San Antonio - The seventh-ranked Trinity baseball team opened its home campaign with a 7-4 victory over the University of Texas-Dallas on Friday night.

The Tigers improved to 3-2, while the Comets were handed their first loss of the season, dropping to 3-1. Trinity and UT-Dallas wind up their weekend series with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.

Following four hitless innings, the Tiger bats came to life in the three-run fifth stanza, highlighted by Austin Singer's two-run double, and Connor Moore's RBI triple. Drew Butler belted a two-run homer to spark the team to a three-run sixth. UT-Dallas rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh, but Singer widened the Trinity lead with another RBI in the bottom of the eighth.

"I think their pitcher did a good job," admitted Head Coach Tim Scannell. "He pitched the ball to the outside corner of the plate. Their defense made some really good plays. We found a few hits, and Butler banged that two-run homer. I think that was a big moment in the game. Chris Tate is the difference-maker again. He came into the UT-Tyler game and took it home, and he came into this game and took it home."

Singer batted 2-4 with three RBI on the night, and Carter McEachern scored three runs in the victory. Nick Jewett hit 2-3 and scored a run as well.  

Ryan Gray (1-2) was the winning pitcher. Gray held mound duty for the first six innings, and allowed three earned runs, five hits, six walks, and fanned six Comets players in the process. Chris Tate pitched the final three innings to earn his first save of the year.  He allowed just two hits without yielding a run, and struck out five players.