Appleton, Wisconsin - Trinity's baseball team jumped out quickly on its way to a 16-6 win over the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships on Monday night, forcing a winner-take-all rematch Tuesday.

The Tigers used a two-out rally in the top of the first to start a scoring spurt that featured 11 runs over the first three innings.  Trinity never looked back after the 11-2 lead, and La Crosse got no closer than than eight runs (12-4) after five innings.  The offense hammered out 19 total hits in the game, and the Tigers have now scored 42 runs in four games at the tournament. 

Connor Moore and Drew Butler paced Trinity with six hits, six runs, and nine RBI in the game.  Moore was 4-6 with four runs and five RBI, finishing just a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.  Butler hit a two-out home run in the first that put the Tigers in the lead for good, and also hit a double to come within a triple of the cycle.  

Jeremy Wolf was 4-5 with two runs scored, as well as cracking his team-leading 17th double of the season.  Jose Santos was 2-4 with two runs scored, while Austin Singer also nabbed a pair of hits.  Nick Jewett and Brody Fehmel added two runs each in the win.

Trent Rape scattered over 6.2 innings, allowing four runs, and striking out five batters.  Only one of the runs he allowed was earned, and he improved to 7-2 on the season with the victory.  Michael Maul and Troy Nelson finished off the final 2.1 innings, allowing just two hits and a pair of unearned runs.  

Trinity (40-13) and La Crosse (35-14) will face off again on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m.  The winner advances to the NCAA Division III Championship series against SUNY-Cortland.  The final series will be a best-of-three format with the winner being crowned national champion.  The losing team will be eliminated, finishing third nationally.

Tonight's victory ties the school record for wins, marking the second year in a row that the Tigers have reached 40 wins in a season.