Kansas City, MO – On Tuesday, the No. 1 seed Mighty Oaks faced off against the Cardinals of Concordia University Ann Arbor in the NCCAA World Series. Despite collecting eleven hits, Oakland City fell short and saw their season end.
The Cardinals took an early 0-1 lead. Oakland City answered right away and tied the score in the top of the second inning.
Josh Russell led-off the inning with a double,
Fred Fernandez moved him to third with a productive groundout and
Hudson Allen singled to bring in Russell.
The Mighty Oaks offense stayed quiet until the top of the sixth. At this time, Oakland City was trailing 1-5. With one out,
Josh Russell once again started the offense, this time with a walk. After a single from
Fred Fernandez, there were runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly from
Hudson Allen made it a 2-5 ballgame. An inning later,
Kendric Sorgius deposited a ball over the right field wall for a 2-run homerun, bringing Oakland City closer. The score was now 4-5 after six and a half innings. Concordia Ann Arbor answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the ninth,
Kendric Sorgius hit a double, he was able to score the fifth Oaks run when pinch-hitter
Noah Boon singled up the middle. This was the last run that Oakland City scored. The final score in Kansas City was 5-6.
Gehrig Tenhumberg (L, 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO) was the starting pitcher for Oakland City, his relievers were
Owen Spears (2.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO) and
Luis Pezzotti (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO).
With this loss, the 2025 Mighty Oaks baseball season comes to an end. The overall record was 40-17 in a year where history was made. For the first time in program history, the Mighty Oaks baseball won the River States Conference regular season, tournament and with that made their first appearance in an NAIA Opening Round.
