MCPHERSON, Kan. – After dropping a pair of tough games to open the series, the No. 14 MACU Baseball team mustered a late rally of its own, scoring four runs in the top of the eighth to come away with the 10-7 victory at Central Christian on Saturday.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian, Central Christian 7
  • Mid-America Christian (25-9, 13-5 SAC)
  • Central Christian (16-16, 11-7 SAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Byron Madero (5-0)
• Loss: Andrew Huxman (0-3)
• Save: Liam Taft (11)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Sammy Hallada – 3-6, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Adam Hanan – 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB
• Nick Hill – 1-3, HR, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB
• Byron Madero – W, 3.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 SO
• Liam Taft – SV, 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 2^nd – MACU – Elijah Lee reached on a fielding error by 1b; Julio Felix scored – MACU 1, CCCK 0
• BTM 3^rd – CCCK – Braden Young doubled down rf line, RBI; Carson Lupton scored – MACU 1, CCCK 1
• BTM 3^rd – CCCK – Kurt Ippolito singled to right, RBI; Braden Young scored – CCCK 2, MACU 1
• TOP 4^th – MACU – Sammy Hallada homered to left, 2 RBI; Dyson Kinnaman scored – MACU 3, CCCK 2
• TOP 5^th – MACU – Nick Hill homered to left, RBI – MACU 4, CCCK 2
• BTM 5^th – CCCK – Braden Young doubled to center, RBI; Ian Szczuroski scored – MACU 4, CCCK 3
• BTM 5^th – CCCK – Kurt Ippolito hit a sac fly to rf, RBI; Derex Cancel scored – MACU 4, CCCK 4
• BTM 5^th – CCCK – Braedon Ulrich singled to short, RBI; Braden Young scored – CCCK 5, MACU 4
• BTM 5^th – CCCK – Nico Lopez walked, RBI; Braedon Ulrich scored – CCCK 6, MACU 4
• BTM 5^th – CCCK – Gary Ford scored on a wild pitch – CCCK 7, MACU 4
• TOP 7^th – MACU – Adam Hanan homered to left, 2 RBI; Nick Hill scored – CCCK 7, MACU 6
• TOP 8^th – MACU – Ned Ceklic homered to left, RBI – MACU 7, CCCK 7
• TOP 8^th – MACU – Frankie Giacalone walked, RBI; Sammy Hallada scored – MACU 8, CCCK 7
• TOP 8^th – MACU – Cole Krepcik doubled down rf line, 2 RBI; Tuane Cope scored; Jalen King scored – MACU 10, CCCK 7

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian threatened in the early going as Sammy Hallada ripped a leadoff double to left before getting moved down to third on Jalen King's deep flyout to center. Unfortunately, the Evangels were unable to push the go-ahead run across.
• However, the Evangels capitalized off a pair of Central Christian mistakes to take the lead in the top of the second as Julio Felix was hit by a pitch to start off the frame. After stealing second and moving down to third on the errant throw by the catcher, Elijah Lee's sharp grounder to the right side allowed him to score on the error by the first baseman, making it a 1-0 game.
• The Tigers mustered a two-out rally to take the lead in the bottom of the third. With a runner at second, Braden Young smashed an RBI double down the right field line before he came around to score on Kurt Ippolito's RBI single to right, giving CCCK the 2-1 advantage.
• MACU put together a two-out rally of its own to take the lead back in the top of the fourth, as Sammy Hallada cranked a 2-run big fly over the left field wall to set the score to 3-2.
• The Evangels added one more run to their lead in the top of the fifth when Nick Hill smashed a solo shot that sailed over the scoreboard in left to double-up the MACU edge at 4-2.
• The fifth inning turned into a disaster for the Evangels in the bottom of the fifth as the Tigers put together a massive five-run frame off of five hits and a pair of walks to seize a 7-4 advantage.
• The Evangels started working their way back in their half of the seventh. After Hill drew a walk to start off the inning, Adam Hanan hammered a two-run shot to left to close the deficit to 7-6.
• Heading into the top of the eighth, Mid-America Christian put together a massive inning of its own. Getting a pinch-hit appearance, Ned Ceklic powered the game-tying solo shot over the left field wall.
• It looked as though MACU might be held to just the lone run with runners at second and third with the second out coming on a strikeout of Hill, but Hanan and Frankie Giacalone came up huge by drawing back-to-back walks to give MACU the lead before Cole Krepcik smashed a two-RBI double down the right field line to cap the scoring at 10-7.
• After blowing his first save of the season on Friday, Liam Taft bounced back in a big way in the ninth, shutting down the Tigers in-order for his 11^th save to seal the victory for the Evangels.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its 10 runs on nine hits while the Tigers pushed across seven runs on 10 hits and committed four errors.
• Sammy Hallada put together a huge game for the Evangels by notching a third of their hits batting out of the leadoff spot, slashing 3-for-6 with a double, two RBIs, and a pair of runs.
• The solo homer for Nick Hill continued to send the junior slugger up the single season record book as his 14^th of the year drew him even with Adrian Bravo-Carmona (2010), Yan Ely Adames (2013), and Noel McGarry-Doyle (2015) for the third-most hit in a season. Hill was also the only other Evangel to score two runs in the contest.
• Adam Hanan reached base three times after going 1-for-3 with a homer, two RBIs, a run, and a pair of walks while Cole Krepcik also tallied a pair of RBIs after going 1-for-5 with a double.
• While it was a tough outing for starter Carlos Uribe and reliever Andrws Acosta, MACU reliever Byron Madero entered into the fifth inning and tossed 3.1 innings of outstanding relief, allowing no runs on two hits with a walk and four strikeouts to improve to 5-0 on the mound this season.
• After tying the program record back on Mar. 14, Liam Taft moved alone at the top of MACU's single save record book with his 11^th on the year, moving him back into the NAIA lead.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up its five-game road stand on Tuesday as it will head across town to take on Randall in a noon doubleheader.