SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University baseball team closes out its season-opening home stand this weekend with a conference series against Austin College, then will hit the road for the first time to take on McMurry University on Tuesday.

The Tigers have started the year with a 9-5 record that includes last weekend's mid-week split against the University of Texas-Dallas and DeSales University. Trinity has won four of its last five games, sweeping a three-game weekend series against Concordia University (Wisc.) to start the month of March.

Sophomore catcher Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) leads Trinity with a .375 batting average (15-of-40) this season, scoring seven runs and driving home eight RBI. Junior outfielder Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) is hitting just over .300 with seven runs scored and seven stolen bases. Senior outfielder Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) leads the team with 10 runs scored and is tied with Peterson for the most steals, and trails only Lazzara for the team lead with seven RBI.

The Tiger pitchers have combined for 154 strikeouts in 128 innings so far this season and are holding opponents to a .241 batting average. Junior Cade McGahan (Davidson, N.C. / Hough) is leading the way with a 1.19 ERA in four appearances, allowing just three earned runs in 22.2 innings of work. He has 24 strikeouts and teams are hitting just .193 against him this season.  Sophomore Jack Martinez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) took over the team lead after tying his career high with nine strikeouts in relief against DeSales last week, edging in front of McGahan with 25 strikeouts in his 12 innings on the mound.  

NCAA III Rankings: Tigers remain in Top 20
Trinity slipped from 14th to 19th in this week's D3baseball.com poll, which was released earlier this week. The Tigers have been in the top 20 since the preseason poll. Birmingham-Southern College, which took two out of three from Trinity to start the 2023 season, is the top-ranked team in the nation for the second consecutive week.

On Deck: Austin College (3/17-18) and at McMurry (3/21)
Trinity will open up Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play with this weekend's three-game series against Austin College. The Tigers finished the 2022 season with a 19-2 record in league play, earning the SCAC Regular Season Championship. Trinity will also be on the road for the first time this season as the Tigers travel to McMurry University (Abilene, Texas) for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, March 21. It will break up Trinity's 17-game home stand to open the year and will begin a string of four straight games away from home.

Scouting the 'Roos:
During the SCAC era (since 1991), Trinity holds a 59-11 record against Austin College. That includes a current 31-game winning streak against the 'Roos, dating back to the 2013 season. The Tigers dropped the opening game of a three-game weekend series at home in February of 2013, then hasn't lost again since against Austin.
Austin College has started off the season with a 4-10 overall record that includes just one win in the last nine games coming into the weekend. The Kangaroos were swept by McMurry in a two-game series on the road earlier this week, falling 7-4 and 13-1.

Austin has a pair of 2022 All-SCAC honorees in Scott Hosmer and Mason Woodhouse back this season. The 'Roos also have a large class of incoming recruits and will rely heavily on its younger players. First-year Tripp Thoms leads the team with a .340 batting average, scoring 10 runs to go with eight walks and eight stolen bases. Junior Brandon Hill is hitting just over .300 with 11 RBI and 12 walks for a .472 on-base percentage. Sophomore hurler Trystan Mallory, the reigning SCAC Pitcher of the Week, has posted a 2-0 record with an ERA of 1.23 in 22 innings so far this season. He has allowed just three runs in five appearances and has recorded 31 strikeouts.

Scouting the Warhawks:
Trinity is just 10-12 against McMurry since the 1996 season, though the Tigers have taken the last two meetings between the two schools: a 10-5 win on the road in 2021, and a 13-9 victory at home last year. Though Trinity has also won the last two road games against McMurry, the Warhawks are 8-2 against the Tigers in Abilene.

McMurry has opened the year with a 6-9 overall record that includes a 3-3 start in the American Southwest Conference. That being said, McMurry has won six of its last eight games – including a two-game sweep of Austin College at home earlier this week. McMurry was swept by both Schreiner University and University of St. Thomas to start the year 0-6.

Riley Hood and Casey Turner are the top hitters for the Warhawks so far season. Hood has knocked in 10 RBI to go with eight runs scored and a .375 batting average, leading the team in RBI and average. Turner is hitting at a .361 clip with eight RBI, and six runs scored. Koy Carpenter has a team-best 10 runs scored to go with seven walks and six steals. Bryson Morrill has posted an outstanding 1.04 ERA to start the year, allowing just two earned runs over 17.1 innings of work over five appearances. Cooper Marshall has a team-best 19 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, posting a 2.79 ERA this season.

In the Hole: at Texas Lutheran (3/24-26)
After this weekend's series to start off conference play, Trinity and Texas Lutheran will meet up for a three-game series between the league's top two teams in the regular season last year. The Bulldogs finished with a 17-4 SCAC record in 2022, trailing the Tigers by just two games. Trinity took two of the three games against TLU last year. Since 2015, the teams are nearly dead even in the series, with Trinity holding a slight edge with an 18-17 record during that time.