SAN ANTONIO – The 17th-ranked Tiger baseball team soared past Centenary College (LA) with a 13-4 non-conference win on Saturday night.

Trinity (8-3) picked up its fifth win in the last six games and its fifth straight win over the Gents (5-7). Centenary also lost to the University of Texas-Dallas earlier today, though the team did beat UT-Dallas on Friday afternoon to open up this weekend's games. The Tigers swept the three-game regular season Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series against Centenary last year, then won again when the teams met in the SCAC Tournament.

First-year Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) launched his first career home run and led the Tigers on offense, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored. Jack Peterson (Round Rock, Texas / Round Rock) went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI, while both Cam Champness (Katy, Texas / Taylor) and Max Milligan (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) also had two hits each. Champness also had two RBI to go with two runs scored, while Brandon Nelson (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) scored two runs of his own, and Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) collected two RBI.

Jonathan Newman (Pearland, Texas / Pearland) came into the game from the Trinity bullpen in the fourth inning to earn the win and improve to 1-0 this season. Newman threw 3.1 shutout innings, allowing just two hits, and striking out four batters. Trajan Lee (Dalas, Texas / John Paul II) finished off the win by tossing the final two innings, yielding just one hit and recording three strikeouts.

Both teams came out smoking on offense, combining for five runs in the first inning alone. Centenary scored twice on two hits in the top of the first, but Trinity answered back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Woodward walked and stole second, then scored when Colt Harris (Katy, Texas / Houston Christian) drew a bases-loaded walk. Peterson then brought in two more runs with a double down the right field line that put Trinity in front 3-2.

Two more walks and a hit batter loaded the bases in the second and Nelson made it 4-2 on a fielder's choice, but that was the only run the Tigers got. Centenary took advantage of that in the next half-inning, scoring twice to tie the game 4-4 in the third. Trinity didn't allow the game to stay tied for long as Peterson was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the inning, moved to second on a ground out, and then stole third. Champness broke the tie with his single to center that proved to be the eventual game-winner. Woodward brought in Champness two batters later with his RBI single, then Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) joined the fun with a hit of his own to score Woodward and make it a 7-4 game.

After Trinity starter Luke Pfeiffer (Valencia, Calif. / Trinity Classical Academy) got in a jam in the fourth, Newman came in and got an inning-ending ground ball to preserve the three-run lead and strand two runners on base. Tinker delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the inning to extend the Tiger lead to 9-4, making it four straight productive innings for the offense.

Newman allowed just one baserunner in the next two innings, striking out the side in the sixth. The Tiger bats cooled off for the next two innings as well as both pitchers settled in for scoreless innings. Trinity left the bases loaded in the seventh, but was not able to pad the lead. Lee came on in the eighth after Newman allowed a leadoff single, then quickly got a double play and a fly out to end the inning after just five pitches.

Champness drove in Peterson in the bottom of the eighth to get Trinity to double digits, then Milligan doubled to bring in another run. Woodward finished off the scoring with his homer to right to put the final touches on the win. Lee pitched around a single and an error in the bottom of the ninth, striking out the side to finish the game.

Up Next

Trinity will take on UT-Dallas in the weekend finale tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. The Tigers took a 1-0 win over the Comets to close out Friday's action.