San Antonio -- The Trinity Tigers swept a three-game home Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series with the Hendrix Warriors by a tight 8-7 victory Sunday afternoon.

 

Senior outfielder Kevin Jackson (Bellevue, Wash./O'Dea) broke the 7-7 deadlock by a bases-loaded SAC fly to right field with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Harrison Graham (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic), a first-year pinch runner, scored the winning run after subbing for senior outfielder Kevin Calbick (Burnaby, British Columbia/Burnaby South), who drew a leadoff walk, his third base-on-balls of the game.

 

There were two outs and two runners left on base when the game ended.

 

 The defending conference champion Tigers (ranked 20th by d3baseball.com), who extended their winning streak to 10 games, improved to 11-1 and 5-0 SCAC. Hendrix dropped to 3-7 and 3-5. The two teams will meet again March 26-27 at Conway, Ark.

 

 Hendrix opened the game with two runs in the top of the first inning. Trinity inched closer with a run in the bottom half of the inning, on a SAC fly to center field by first-year shortstop Christian Muscarello (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills).

 

The Tigers took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the third inning, keyed by an RBI double hit by senior catcher Kyle Felix (Woodside, Calif./Bellarmine College Prep). Trinity widened the lead in the fifth as sophomore first baseman Jonathan Hall (Kenilworth, Ill./New Trier) scored on a Hendrix throwing error, for his second run of the game.

 

But the Warriors led 7-4 after scoring three runs in the sixth inning and two in the seventh.

 

Trinity responded with three runs in the bottom of seventh, as the score was tied at 7-7. The tying run came from first-year second baseman Nicholas Iacovella (Tampa, Fla./Jesuit) who hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Muscarello.

 

Felix batted 2-3 with an RBI, a double, two walks, and scored two runs. In Saturday's 10-2 win over Hendrix, Felix became just the seventh Trinity player to reach 200 career hits. Ranked No. 2 in Tiger career doubles, Felix needs five more to break the record set by Kenneth Sharp (2000-2003).

 

Muscarello batted 1-3 with two RBI, one walk, and scored one run.

 

Senior right-hander Michael Panozzo (Houston/Clear Lake) was the starting pitcher and hurled for 5 1/3 innings. He allowed three earned runs, nine hits, no walks, and fanned three batters.

 

First-year right-hander Matthew Tindall (Houston/Lamar) relieved Panozzo in the sixth, and pitched for an inning. Clayton Freimuth (Dallas/Jesuit), a sophomore right-hander, faced nine batters over 2 1/3 innings, and gave up only two hits. Michael Bentz (Houston/Memoria), a sophomore right-hander, closed out the game and took his first win of the season (1-0 record).

 

Trinity scored five earned runs off five Hendrix pitchers, made five hits, and committed one error. The Warriors scored six earned runs, swatted 14 hits, and made four errors.

The Tigers will host Mary Hardin-Baylor at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a non-conference game at the Trinity Baseball Field. Trinity beat Mary Hardin-Baylor 16-5 on Feb. 15 at Belton, Texas.