Chickasha, Okla. – Mid-America Christian scattered 15 hits with three of those going for extra bases as the Evangels claimed their first Sooner Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament Championship with a 12-6 victory over No. 2 seed Oklahoma City Monday afternoon at Bill Smith Ballpark in Chickasha, Okla.
Both teams entered the championship game ranked in the final NAIA National Coaches Poll as the Evangels were in the No. 14 slot while the Stars were ranked No. 22.
The top-seeded Evangels cracked the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning as Noel McGarry-Doyle laced a triple to left field to score a pair of runs to give Mid-America Christian a 2-0 advantage. Jacob Police added a run in the bottom of the second as he drove in a run with a single to right field to push the lead to 3-0.
Mid-America Christian pushed across two more runs in the fourth and fifth frames as D’Andre Gaines hit an RBI single in the fourth while Guillermo Velasco drove in a run with a single to right field in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Stars got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh as Hunter Lanochan hit a sacrifice fly to center field to make the score 5-1, but the Evangels answered in the home half of the frame as Mid-America Christian scored a run after Police was hit by a pitch with bases loaded to put the score at 6-1 before Gaines hit a grand slam to extend the lead to 10-1.
Oklahoma City rallied in the top of the eighth as Aiden Van Rensum ripped a three-run blast over the center field wall to cut the Stars’ deficit to 10-4 and continued the comeback effort as Lenochan singled to center field to make the score 10-5. Noah Kang gave Oklahoma City their fifth run of the inning with an RBI single to left field as the Stars cut the Evangels lead to 10-6.
The Evangel added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as Marcus Burton lifted a two-run homer over the left field wall to give Mid-America Christian their first SAC Baseball Championship.
Van Rensum paced the Stars on offense with two hits and three runs batted in while scoring a pair of runs with Lenochan adding two hits and a pair of RBIs in the losing effort.
Gaines paced the Evangels’ attack with two hits and five runs batted in while Velasco chipped in two hits and two RBIs with two runs scored.
Cameron Brown threw seven innings with five strikeouts to earn his fourth victory of the season for Mid-America Christian.