SAN ANTONIO – Trinity's 17th-ranked baseball team scored a narrow 1-0 win over the University of Texas-Dallas on Friday night.

The Tigers upped their overall record to 7-3 this season, while the Comets dropped to 10-4 with the loss. Trinity snapped a two-game losing streak in the series with UTD, and the Tigers hold a 7-3 record over the past 10 games against the Comets.

Joseph Chavana (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) and Will Hellings (Summit, N.J. / Summit) combined to throw a five-hit shutout in the game, tallying 11 combined strikeouts. Chavana pitched 7.0 innings to improve to 2-0 this season, while Hellings allowed just one hit over the final two innings to earn his second save of the year.

Cristian Holloway (Brownsville, Texas / Veterans Memorial) picked up two of Trinity's five hits in the game, going 2-for-2 and drove in the only run of the game in the fourth inning. Pierce Matthews (Carrollton, Texas / Hebron) went 1-for-3 and scored the only run.

Both defenses were helped by double plays in the second inning and there were very few runners on base in the first three innings. Matthews singled on the second pitch he saw to lead off the bottom of the fourth, then promptly stole second. He moved to third on a ground out to short two batters later, then Holloway drove him home with a single on the first pitch he saw to make it 1-0.

Chavana pitched around a single and a walk in the first, then faced the minimum in the second and third before shrugging off a leadoff walk in the fourth. UT-Dallas had a two-out walk in the fifth and a two-out single in the sixth, but Chavana got the next hitter out to close out each frame. The Comets got the leadoff runner on to start the seventh, but Chavana retired the next three batters on just nine pitches to keep the visitors scoreless.

Trinity loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but UT-Dallas got a strikeout of its own to escape the threat. After Chavana went to a 2-0 count to the leadoff hitter in the eighth, Hellings was called out of the bullpen and retired all three batters. He allowed a two-out hit in the top of the ninth, but got a three-pitch strikeout to close out the Tiger win.

Up Next

Trinity will take on Centenary College tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m., while UT-Dallas starts the day against Centenary at 11:00 a.m. The Tigers and Comets will face off again at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon to finish off the weekend.