Box Score McMinnville, Oregon - The fourth-ranked
Tiger baseball team was eliminated in a 4-1 defeat against
tournament host Linfield College in the McMinnville Regional on
Thursday.
Trinity finishes its season with a 33-10 record, and was
eliminated by the Wildcats for the second consecutive year.
Linfield, the top-ranked team in the nation and defending
NCAA Champion, improves to 35-7 overall.
Linfield opened the scoring with a three-run third inning to
take control of the game. Three consecutive walks loaded the
bases with one out in the inning, then after the Tigers recorded
the second out, the Wildcats delivered a two-run single. The
hit came after a dropped foul ball by Trinity's defense that would
have ended the inning. Linfield then collected another
run-scoring single to make it 3-0 before the inning was over.
Trinity finally got on the board in the seventh, as Connor Moore
executed a safety squeeze with runners on the corners and just one
out.
Julian Cronk and Christian Muscarello delivered the only hits of
the game for the Tigers, though the team also drew five total
walks. Jeremy Wolf drew a pair of walks and scored Trinity's
only run. Cronk was 1-2 with a walk, while Muscarello
finished the game 1-4 at the plate.
After Trinity's lone run, Linfield pushed the lead back to three
with a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh.
Mike Walker (4-3) was charged with the loss for the Tigers,
allowing three runs on 2.2 innings. Matthew Tindall and Kyle
Bogese finished off the game, giving up a run on five hits, and
striking out four batters.
Trinity reached the regional tournament after winning its eighth
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship under the
direction of Head Coach Tim Scannell, who has now finished off his
16th season at the helm of the program. The Tigers have
competed in the NCAA Playoffs for five consecutive seasons.