SAN ANTONIO – Trinity's 16th-ranked baseball team opened up its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference weekend series with a 6-0 shutout win over the University of St. Thomas on Thursday.
The Tigers improved to 15-7 overall and 5-2 in SCAC play with the victory, while St. Thomas fell to 8-16 overall and 3-4 in conference. Trinity has won 11 of the 12 meetings in the series, though the Celts took the previous game by a 5-3 score in Houston.
Joseph Chavana (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) got the win for the Tigers, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving way to the bullpen.
Will Hellings (Summit, N.J. / Summit) and
Zach Balbin (San Marino, Calif. / San Marino) picked up two outs each to finish off the win and combine for the shutout.
Chavana went 7.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out eight batters. He got through seven full innings with a no-hitter, then got the first two batters of the eighth before allowing a walk on a 3-2 pitch. The Celts then got their only hit of the night with a clean single over second base.
Trinity got on the board with four runs in the second, staging a two-out rally that proved to be more than enough for the Tiger hurlers on this night.
Ty Preston (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) kept the inning alive with a two-out single to short, then
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) got a bloop double to put two runners in scoring position.
Jack Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) delivered a two-run single for the first runs of the game. After Baker stole second to move himself into scoring position,
Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) launched a two-run homer to right field to make it a 4-0 Tiger lead. Trinity had two more hits in the inning after the long ball, but St. Thomas was able to escape without any more damage done.
Chavana retired 13 straight batters before the walk in the eighth gave the Celts its first baserunner since the fourth inning. Chavana was charged with two walks in the inning, but Hellings got a strikeout to end the threat and leave the bases loaded.
Trinity added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, taking advantage of two errors by the Celts defense. Baker and
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) picked up RBI in the inning, though
Maddox McDonald (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) had the only hit of the frame on an infield single. Balbin came in with one out in the ninth, getting a strikeout and a groundout to short to close out the night.
Baker finished the game with three RBI on the night, while Tinker was the only Tiger to get more than one hit with a 2-for-4 performance. Peterson's only hit of the night was the two-run homer in the second.
Up Next
Trinity and St. Thomas will continue the SCAC series with a Friday evening game that is set to begin at 6:00 p.m. The series finale will be Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
