SAN ANTONIO – The 14th-ranked Tiger baseball team held off DeSales University in a 4-3 non-conference victory on Wednesday night.
Trinity improves to 9-5 this season with the win and the team has won eight of its last 10 games. The Tigers are 10-1 against DeSales since the 2010 season, and tonight's win extends the streak against the Bulldogs to seven straight wins. DeSales falls to 2-6 overall this season that includes a 1-4 record on its Texas trip that wrapped up tonight.
Jack Martinez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) struck out six of the last seven batters in the game to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the season. Martinez pitched the final 4.1 innings of the game, giving up just one run on three hits and tying his career high with nine strikeouts.
Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) doubled home a pair of runs to get the offense started early and All-American
Tyler Pettit (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) went 2-for-4 in his first start of the season.
Michael Montrezza (Los Gatos, Calif. / Leigh) also notched a pair of hits in the game.
After five games in the last six days, the Tigers have earned some well-deserved rest and will not return to action until the start of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play against Austin College. Trinity will host the 'Roos for a three-game SCAC series that begins on Friday, March 17.
The Rundown
First-year hurler
Trajan Lee (Dallas, Texas / John Paul II) made his debut in the game and pitched around a pair of walks in the top of the first to keep DeSales off the board early.
The offense helped out the rookie with two runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning for a 2-0 Tiger lead. Trinity got all four hits with two outs to salvage the inning and take the lead. Pettit andÂ
Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial) got the two-out rally going with back-to-back singles, then Gore doubled both Tiger teammates home. Montrezza picked up a single as well, but Gore was thrown out at home to end the inning.
Lee got his first career strikeout to open the second, then followed with his second immediately after. A hit batter and a wild pitch meant that a two-out single got DeSales on the board, though Lee escaped without any further damage and Trinity led 2-1.
Trinity got two more runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 lead, but it would prove to be the final runs of the night for the home team.
Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) got things started with his one-out single, followed by a hit off the bat of
Brett Jones (Boulder, Colo. / Fairview).
Ty Preston (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) drove in Peterson on his groundout to the right side of the infield, then
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) made it 4-1 with his RBI single to score Jones.
Lee cruised through the third and fourth innings, but gave up a hit and a walk with two outs in the fifth, bringing Martinez out of the bullpen to ultimately finish the game. DeSales got a two-out hit to make it a 4-2 game, but Martinez got a strikeout to close out the inning. Trinity loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth in a bid to increase the lead, but a double play kept the Tigers off the board.
Martinez struck out a pair in the sixth and retired six out of seven batters faced after allowing a hit to start off his outing. With two outs in the seventh, though, DeSales cut the lead to just one with a solo home run. Clinging to a 4-3 lead, that's when Martinez started his strikeout streak to close out the game – including punch-outs against the final two batters of the game.
Up Next
Trinity will host Austin College in a three-game SCAC weekend series on March 17-18. The Tigers and 'Roos open with a Friday night game at 6:00 p.m., then follow that with a Saturday doubleheader that starts at 1:00 p.m.
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