KERRVILLE, Texas – Trinity's 19th-ranked baseball team completed a three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series sweep by taking both ends of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Schreiner University.

The Tigers ran their winning streak to 14 games with the two wins today, which puts their overall record at 24-7 heading into the final two weeks of the regular season schedule. Trinity is also 14-1 in SCAC play, which is tied for the top spot in the league. Trinity won game one 11-2 over Schreiner, then held off the home team with a 15-8 win in game two.

Samuel Conte (Boston, Mass. / Phillips Academy) scattered six hits over eight innings in the opening game, striking out 11 batters to improve to 4-1 this season. Harrison Durow (Dallas, Texas / Lovejoy) struck out six batters over 3.1 innings in relief in game two and is now 5-0 on the season.

MJ Metz (San Diego, Calif. / Canyon Crest Academy) collected five hits and five RBI over the two games, hitting a home run in the first, followed by a double and a triple in the second. Nathan Braulick (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) went 4-for-9 in the doubleheader, scoring four runs to go with four RBI, as well as hitting two doubles and a triple.

Trinity will return to the field to begin a four-game home stand that will feature the final home games of the regular season for the Tiger team. Tuesday will feature a matchup between Trinity and Concordia, then Friday night will kick off a three-game weekend series in SCAC play against Texas Lutheran. The Tigers and Bulldogs are currently tied atop the SCAC standings.

The Rundown: Game 1

Trinity got started quickly with two hits and a walk to load the bases with one out in the top of the first inning, but a double play ended the threat. The game remained scoreless for the first three innings as Conte retired eight of the first nine batters he saw.

An error, a stolen base, and a double got the first runs of the game for the Tigers in the fourth inning, as Braulick brought in Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) to snag the unearned run. Braulick came around to score himself on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Pettit (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) and Trinity led 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

Conte continued to throw shutout baseball, pitching around two hits in the fifth, as well as a hit and an error in the sixth to keep Schreiner off the board. Meanwhile, Trinity's offense scored at least once in every inning from the fourth on.

Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) accounted for the only run of the fifth with a sacrifice fly that brought in Michael Montrezza (Los Gatos, Calif. / Leigh), then Montrezza singled home a run in the sixth to make it 4-0 Tigers.

Metz led off the seventh inning with a solo homer for a 5-0 Trinity lead, then Pettit smashed a two-run homer of his own in the eighth. Following a pitching change, Jack Wisniewski (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) continued the inning with his own round-tripper to go back-to-back with his teammate for an 8-0 lead.

Schreiner got on the board with a run in the eighth, stringing a pair of hits together against Conte to break up the shutout. The Tiger offense then squashed any hopes of a rally with three more runs in the ninth to make it an 11-1 game at the time. Vonderhaar started the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left, then a pair of walks and a wild pitch put two more runners in scoring position for pinch-hitter Korson Hastings (San Antonio, Texas / Churchill). Hastings knocked a single up the middle to score both and finish off the scoring for the Tigers. Schreiner got a leadoff homer in the ninth to account for the final tally, but Jack Martinez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) settled in and closed out the game with a pair of strikeouts.

The Rundown: Game 2

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings offensively, putting Schreiner in an early hole and setting Trinity up for the series sweep. Metz doubled to open the game, followed by a single from Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial), and a two-run triple from Braulick. Metz then came back in the second inning and hit a two-RBI triple of his own, then came in to score on Holloway's RBI single that finished the early output.

In his first career start, Michael Boeke (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) struck out the side in the first, dodging a single and a walk in the opening inning. He allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the second to make it a 5-1 Tiger lead, but picked up his fourth strikeout of the game.

Durow came out the bullpen to start the third inning for the Tigers and promptly struck out four batters in the fourth and fifth innings. Trinity's offense also doubled its run total in the top of the fourth, adding five more runs to take a 10-1 lead.

Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) started the productive inning innocently enough with a leadoff single. A walk and a sacrifice put two runners in scoring position, which Holloway took care of just two batters later. His two-run single sparked a two-out rally for the Tigers that featured four straight hits. Gore singled and stole second, then Holloway scored on an error. Braulick doubled home another run that forced Schreiner to call in a reliever. Brian Schaub (Hatfield, Pa. / La Salle College HS) greeted the new pitcher with a run-scoring triple to finish off the scoring.

Trinity squandered a leadoff double from Lazzara in the fifth, then Schreiner was finally able to break through against Durow. Though he picked up two more strikeouts to limit the damage, Schreiner scored three runs on four hits to cut the Tiger lead to just 10-4.

The Tigers were held scoreless for the second straight inning in the sixth and Schreiner rally continued in the bottom half. Four more hits led to three more runs and another call to Trinity's bullpen. Corey Cater (Sacramento, Calif. / Valley Christian Academy) was the third Tiger pitcher of the inning and came on with two runners on. After a walk that loaded the bases, he recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat and keep it a 10-7 Trinity lead.

Jack Vonderhaar (Woodinville, Wash. / Redmond) drew a one-out walk in the top of the seventh, which was followed by a two-run homer off the bat of Lazzara to jump-start the Tiger offense and make it a 12-7 game. Despite being cooled off in the sixth, Schreiner was back at it in the seventh – loading the bases with a pair of singles and a walk to start the inning. Joel Thomas (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Horizon) came in and got a quick fielder's choice that cut down the runner at third for the first out. After a walk allowed the Mountaineers to sneak in a run, Thomas then induced an inning-ending double play to end the threat and leave the score 12-8 after seven innings.

Two walks and an error put runners in scoring position with one out in the eighth, and Vonderhaar delivered a sacrifice fly for the first run of the inning for the Tigers. Two batters later, Wisniewski drove in a run of his own and the lead swelled to 14-8. Thomas put the Mountaineers down in order in the bottom of the inning, including a pair of strikeouts.

In the ninth, Vonderhaar tacked on a final insurance run that wound up as the last score of the game. Thomas hit a batter in the ninth to put a runner on for the home team, but he recorded two strikeouts and a grounder back to him to close the door on the series with his three-inning save.

Numbers to Note

Trinity earned its 50th win in the series with Schreiner (in the SCAC era: 1992 to present) and has won eight of the last nine matchups. The Tigers now stand 50-19 against the Mountaineers overall and 17-4 in SCAC play.

Metz went 3-for-6 with his sixth home run of the season and three RBI in the opening game, then went 2-for-4 with two runs and two more RBI in the finale. Metz now has a team-leading 16 doubles this season.

Gore, Braulick, and Wisniewski scored two runs each in the first game of the day, while Pettit drove in two runs with his fifth homer of the season. Braulick added two more runs and three RBI with a 3-for-5 performance in game two. 

Gore extended his hitting streak to 20 games, picking up one hit in the opener and two more in the series finale. Gore also scored two more runs in the second game for a four-run day.

Lazzara and Holloway both went 3-for-5 to match Braulick's performance at the plate. The trio accounted for nine of Trinity's 17 total hits in the game. Lazzara scored three runs and drove in two more with his first career homer, while Holloway drove in three runs and scored a pair.

Vonderhaar was one of five different players to drive in multiple runs in game two, collecting two RBI on a pair of late sacrifice flies.

Schaub drew two walks in each game and moved into 18th on Trinity's all-time list with 75 walks in his Tiger career.

Up Next

The Tigers are back at home to face off against Concordia University (TX) on Tuesday, April 16, at 6:00 p.m.