 19 MACU Baseball put up runs early and held on to complete the sweep over Texas Wesleyan with a 5-2 win on Saturday afternoon in the Evangels first road trip of Sooner Athletic Conference play.  
 
GAME ONE

SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 5, Texas Wesleyan 2
  • No. 19 Mid-America Christian (14-5, 5-1 SAC)
  • Texas Wesleyan (16-4, 3-3 SAC)

PITCHING DECISION

• Win: Ibrahim Gonzalez (4-0)
• Loss: N. Huerta (1-1)
• Save: Liam Taft (9)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Ibrahim Gonzalez: W, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
• Jalen King: 3-5, 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB
• Tuane Cope: 1-2, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 BB

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – MACU – Frankie Giacalone singled to left field, RBI; Nick Hill scored – MACU 1, TWU 0
• TOP 1^st – MACU – Tuane Cope tripled to right center, 2 RBI; Adam Hanan and Frankie Giacalone scored – MACU 3, TWU 0
• BTM 4^th – TWU – J. Erickson homered to right field, RBI – MACU 3, TWU 1
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Adam Hanan sacrifice fly, RBI; Jalen King scored – MACU 4, TWU 1
• BTM 5^th – TWU – E. Jacquez doubled down left field line, RBI; D. Hernandez scored – MACU 4, TWU 2
• TOP 6^th – MACU – Jalen King singled to right field, RBI; Sammy Hallada scored – MACU 5, TWU 2

GAME SUMMARY

• MACU punched first in the opening inning as Nick Hill advanced to second from an early error. Frankie Giacalone batted in hill with an RBI single to left field for the first run. Adam Hanan walked, followed by Tuane Cope's triple to right center field to score both Giacalone and Hanan to lead 3-0.
• The Evangels looked to build on their lead in the third. However, MACU left two runners stranded including Giacalone on third base.
• Texas Wesleyan got a run back with a solo shot from Erickson in the bottom of the fourth.
• MACU restored its three-run lead in the next inning with a lead off single from Jalen King. Hill walked, and both stole the next base to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Hanan's sacrifice fly to center field scored King, but the Evangels could only score one run and left Hill on base.
• The Rams responded in the bottom of the fifth, after a lead off walk and a stolen base got the runner to second. Jaquez doubled to left field to score the run from second and cut the lead to 4-2.
• The Evangels had the answer again in the sixth inning with two outs, Sammy Hallada tripled to center field. King's RBI single to right field extended the MACU lead back to three at 5-2.
• Texas Wesleyan looked for a late rally in its last chance in the bottom of the ninth. On the mound for MACU was Liam Taft. Taft conceded a single and a walk to put two runners on. However, Liam got out of the jam with consecutive fly outs for his NAIA leading ninth save of the season.

 
GAME NOTES

• MACU held a narrow hit advantage over TWU at a 7-6 margin. However, the Rams committed four errors to the Evangels' one.
• Ibrahim Gonzalez pitched six full innings conceding two earned runs on five hits, while striking out five batters and tallying the win to remain perfect for the season at 4-0. Andrws Acosta came in for relief and pitched a shutout two innings. Then the nation's leading saver came in to close out the ninth. Liam Taft faced adversity with two base runners but got out of the inning for his ninth save of the season. Taft moves just one save away from tying the MACU Baseball Program record for most saves in a season set by Kelton Lachelt in the 2023 season.
• The Evangels hit two triples for the first time this season. Triples came from Sammy Hallada and a 2-RBI triple from Tuane Cope in the opening inning. Jalen King led the way batting 3-5 with one run and an RBI. King also swiped a team-high two bags. Cope finished 1-2, with two RBIs and two walks.
• Mid-America Christian extended its winning streak over Texas Wesleyan to six with back-to-back sweeps over the Rams. However, the Evangels still trail 13-31 all-time.

 
UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian returns home for a four-game stand starting first with a non-conference midweek game against Hastings on Wednesday afternoon, first pitch at 1 p.m. at the MACU Baseball Field. The Evangels will return to SAC play by hosting Nelson on the weekend.