Lakewood, Colo. -- The Mid-America Christian Evangels lived to fight another day with a 9-5 victory over the Central Baptist College Mustangs in an elimination game Thursday afternoon (May 10) at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Central Regional Tournament at Coca-Cola All-Star Park in Lakewood, Colo.  The Evangels will now play tournament host Colorado Christian later today, who fell to top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan 5-4 on a walk off double earlier in the day. 

MACU took a commanding 9-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh as Rathbun had blanked the Mustangs through the first six frames. But CBC made things interesting by scoring five times, beginning with a solo homer by Tim Watson. 

After a two-run double by AJ Allen brought the Mustangs to within four runs and a single by Blake Dixon brought the tying run to the on-deck circle, Ryan Rathbun finished off the complete game win by inducing a fielder's choice groundout to end the game.  

The Evangels got on the board early and took charge by scoring in five straight innings. The barrage started on a sacrifice fly by Trent Daniels in the second and MACU added two more in the third on a two-run single by Kory Palmer. 

An RBI triple by Shane Brinker made it 4-0 in the fourth and three more tallies in the fifth made it a seven-run bulge.  A solo homer by Martinez started the scoring and an RBI single by Daniels scored Palmer to make it a six-run game.  Dustin Carlsward then came in to pinch run for Daniels, stole second and scored off an error to make it 7-0. 

An RBI single by Joe Moore and a sacrifice fly by Palmer extended the lead to nine runs in the sixth.