McPherson, Kan. – The Tiger baseball team returned to home action this past weekend against the MACU Evangels looking to keep their momentum going and remain in a top 4 position in the standings.
The two teams traded a pair of runs early in the first game and then the Tigers thrived off a 3 run 3rd inning courtesy of a Nico Lopez RBI single and a Noel Aquino 2 RBI double to take a 4-1 lead. This score would hold for the remainder of the game as Justin Evasovic pitched brilliantly for the Tigers, throwing a complete game allowing jus the 1 early run while striking out seven to propel the Tigers to a series opening win.
Nick Julian toed the in game 2 as the Tigers looked to win the series, the Evangels tagged him for 3 runs in the first 3 innings but Julian would settle in and complete 5 strong innings. The Tigers trailed 3-0 in the 5th and got on the board due to a crucial MACU error, and in the 6th the Tigers put a ton of pressure on the Evangels and scored 3 runs on an RBI walk from Mason Bowden, and a fielders choice that resulted in a bad throw to first base on a double play attempt, bringing 2 runs across to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead. Nico Lopez closed the game out for the Tigers in the 7th as they clinched another impressive series win.
The series finale featured much more scoring as the Tigers looked to complete a sweep, the Evangels scored a run in the 2nd as the Tigers scored 2 in the 3rd, MACU responded with 2 of their own in the 4th and another in the 5th to lead 4-2. This is when the the flurry of offense began as the Tigers had a big 5 run 5th inning on RBIs from Braden Young, Kurt Ippolito, Braedon Ulrich, and Nico Lopez and the 5th run courtesy of a wild pitch. The Tigers now led 7-4 and neither team scored in the 6th, but unfortunately for the Tigers the Evangels would score 6 total runs in the 7th and 8th inning to regain the momentum and control of the game. The Tigers were unable to respond this time as they dropped the series finale by a score of 10-7. Still a huge series win despite the conclusion as the team remains in 4th place in the standings and is a game back from 3rd.
The Tigers now sit at 16-16 (11-7) on the season and will battle nationally ranked Ottawa University at home tomorrow afternoon. The game will start at 1:00 and be streamed on the SAC Sports Network and Urban Edge Network.
