CLEBURNE, Texas – The 12th-ranked Tiger baseball team opened the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with an 11-6 win over the University of St. Thomas on Friday afternoon.

Trinity (30-8) came in as the top seed in the tournament and left with its 20th win in the last 21 games. The Tigers have won all four meetings against the Celts this season, after sweeping a three-game series at home nearly one month ago.

MJ Metz (San Diego, Calif. / Canyon Crest Academy) smashed two home runs on his way to a 3-for-4 performance during which he collected three RBI and scored three runs. Metz hit home runs to left-center field in his first two at-bats, helping the Tigers to get the early lead. Tyler Pettit (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) joined his teammate with three hits on the day, including a home run of his own.

Joseph Chavana (Laredo, Texas / J.B. Alexander) improved to 9-1 on the season, giving up four runs on nine hits over eight-plus innings, and striking out six batters without issuing a walk.

Trinity advances to face either #2 Texas Lutheran University or #3 Centenary College in tomorrow's tournament action, beginning at noon. 

The Rundown

Trinity jumped in front early with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, beginning with a leadoff homer from Metz. Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) followed two batters later and came around to score on a double from Nathan Braulick (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian). St. Thomas answered with a run in the top of the second to cut the Tiger lead in half.

Braulick and Wisniewski finished with two doubles each, giving Trinity a total of eight extra-base hits in the game.

Pettit opened the second with another leadoff homer for the Tigers, pushing the lead to 3-1 at the time. Two batters later, Metz went deep for the second time in the first two innings to make it a 4-1 game. That lead ballooned to 6-1 when Trinity scored two more times in the fourth. This time, Pettit hit a double to lead off the inning and scored on an infield single by Metz. Gore then drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center.

Neither team got any runs in the fifth, then St. Thomas edged closer with a run in the top of the sixth to draw within three. The Tigers put the first two runners on base in the bottom of the inning, then Jack Wisniewski (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) doubled to bring in both runners and make it an 8-1 Trinity lead.

Trinity nearly ended the game on a run-rule in the seventh, scoring three runs on three hits to take a nine-run lead. St. Thomas was able to escape and keep the game going, but was unable to score again until the ninth. The Celts attempted to rally with a four-run inning, but the Tigers held on in the end to take the win.

Numbers to Note

Wisniewski and Gore joined Metz with three RBI each, accounting for nine of the team's 11 runs scored in the game. Each player also had two hits and scored a run.

Braulick finished 2-for-3 and drew two walks, while Michael Montrezza (Los Gatos, Calif. / Leigh) was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) also scored two runs.

Brian Schaub (Hatfield, Pa. / La Salle College HS) drew his 40th walk of the season to become the first player in school history to record 40 or more walks in two different years.

Up Next

The Tigers will face either Texas Lutheran or Centenary in tomorrow's SCAC Semifinal at 12:00 p.m. The winner moves to the SCAC Championship game at noon on Sunday.