CLEBURNE, Texas – The Tiger baseball team advanced to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Final with a 10-1 victory over Texas Lutheran University on Saturday afternoon.

No. 2 seed Trinity improved to 27-14 this season with the win, while top seed Texas Lutheran fell to 28-14 on the year. The two teams have now split four meetings this season as the Bulldogs won two out of three games during the regular season.

The Tigers stole 12 bases to go along with 13 hits and five walks, while the pitching staff allowed just one run on five hits and recorded nine strikeouts. Four Trinity players finished with multi-hit games to account for eight of the 13 hits, which included two doubles and a home run.

Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) finished 2-for-4 with four RBI, hitting a three-run home run late in the game to put the game out of reach. Jack Baker (Sugar Land, Texas / Ridge Point) went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored, and both players finished with two steals.

Ezra Gore (Dallas, Texas / McKinney North) and Ty Preston (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) finished with three steals each to lead the team. Gore also drew three walks to reach base four times and scored two runs. Michael Montrezza (Los Gatos, Calif. / Leigh) had two hits and two runs scored, while Tyler Pettit (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) had a pair of hits to go with two RBI.

Cade McGahan (Davidson, N.C. / Hough) improved to 6-1 after giving up just one run on five hits over 5.2 innings, striking out four batters. Jack Martinez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) earned his sixth save of the year after 3.1 shutout innings, which featured five strikeouts and no hits allowed.  

Trinity will play in the SCAC Championship Game tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. against a team to be determined. Southwestern University and Centenary College will play an elimination game this afternoon, with the winner taking on Texas Lutheran tonight. The winner of tonight's game will advance to face the Tigers.

The Rundown
Both ends of the first inning were ended with double plays as each team threatened to score early in the game. The Tigers got on the board in the top of the third with two hits and a walk to take the lead. Gore drew his second walk of the game with one out, then promptly stole second, and scored on a single by Baker. After Baker also stole second to move into scoring position, Pettit made it 2-0 with a single of his own.

Texas Lutheran answered with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to just 2-1, but that was the only damage McGahan allowed in his outing, giving up just one more hit after the third. Trinity added another run in the fourth, which began with Montrezza's one-out single and another stolen base. After moving up to third on a fly out, Montrezza made it a 3-1 game on Peterson's single.

Preston walked with one out in the fifth, then stole second and third to be able to score on an RBI groundout to short by Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial), making it a 4-1 Trinity lead.

Martinez came on for Trinity with a runner on in the sixth, but got an inning-ending strikeout to keep the three-run lead at the time. Baker was hit by a pitch in the seventh, then moved to third on a ground ball to third, and scored on Preston's ground-rule double that made it 5-1.

After striking out the final two batters of the seventh to leave the bases loaded, Martinez was rewarded by his offense blowing the game open in the top of the eighth. The first two Tigers hitters were out, then a two-out rally ensued with six hits in the inning. Montrezz and Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) hit back-to-back singles ahead of Peterson, who launched a three-run home run to make it 8-1. Gore followed with a double, then scored on another RBI single from Baker. After stealing second, Baker came in on Pettit's RBI single to finish off the scoring.

Martinez finished off the game by retiring six of the seven batters he faced in the eighth and ninth, allowing just a ninth-inning walk to close the game without allowing TLU to mount any type of comeback.

Up Next
Trinity will compete in the SCAC Championship game at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday against the team that advances out of the loser's bracket tonight.