On April 22 and 23, Baker baseball faced off against Evangel for an in-conference series. Baker came into the series with a 23-20 overall and a 14-10 record in conference play, while the Evangel Valor came into the series at 19-25 overall, and 10-18 in conference. Baker has been on a hot streak as of late going 8-2 in their last ten games.

In-game one of the series, Baker’s offense started strong in the first inning with 6 runs and didn’t look back after that. Freshman Caden Pogue got the start and went four innings then the bullpen took over after that. Junior Jared Parenti, Sophmore Tucker Flory, and Freshman Peyton Lewis all had multi-hit games to drive the offense to a 12-2 win. Senior Joey McDonald got the save as he pitched three innings to close the game.

Game two was similar to game one as Baker’s offense started in the first inning with four runs scored. Seniors Jackson Rehkow, Ryan Wetzel, and Blaine Ray as well as Peyton Lewis had multi-hit games with Wetzel driving in three and scoring two runs himself. Junior Jaxon Kutch got the start going five strong innings to secure a Baker win of 15-6.

Games three and four were Baker’s Senior Day as they honored the five seniors on the team, Blaine Ray, Jackson Rehkow, Austin Hurd, Joey McDonald, and Brian Hawkings. Game three saw Junior Hunter Gudde have a spectacular outing going seven innings while striking out twelve batters. The issue was Baker’s offense was very quiet as they could not score a run and only had six hits, most coming from NAIA player of the week Junior John Raybourn and Blaine Ray both with two. The final score was 4-0 in eight innings with Evangel winning.

Game four also saw Baker get a great start from Sophmore Christian Spitz as he went eight innings, striking out seven and giving up two runs. Baker’s offense was again cold in this game as they again only had six hits, with Senior Brian Hawkins and Hunter Gudde both having two hits each. This game ended in an Evangel win with a 3-0 final score.

Baker’s final home series was split and they leave the series with a 25-22 record overall and a 16-10 record in-conference. Their next and final series of the season sees Baker travel to Marshall, Missouri to take on Missouri Valley on April 29. After that series, the Heart Conference Tournament starts on May 5 and goes through the 10.