SAN ANTONIO – The 12th-ranked Tiger baseball team opened up Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 5-2 win over Southwestern University on Friday night.
Trinity improved to 10-4 overall this season with the win, while the Pirates dropped to 7-9 in what was the first conference game for either team. Today also marks the first of a three-game weekend series between the two schools.
Joseph Chavana (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) improved to 3-0 on the year after striking out seven batters over seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits.
Will Hellings (Summit, N.J. / Summit) came on in relief, allowing just one unearned run over the final two innings to close out the game.
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) went 3-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored to pace Trinity's offensive attack, while
Max Milligan (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) went 2-for-2 with two doubles and a run scored.
Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) matched Tinker for the team lead with two RBI each.
The Rundown
Chavana gave up two of his four singles in the first two innings, but still kept the game scoreless through his first three innings. The Tiger offense drew two walks in the bottom of the second, but Southwestern struck out the next two batters to escape without any damage.
After his first 1-2-3 inning of the night, Chavana was rewarded by his offense giving him a three-run cushion.
Jack Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) singled to start the inning, then stole second, and moved to third on a balk. After
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) walked and stole second as well, Tinker smashed a single to center to drive in both runners for the first scores of the game. Later in the inning,
Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) drove in Tinker with a two-out single to make it 3-0 Tigers.
Chavana kept the momentum going by retiring the Southwestern hitters in order in both the fourth and fifth innings, picking up two strikeouts in each frame. In the bottom of the fifth, Peterson laced a single through the right side of the infield to drive in two more runs to increase the Tiger lead to 5-0.
Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial) and Milligan were both in scoring position after Milligan's ground-rule double.
Southwestern broke up a streak of 11 straight batters retired by Chavana to open the sixth inning, but Trinity's starter induced a double play ball on the very next pitch to neutralize any threat. Tinker had a one-out double in the bottom of the inning, but he was left on base to keep it a 5-0 game at the time. Chavana ran into trouble in the seventh as Southwestern combined a single with two walks and a hit batter to break up the shutout. Woodward snagged a line drive in right-center to end the inning and strand three visiting runners on base.
The Tigers squandered another double in the bottom of the seventh as Milligan hit his second of the day to lead off the inning. Hellings came on in relief in the eighth and two walks and an error loaded the bases with just one out. After a sac fly brought in one run, Hellings got another fly ball to minimize the damage. The Tiger reliver then had a quiet three-up, three-down ninth inning to close out the win.
Up Next
Trinity and Southwestern resume the weekend series with a single game tomorrow afternoon, beginning at 2:00 p.m.
