Kansas City, MO – The 2025 NCCAA Baseball World Series kicked off on Saturday. The No. 1 seed Mighty Oaks faced off against the No. 9 seed Kansas Christian College at 6:00 PM at the Kansas City Urban Youth Complex. In a close ballgame, the Oaks came out on top winning their 40th game of the year.
The Falcons of Kansas Christian College, who are hosting this tournament, took an early 0-1 lead in the second inning. A single from
Keifer Wilson and a triple from
Kendric Sorgius resulted in a 1-1 after three innings. Kansas Christian answered right away with a 2-run homerun to right field, giving them a 1-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Mighty Oaks offense got going a little bit.
Xander Willis started the game with a single through the left side. He reached second on a wild pitch before
Josh Russell drew a walk.
Fred Fernandez reached base on an error to lead the bases. An RBI fielder's choice from
Hudson Allen allowed Willis to score the second Oakland City run.
Keifer Wilson followed with a 2-RBI double to left field, allowing Allen and Fernandez to score and give the Mighty Oaks a 4-3 lead.
The Falcons tied the game back up in the top of the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Oakland City retook the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Marcos Arocho drew a walk,
Xander Willis singled and
Moises Rosario reached on a fielder's choice, putting runners on the corners.
Josh Russell drew a walk to load up the bases before
Fred Fernandez singled to left field, allowing Gibbs – who ran for Arocho – to score the fifth Mighty Oaks run. Three more runs were added to the lead in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded after three walks,
Marcos Arocho hit a sacrifice fly to score
JT Smallwood.
Xander Willis followed with a single to left field which scored two more runs.
The final score was 8-4. Three pitchers toed the rubber for Oakland City.
Benjamen Simmons (3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) started the game,
Dicky Gonzalez (2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO) was the first pitcher to come in out of the bullpen and closer
Chase Rubenacker earned the win. He pitched 3.1 innings, allowing 2 hits and no runs, he walked none and struck out zero as well.
On Monday the tournament continues. Oakland City will play at 2:30 PM versus the No. 4 seed Jessup University.
