Box Score Millington, Tennessee - The Tiger baseball team
rallied for a 10-9 extra-inning victory over the University of
Dallas, at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament
on Friday evening.
Trinity improves to 34-8 with the victory, which was the team's
third extra-inning win of the season.
After Dallas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Tigers
came back with two runs in the fifth to pull ahead briefly.
Dallas quickly answered with an emphatic six-run fifth inning to go
up by five runs over the West Division's top seed.
Trinity was able to get four of the runs back in the top of the
sixth, but then Dallas made it 8-6 with an insurance run in the
bottom of the inning.
In the ninth, Trinity's first two batters reached on base hits,
then Kelly Woodruff recorded his 13th sacrifice bunt of the season
to drive in a run to make it 8-7. After an intentional walk
to Christian Muscarello, Nick Pappas crushed the first pitch to the
gap in right-center field for a two-run double that put the Tigers
ahead 9-8.
With its tournament life on the line, Dallas rallied for a run
in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of a two-base error
that followed a leadoff walk - scoring on a sacrifice fly to tie
the game at 9-9.
Neither team scored again until the 11th, when Woodruff led off
the inning with a double to right field. After Muscarello's
sacrifice to move Woodruff to third, Pappas picked up the
game-winning RBI on a sacrifice fly to right field. Dallas
put the tying run on in the 11th, but Trinity held on for the
win.
Pappas led Trinity with three RBI, while Kevin Francke had two
hits and two RBI for the Tigers. Kevin Clements also had two
hits, scoring two runs. Muscarello scored two runs, while
Dominick Robusto and Ryan Schweers both picked up a pair of
hits.
Woodruff was 2-3 with two runs and one RBI, drawing two walks to
reach base four times. Both of his hits were for extra bases,
hitting a double and a triple in the game.
Franklin Bay started the game for Trinity, going 4.1 innings,
and allowing two runs on three hits. Later in the fifth,
senior Weston Haaf came on in relief. Haaf threw 3.1 innings,
giving up just two runs - one earned - on four hits, and striking
out a pair of batters.
Michael Bentz (5-1) got the win for the Tigers, allowing no runs
on just one hit over the final three innings.
Trinity advances to tomorrow's action at the SCAC Baseball
Championships, against either Birmingham-Southern or Rhodes.
Dallas is eliminated from the tournament.