San Antonio - The sixth-ranked Tiger baseball team opened a three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series with a 4-0 shutout victory over Texas Lutheran University on Friday night.

Trinity maintained first place in the conference standings by virtue of the win, which was highlighted by a standout performance by reliever Trent Rape.  Rape allowed two runs over seven innings in relief, striking out five batters to earn his first win of the season.

The Tigers improved to 26-6 with the win and 12-1 in SCAC play.  Texas Lutheran falls to 22-12 (9-4 SCAC) with the loss.  Trinity opened the game with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the first inning, then added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth to cap the offensive night.

Pat Hirschberg hit his seventh home run of the season in the eighth, going 2-4 with two runs and two RBI.  Drew Butler drove in the first runs of the game with his two-run double in the first. 

Christian Muscarello led the way with three hits in the game for Trinity, scoring a pair of runs as well.  Jeremy Wolf went 2-4 with two doubles.  

Trinity and Texas Lutheran finish off the series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon, beginning at 1:00 p.m.  The games will mark the final regular season home games for the Tigers, who will travel to Centenary for a three-game SCAC series next weekend.