Box Score Millington, Tennessee - The Tiger baseball team
moved on to the title game at the 2011 Southern Collegiate Athletic
Conference Championships Tournament, defeating Rhodes 4-2 at USA
Baseball Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Trinity improved to 32-11 with the win, and will play in the
championship game for the fourth consecutive year. The Tigers
won the conference crown in 2008, as well as last year at USA
Stadium.
The Tigers jumped ahead with three runs in the second inning,
but managed just one run the rest of the way. That final run
came in the fourth, and put Trinity ahead 4-0 at the
time.
Despite lacing seven hits in the first five innings, Rhodes was
held scoreless until the sixth inning by Tiger starter Michael
Bentz. In the sixth, Rhodes cut Trinity's lead in half with
two runs, climbing back into contention.
Ryan Lucero came on in the sixth, finishing off the game with
3.2 innings of work, giving up just one hit, and striking out four
batters to earn his first save of the year. Bentz was
credited with the win, improving to 4-2 on the year.
Trinity's offense was held to just three hits in the game by
Rhodes starter Jackson Baker, who allowed four earned runs, and
struck out nine in the loss.
Kevin Clements was 1-3 with two RBI, while Kevin Calbick was 1-2
with a run scored. Nick Pappas got Trinity's third hit, and
also scored a run. Dylan Early also earned an RBI for the
Tigers.
Later today in the tournament, Hendrix and DePauw will play an
elimination game, and the winner goes on to face Rhodes
tonight. The winner of that final game will go on to face the
Trinity Tigers in the championship on Sunday.