SAN ANTONIO – The 15th-ranked Tiger baseball team clinched its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series against #25 Texas Lutheran University with an 8-6 victory on Saturday night.

Trinity rallied from three different deficits in the game, then scored three times in the eighth to pull off the victory. Evan McDonald (Pflugerville, Texas / Pflugerville) crushed a two-run homer with one out in the eighth to give the Tigers their first lead of the night, then Jack Vonderhaar (Woodinville, Washington / Redmond) went back-to-back to make it a three-run cushion heading into the ninth.

Corey Cater (Sacramento, Calif. / Valley Christian Academy) earned his first victory of the season, striking out a pair of batters in three innings of relief work. Harrison Durow (Dallas, Texas / Lovejoy) came on with one out in the ninth to finish off the victory and pick up his second save of the year.

Trinity also celebrated senior day, honoring 12 seniors who are in the midst of their final home weekend of the season. The Tigers will host Texas Lutheran tomorrow night in the home finale, then will be on the road for the final four games of the year.

The Rundown

Trinity fell behind for the first of three times in the game after just three batters as Texas Lutheran hit a pair of doubles to take an early 1-0 lead. The Tigers answered immediately as they would do all night long. MJ Metz (San Diego, Calif. / Canyon Crest Academy) drew a leadoff walk, then stole both second and third. Metz was then able to score easily on a ground ball to the right side of the infield off the bat of Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) to tie the game.

Tiger starter Jack Martinez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) settled in after the first inning, shutting the Bulldogs out in the second and third to keep the game tied 1-1. The Trinity offense had just one hit over the first three innings as the game began to look like a low-scoring affair.

Texas Lutheran eased in front again in the fourth, turning a leadoff single into a run that eventually scored on a balk. Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial) tied things up with his first home run of the season, smashing a full-count pitch over the wall in left to make it a 2-2 game.

In the fifth, TLU was able to chase Martinez from the game with three straight hits that led to three runs in the inning and gave the visitors a 5-2 advantage. Four pitches into the bottom of the inning saw Trinity with two outs, and it looked like the Bulldogs would finally hold a lead. Instead, Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) drew a walk to keep the inning alive, then Gore kept his hitting streak going with a single through the infield. Brian Schaub (Hatfield, Pa. / La Salle College HS) followed with a two-run double to chase TLU's starter from the game. Holloway greeted the new pitcher with a run-scoring double that tied the game 5-5.

Cater entered the game with two runners on base in the sixth, shutting down Texas Lutheran with a pair of strikeouts to end the threat. He then gave up a single to lead off the seventh, but that was erased on a double play, and Cater got through the rest of the seventh easily. Trinity's offense had just one hit over those two innings, but the game remained deadlocked at five runs each.

Texas Lutheran put the leadoff runner on to start the eighth, but could not bring him around to reclaim the lead. Tyler Pettit (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) drew a one-out walk to set the table for McDonald, who drove in the eventual game-winning runs with his two-run shot. Vonderhaar's follow-up dinger came on the next pitch and Trinity lead 8-5.

The ninth saw the Bulldogs put the first two batters on to bring the tying run to the plate. After a fielder's choice left runners at the corners and one out, a wild pitch scored a run to make it 8-6. The tying run then reached base via the second walk of the inning, prompting the appearance from Durow out of the bullpen. He got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, then induced a fly ball to center to secure the win for the Tigers.

Numbers to Note

Trinity has won 16 consecutive games and improved its record to 26-7 overall and 16-1 in the SCAC. Texas Lutheran falls to 25-10 and 14-3 SCAC with the loss and trails the Tigers by two games in the conference standings.

Holloway went 3-for-4 with two RBI and his first round-tripper of the season. He was only a triple away from hitting for the cycle and he tied the game with run-scoring hits on two different occasions.

McDonald hit just his second career home run and went 2-for-3 with two RBI in the game. It marked his first home run since 2020 season.

Gore went 2-for-4 in the game and has now hit safely in 22 consecutive games.

With his two RBI in tonight's game, Schaub has now driven in 100 in his career – including his first two seasons at the University of Richmond. He also needs just one more run to reach 100 in that category as well.

Up Next

The Tigers and Bulldogs complete their regular season series with a Sunday night game at 7:00 p.m.