San Antonio - Trinity's baseball team jumped out early, but had to rally to earn an 8-6 victory over Texas Lutheran University on Tuesday night.

The Tigers improved their record to 16-4 on the season, snapping a two-game losing streak.  Trinity finished with 14 hits in the game, allowing just five to the visitors.  The Tigers did commit three costly errors, though, and also allowed three walks and hit two batters.

Zack Speer pitched an outstanding game, striking out 11 batters in 6.2 innings of work, but wound up saddled with a no-decision.  He allowed three runs on three hits, but just one of the runs was earned.  Speer gave up a first-inning single, then didn't allow another hit until the seventh inning.  

Trinity staked Speer to a 4-0 lead after the first inning, putting together four runs on three hits with two outs in the inning.  The inning was sparked by an RBI triple by Pat Hirschberg.  The triple ties him for the single season record with six triples this season.

Hirschberg was 4-4 with two runs and two RBI in the game, and was a home run short of hitting for the cycle.  It marks the third time in the last six games that he was one hit shy of hitting for the cycle.  

In the seventh, Texas Lutheran was able to put together six runs on four hits to take the lead, though five of the runs were unearned after a two-out error extended the inning.  The Tigers used four pitchers in the inning, but it was Michael Bentz who finally ended the seventh.

In the bottom of the inning, the Tigers rallied quickly to tie the game 6-6.  Christian Muscarello reached on an error, and Hirschberg promptly doubled him home to make it 6-5, then Jonathan Hall had an RBI single two batters later to tie the game.  

Texas Lutheran got out of the inning with the game tied, but in the eighth, a one-out walk put the go-ahead run aboard.  Kevin Francke then delivered the game-winning triple down the right field line, followed by an RBI single from Muscarello to make it 8-6 Trinity.

Bentz shut the door in the ninth to push his record to 3-0 on the season, giving up no runs on just one hit over the final 2.1 innings, and striking out three batters.

Muscarello had a pair of hits and scored two runs, while Kevin Clements was 2-4 with two RBI as well.  Hall went 2-3 with a run and an RBI.

Trinity will resume Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action this weekend, travelling to the University of Dallas for a three-game series that begins on Saturday.  The Tigers won all five regular season meetings from the Crusaders in 2012, as well as winning an extra-inning game in the SCAC Tournament over Dallas.