KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After leading the Mid-America Christian baseball team last week to its first series victory over No. 2 Science & Arts since 2010, junior pitcher Jaily Paredes became the first Evangels player to become the NAIA Pitcher of the Week since the program joined the league in 2008.
In MACU's 2-0 victory over Science & Arts on Saturday, the 6-5 hurler from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic picked up the win after tossing six scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and walked five while striking out six.
Paredes was able to navigate out of some big jams during the contest. After allowing the first two batters to reach via walks in the second inning, Paredes was able to induce a 6-4-3 double play as well as a lineout to get out of trouble.
The biggest threat from the Drovers came in the fifth inning when they managed to load the bases with only one out. On the ensuing at-bat, Paredes was able to get Colton Bensch to ground to Isaiah Haddad at second, who stepped on the bag and relayed to first in-time to get the inning-ending double play.
The Evangels bounced back from a 5-1 loss in the first game of the doubleheader against USAO on Mar. 11 with a 6-4 victory in the second game before taking the series on Saturday. The last time MACU took two from the Drovers came in a 4-2, 9-8 doubleheader sweep at the MACU Baseball Field on Mar. 27, 2010.
The last win to come in Chickasha, Okla. for the MACU baseball program goes back even before the Evangels were part of the Sooner Athletic Conference. On Apr. 7, 2005, the Evangels picked up a sweep in a doubleheader by scores of 7-3 and 9-2.
Paredes is just the second Mid-America Christian baseball player to receive a weekly honor from the NAIA with the last being Adrian Bravo-Carmona, who was named the NAIA Player of the Week on Apr. 26, 2011.
Mid-America Christian will return to action on Wednesday as the Evangels will host Dallas Christian for a non-conference doubleheader. The first game is currently slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch at the MACU Baseball Field.