San Antonio - The 11th-ranked Tiger baseball team earned a hard-fought 4-3 win over ninth-ranked Chapman University on Sunday afternoon, scoring the game-winning run with a single in the 10th inning.

Trinity improved to 14-2 with the victory, while Chapman fell to 6-7 on the season.  The Tigers won two of three games from the Panthers in the weekend series.  Chapman won the opener 17-4 on Friday night, then Trinity won 3-2 Saturday afternoon.

In the 10th, the first two Tiger batters were retired, but pinch-hitter Patrick Frasier laced a single to left field to start the rally.  Ryan Schweers came on as a pinch-runner, and then Nick Griffith hit a high pop fly to right-center field that looked to send the game into the 11th. 

Instead of ending the inning, the fly ball was lost in the sun by centerfielder Adam Velez, and the Tigers had runners on the corners.  Nick Pappas promptly drilled a single through the left side of the infield to plate Schweers with the winning run.

Most of the game was centered around a fierce pitcher's duel between Trinity's Ryan Lucero, and Chapman's Brian Rauh.  Both pitchers were saddle with no-decisions in the game, though both pitched well enough to deserve the win.

Lucero went 7.2 innings before giving way to reliver Michael Bentz.  Bentz came on with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the ninth yesterday, earning his third save of the season.  Today, Lucero allowed just three runs on six hits, striking out three batters.  Rauh struck out 10, and allowed three runs on four hits. 

Chapman struck first with a run in the first inning, but Lucero got out of the jam and left the bases loaded.  The Tigers scratched across a run in the third, but did so without getting a hit in the inning.  Rauh didn't allow a hit until the fifth against the Tigers.

In the fifth, Trinity took the lead when Rauh hit Kelly Woodruff with the bases loaded.  Will Donnan walked to open the inning, then Pat Hirschberg got the first Trinity hit of the game to put two runners on base.  After a bunt single by Kevin Clements, Woodruff drove in the go-ahead run.

Chapman wasted no time in answering that score, though, putting the first two batters on base with singles, then bunting them both into scoring position.  A sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single followed, and the Panthers led 3-2 in the sixth.

Hirschberg led off the bottom of the seventh with a double off the wall in left-center, then advanced on a sacrifice by Clements.  Woodruff took three straight balls to run the count to 3-0, then Trinity caught everyone off guard with a squeeze play, and the Tigers tied the game once again.

The Tigers had a runner on third in the bottom of the ninth, but could not end the game there.  Bentz (1-0) gave up just one hit in his 2.1 innings of work, striking out three batters to earn the win.  He retired the side in order in the final two innings, setting up the Pappas game-winner.

Hirschberg was 3-4 with a run scored in the game for the Tigers, while Woodruff led the team with a pair of RBI.  Kevin Francke also had one RBI for Trinity, while Donnan and Clements both scored runs.

Trinity will open up a four-game week of action with a Tuesday night matchup against Cardinal Stritch University, at 7:00 p.m.  The Tigers also face DeSales University on Thursday night, then continue conference play against Southwestern University on Saturday and Sunday.