SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity baseball team is headed to Cleburne, Texas, for this weekend's Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, hosted at The Depot at Cleburne Station.

The Tigers closed out the regular season by winning two out of three road games against the University of St. Thomas last weekend. Trinity swept the Friday doubleheader by winning 6-1 and 5-2, then dropped the regular season finale 5-3 on Sunday afternoon. It was the first Trinity loss in 11 meetings with the Celts, dating back to the 2021 season.

Trinity finished with a 25-14 overall record that included a 16-5 mark in SCAC play, which put the Tigers second in the final standings by just one game behind Texas Lutheran University. This will be the fifth straight SCAC Tournament to be held in Cleburne, and the four-team, double-elimination event runs from Friday, May 5, until Sunday, May 7.

The Tiger pitching staff has led the team throughout the season and will be an integral part of this weekend's tournament. Trinity has a group of four pitchers who have experience both as starters and relievers, and a fifth who has arguably been the team's best starter all year long. Sophomore transfer Jackson Teer (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) has an 8-1 record in his 11 starters, posting a 2.38 ERA to go with 65 strikeouts in 68.0 innings pitched. He has only issued 11 walks this year and is holding teams to a .208 batting average against him. Sophomore Jack Martinez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) is also having an outstanding season out of the bullpen and leads the team with a 2.01 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 40.1 innings pitched. He holds a 4-0 record with four saves in his 16 appearances and also holds hitters to a team-low .141 batting average. Senior Cade McGahan (Davidson, N.C. / Hough) produced his best starts of the year over the last two wekeends, tallying a 5-1 record with a 2.28 ERA for the year. He has also recorded 60 strikeouts in 59.1 innings of work. Junior Joseph Chavana (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) has tallied 56 strikeouts in 13 appearances and holds the opposition to a .199 batting average, while fellow junior Harrison Durow (Dallas, Texas / Lovejoy) has 58 strikeouts in 40.0 innings over 14 games pitched.

Offensively, Trinity is led by seniors Michael Montrezza (Los Gatos, Calif. / Leigh) and Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North). Montrezza is hitting .317 (38-for-120) with 25 runs scored and 22 RBI, while Gore leads the team with 32 runs scored and 27 RBI. Gore also has 21 walks and 19 stolen bases, both of which are second only to junior Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock), who has 22 walks and 21 steals to go with a .404 on-base percentage. Senior Tyler Pettit (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) and junior Ty Preston (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) are both hitting better than .300 and are both holding on-base percentages of .419 or better.

NCAA III Rankings
Trinity's pitching staff is ranked in the top 10 in NCAA III in three different categories this year, and four of the five main pitchers are also listed individually in the national rankings. The Tigers are fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.2), seventh in team ERA (3.24), and ninth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.69). The team is also in the top 25 in walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP) (1.30) and shutouts (4) this season.  

Heading into the weekend, Martinez leads the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (15.52) and is third in hits allowed per nine innings (4.50). Teer's eight victories rank him sixth in the country this season and he is also in the top 40 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.91) on the year. Both Teer (0.93) and Martinez (0.95) are both in the top 25 in WHIP this season as well.

Preview: SCAC Tournament (May 5-7)
Texas Lutheran comes in as the top seed in the tournament for the first time since sharing the regular season championship with Trinity in 2019. Centenary College is this year's No. 3 seed, followed by No. 4 seed Southwestern University.

Trinity swept a three-game series with Centenary, but lost two of three games against both Texas Lutheran and Southwestern this year. The Tigers lost the first two games to Texas Lutheran before avoiding the sweep with a 14-5 win in game three. Trinity opened the Southwestern series with a 5-2 win, then lost a pair of one-run games to close the weekend.

Either Trinity, Centenary, and Texas Lutheran have won the SCAC Championship every year since 2013, though there has not been a repeat champion since the Tigers won four straight titles from 2013-16. Centenary won in 2022, Texas Lutheran in 2021, and Trinity in 2019 (there was no 2020 tournament). The Bulldogs won again in 2018, while the Gents broke up Trinity's four-year streak by winning the tournament in 2017. Southwestern won SCAC titles in three out of four years from 1995-98, then won again in 2000 and 2002.

Overall, Trinity has won 13 SCAC Championships from 1990 to present and Southwestern's five titles are next among the current conference membership. Among this year's qualifiers, both Centenary and Texas Lutheran have won two titles each.

Looking Ahead: NCAA Playoffs
The winner of this weekend's SCAC Championship will automatically be invited to participate in the NCAA Playoffs that begin May 18-21 with regionals. The Super Regionals are held May 26-27, and the NCAA III Baseball World Series will be June 2-8 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.