Seguin, Texas - The third-ranked Tiger baseball team rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat Centenary College 9-8 in the opening of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday night.

In a back-and-forth showdown that featured five lead changes, second-seeded Trinity (33-7) pulled ahead for good with two runs in the bottom of the seventh against third seed Centenary. A leadoff double in the seventh was followed by three straight walks that saw Trinity tie the game 8-8. Connor Moore then hit a sacrifice fly to break the tie with the eventual game-winning RBI.  

The Tigers opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning, but the Gents answered with five runs in the third and fourth innings to build a 5-1 advantage. Trinity scratched across a run in the bottom of the fourth, then blew up with a five-run sixth to regain the lead. Andrew Waters had the big hit in the inning, stroking a two-run triple to right-center. All of the runs were unearned, as a two-out error scored two runs, and kept the inning alive for Waters.

Trailing 7-5 in the next half-inning, Centenary answered immediately with a leadoff home run, followed by a bunt single, and a two-run homer that put the Gents back in front 8-7. That set the stage for the seventh-inning rally for the Tigers.

Tiger reliever Kevin Flores entered the game after Trinity took the lead, and he proceeded to shut the door on any possible rally by Centenary. Flores struck out the side in both the eighth and ninth innings to earn the save, and finish off the victory.

"It was a good 'W,'" said Head Coach Tim Scannell. "We fought through it. The first part of the game we were flat, and in my opinion, scared, and back on our heels. I felt like the offense was really determined, though, and we had some tough-minded at-bats. Once we were able to take the lead, Kevin Flores was just lights-out. That's the type of pitching performance you need in playoff baseball. Andrew Waters essentially came up with the only real hit of the game, when he cleared the bases with that triple. That's playoff baseball. You have to come up with timely hits. We didn't have many tonight, but we won the game."

Offensively, Waters batted 2-4 with a game-best four RBI. Moore hit 3-4 with one RBI, and also stole his 30th base of the season. Nick Jewett and Carter McEachern each accounted for two of the Tiger runs.

Teddy Turner was the starting pitcher, but was relieved after one facing one batter in the fourth. Chris Tate (3-0) pitched for four innings to pick up the win, striking out five batters before yielding to Flores for the final two frames.

Trinity will face top seed (and tournament host) Texas Lutheran in the winners bracket semifinals at noon Saturday. The winner advances to the title game on Sunday, which is also scheduled to start at noon. Centenary dropped to 26-12 this season, and will face #4 seed Southwestern University in an elimination game on Saturday. Texas Lutheran defeated Southwestern 3-1 earlier in the day to reach the semifinal.

"We feel ready for TLU, but they are going to pose a tough challenge," concluded Assistant Coach J.C. Bunch. "They have been swinging the bats well lately, and they beat us pretty good at our place. We have to come out and pitch it well, and swing the bats."