Salina, Kan – In their KCAC Tournament debut, the Bulldogs faced the Friends University Falcons in the opening round of the bracket. Friends came into the tournament as the No. 4 seed just ahead of the Bulldogs who checked in as the No. 5 seed. In their previous meeting, the Falcons edged the Bulldogs in a tight weekend series back on the weekend of March 6^th, where the Falcons won the series by a combined score of 8-16 through three games.
 
The Basics
Location: Dean Evans Stadium
Records: MC 26-22 (22-14 KCAC), FU 29-22 (23-13 KCAC)
Score: MC 7, FU 3
 
How it Happened
The Falcons were dominant on the diamond through the first two innings of this ballgame as the Bulldogs would go hitless for two innings, striking out four times and not recording a hit. The Falcons scored the opening run of the game in the bottom of the second after Drew Lykes scored on a passed ball following his double to left field an at-bat prior.
 
Enter inning three.
 
After a sluggish start, things finally came together on offense as the Bulldogs put together a three-run inning off of two hits. McPherson got runners on the diamond following Isaiah Berard's walk, Jared Kramp getting hit by a pitch, and Jaylon Woodley's four-pitch walk. With bases loaded, Myles Vazquez lifted one deep into center field, allowing Kramp and Isaiah Berard to gallop home to take the 2-1 lead over the Falcons. In the next at bat, Marcus Patton doubled off the right center field fence to drive in Vazquez and Woodley to extend their lead to 4-1.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, McPherson played complementary baseball. They would allow just one hit from the Falcons and hold them to zero runs, playing effectively to maintain their lead heading into the top of the fourth inning.
 
In the fourth, Will Sevier would extend the lead by one run with a leadoff solo homerun to left field that left the yard by a good amount of distance. The Falcons were hitless for the fourth and fifth innings as Jameson Caro had found his rhythm on the mound in his fourth start of the 2026 season.
 
Ky'rell Taylor managed to find a sacrifice fly in his Senior debut in the KCAC Tournament, driving in Will Sevier from third base on a deep fly out to center field.
 
The Falcons found two hits in the bottom of the sixth inning but would strand both runners on the bags. The bottom of the seventh is where Friends brought themselves back into the game with two runs off of one hit, stranding a runner to get to within three runs.
 
In the top of the ninth inning, Vazquez brought the thunder with a homer to right center to get the Bulldogs back to a four-run lead heading into the bottom half of the inning. Chris Jackson took his spot on the mound to close things out for the Bulldogs. He would the door with a strikeout to end it, giving McPherson the 7-3 victory. They'll await the winner of the Kansas Wesleyan and York matchup following their ballgame.