OKLAHOMA CITY – After guiding the No. 8 MACU Baseball team to its first ever NAIA World Series and NAIA Opening Round Championship, Evangels Head Coach Brett Stanton has been selected as one of the 10 recipients of the ABCA/ATEC NAIA Regional Coach of the Year. The honor is presented by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) in conjunction with ATEC Sports.

In his sixth year as the team's skipper, Stanton guided the Evangels to their most successful season in program history, wrapping up the 2026 campaign with a 43-15 overall record while finishing second in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 20-7 league mark, making it the third-straight year MACU tallied 20 wins in conference play.

The Evangels went on to win their second SAC Tournament in the last three years, toppling top-seeded No. 15 Texas Wesleyan twice by scores of 16-6 and 22-4 in the league title games at Joe Becker Ballpark in Joplin, Mo. on May 3.

Garnering the second-seed in the Shreveport bracket in the NAIA Opening Round, making its second consecutive trip to LSUS in the NAIA Tournament, the Evangels won three-straight in their return to Louisiana. It opened the tourney by capturing a 3-2 win over a Loyola (La.) team that made it to the NAIA World Series in 2025 before toppling last year's undefeated NAIA National Champion No. 12 LSU Shreveport twice by scores of 8-2 and 7-4.

Making its first trip to the NAIA World Series, it didn't take long for the Evangels to get their first win at Nationals, defeating No. 10 Doane 7-3.

Over the course of his MACU tenure, Stanton has continuously raised the bar of the Evangels baseball program as the team has advanced further in postseason play in every season he has been at the helm. In his second year during the 2022 campaign, MACU made its first NAIA World Series appearance since moving up to the Division I level in 2008 before winning the NCCAA World Series a year later in 2023.

In 2024, MACU captured its first SAC Championships during both the regular season and postseason tournament, allowing the Evangels to receive their first ever bid to the NAIA Opening Round. In 2025, the Evangels went even further in the Opening Round, surviving three-straight elimination games to advance to the title tilt before falling to No. 1 LSU Shreveport.

Along with Associate Head Coach Kyle Barrett and an experienced staff, the Evangels were one of the best teams in the NAIA with its arms, bats, and defense. MACU wrapped up the season with the nation's seventh-lowest team ERA (4.06) while ranking 13^th in strikeouts (464) and 16^th in WHIP (1.42).

When it came to hitting, the Evangels amassed the 17^th-highest batting average (.327) and 18^th-highest slugging percentage (.526) while also ranking 20^th in stolen bases (145). Defensively, MACU posted the 19^th-best fielding percentage (.968) to along with the 19^th-most runners caught stealing (25) on the second-best runners caught stealing percentage (.385) in the NAIA.