HOUSTON – The Tiger baseball team finished off the regular season schedule on Sunday afternoon, finishing off a 5-2 victory for a game that was suspended in the ninth inning Friday night, and then dropping a 5-3 season finale against the University of St. Thomas.

Trinity fell to 25-14 with the split, which includes a 16-5 record in SCAC play. St. Thomas improved to 20-18 overall and 9-11 in conference. The Tigers end the regular season second in the SCAC standings, while the Celts finished fifth.

Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) went 3-for-5 in Sunday's finale and was the only Tiger player with more than one hit in the game. Gore also had two total hits in Friday's game that was finished prior to the regularly scheduled game, while also drawing two walks to reach base four times in the game.

Cade McGahan (Davidson, N.C. / Hough) earned the win from Friday's game, allowing one run and striking out eight batters in just 5.2 innings of work.  Harrison Durow (Dallas, Texas / Lovejoy) took the Sunday loss and fell to 2-3 on the season. He struck out four batters in three innings, allowing just two runs on one hit, but also issued four walks. Joseph Chavana (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) pitched in his second straight game, striking out four batters in 2.2 innings.

Trinity will compete in the SCAC Tournament next weekend in Cleburne, Texas, and will be the second seed at the four-team event. The Tigers take on Centenary College in game one on Friday, May 5.

The Rundown: Friday's suspended game
Trinity stranded a pair of runners in the top of the first and St. Thomas took the opportunity to snag its first lead of the day by scoring one in the bottom half. A two-out double put the Celts up 1-0 early in the game.

The lead was short-lived, though, as the Tigers answered with a run of their own in the top of the second to tie the game 1-1. Michael Lustina (Austin, Texas / Westlake) reached on an error to start the inning, then stole second and came around to score on an RBI single from Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) with two outs.

McGahan settled in after the first inning and kept St. Thomas off the board the rest of his outing. He got an inning-ending double play in the third and pitched his way out of a jam in the fifth with two runners in scoring position.

Just ahead of his trouble in the bottom of the inning, the offense put McGahan into the lead with a run in the top of the fifth. A couple of walks and an error put runners on the corners with just one out. Gore drew the free pass to start the inning and scored on Pettit's RBI single to put the Tigers up 2-1.

Korson Hastings (San Antonio, Texas / Churchill) got the offense going again in the sixth, leading things off with a single and then moving to second on a wild pitch. Peterson drove Hastings in for the first run of the inning, then Gore doubled in another score two batters later to make it a 4-1 Trinity lead.

McGahan gave way to Chavana and the Tiger bullpen after allowing a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth, but Chavana got a strikeout to move the game to the seventh.

The Tigers added another insurance run in the top of the seventh as Brandon Nelson (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) drove in Preston with a sac fly to center. Preston drew a one-out walk to get on base, then moved to third on two balks to set up the Nelson RBI.

The game was suspended in the top of the ninth, then resumed Sunday at noon. Gore drew a walk to get things started, then stole second prior to Jack Baker (Sugar Land, Texas / Ridge Point) drawing another walk. Baker then stole second and Gore stole third to put both runners in scoring position with no outs. After an infield pop-up, Preston hit into a double play with Gore getting thrown out at home to end what could have been a promising inning.

Jonathan Newman (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) took the mound for the Tigers to close out the game and he struck out two of the first three batters he faced. St. Thomas did manage to scratch across a run to make it a 5-2 game, but Newman got the final out with no more damage done, and the Tigers finished off the second game of the series.

The Rundown: Series Finale
Both offenses started slowly in the final game, and Durow held the Celts batters without a hit until the third inning. In the fourth, he made way for the bullpen after walking the bases loaded. St. Thomas drew another walk with the bases loaded for the initial score, then made it a 2-0 game on a sac fly.

Trinity got runners on base in every inning, missing out on chances to take the early lead, or to even tie the game after St. Thomas got on the board. The Celts pushed the lead to 5-0 with three more scores in the bottom of the sixth to make the deficit even larger for the Tiger bats.

Trinity finally got going in the seventh with Peterson drawing a leadoff walk, followed by a single by Harris to put two runners on with no outs. Gore notched an RBI single to break up the shutout that cut the lead to four. After a couple of shallow fly ball outs to right field, Preston brought in another run with the third hit of the inning to score Harris. Montrezza drove in another run on a fielder's choice to make it 5-3, but St. Thomas escaped any further damage with another fly out to end the inning.

The Tigers tried to mount one final rally to extend the game, beginning with a leadoff double from Pettit in the top of the ninth. The Celts got the next two batters out, but then a walk issued to Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial) put the tying run aboard. St. Thomas held on with a game-ending strikeout and Trinity finished the regular season with a loss.

Up Next
Trinity will meet up with Centenary College in the second game of the SCAC Tournament on Friday, scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start. The winner moves on to face either Texas Lutheran University or Southwestern University at noon on Saturday, with both losing teams playing in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The double-elimination tournament finishes on Sunday, May 7.