SAN ANTONIO – The 15th-ranked Trinity University baseball team closed out its opening weekend of the season with a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference sweep of Austin College (TX), winning Saturday's doubleheader by final scores of 27-4 and 19-8.
The Tigers improved to 3-0 overall and 3-0 in SCAC play this season, after also winning a 10-2 decision last night over the Kangaroos. Trinity opened the day with a 12-run first inning as the team batted around twice to set the tone for the day. From there it was just a matter of getting to the seventh inning and enacting the run-rule, as the Tigers scored in all but one inning of the shortened game. Austin College had control of game two in the early innings, taking a 7-4 advantage into the bottom of the fifth against Trinity. The Tigers answered with eight runs over the next two innings and never looked back. A six-run eighth inning set up the run-rule once again and Trinity ended the game with just one out in the inning.
Jack Briese (Danville, Ky. / Boyle County) picked up the game two win in relief to improve to 1-0 this season.
Jace Clay (Missouri City, Texas / Strake Jesuit) got the start in game one and wound up scoring his first collegiate victory in the process. Clay allowed just one earned run over 4.0 innings and struck out six batters. Briese tossed the final 3.1 innings of game two, allowing just one hit and one unearned run to shut down a pesky Austin College offense.
Trinity had five different players hit home runs across the doubleheader today.
Nicholas Jones (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) had a monster day after going 4-for-7 at the plate with seven runs scored and five RBI. He was a single away from hitting for the cycle in game two, going 3-for-3 with four runs and four RBI.
Maddox McDonald (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) went 5-for-9 across the two days, scoring four runs and driving in three more. He doubled and homered in the first game and collected three RBI, then scored three runs and stole two bases in the finale.
Brandon Nelson (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) had two hits in each game and tallied six total RBI in the doubleheader, punctuated by his walkoff three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth of game two.
Grant Anderson (Austin, Texas / Vista Ridge) went 3-for-4 with three runs and six RBI in game one alone, while
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) scored five of his six runs on the day in the opening game.
The Rundown, Game 1
The doubleheader began with Trinity collecting 12 runs on eight hits in the first inning, highlighted by a stretch of 11 straight batters reaching base. Nelson doubled home two runs to get the scoring started, then McDonald hit a three-run homer to make it 5-0.
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) atoned for a strikeout earlier in the inning with a two-run single to left-center to keep the carousel rolling. Nelson drove in another run later in the inning as the Tigers sent 18 batters to the plate in the inning.
Woodward led off the second inning with a homer, then Anderson added a three-run shot of his own later in the inning as the Tigers made it a 16-0 lead after just two innings. Austin College got on the board in the top of the third after taking advantage of an error, but Trinity answered with three more runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 19-2. Lazzara drove in another run before a fielding error brought home two more in the inning. After Austin scratched across another run with a two-out hit in the top of the fourth, Trinity pounded out six more hits in the bottom half. Anderson doubled in two more runs and Trinity started emptying the bench in this inning. Trinity finished its scoring in the fifth after plating a pair of runs without getting a hit to make it 27-3 at the time. Austin added one more run in the seventh inning, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop the run-rule.
The Rundown, Game 2
Early in game two it looked like Austin might be able to avoid the sweep and steal a game in the series, scoring twice in the first inning, and then answering with three more runs in the third after Trinity had tied things up. The Tigers kept pace with the 'Roos, though, scoring twice more in the third themselves to make it a 5-4 lead for Austin after three. After allowing two more runs in the fifth to trail 7-4, Trinity tied things up with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) doubled in a pair of runs, then
Pierce Matthews (Carrollton, Texas / Hebron) drove in Tinker to knot things up 7-7 after five complete.
Austin battled back into the lead in the sixth, but left the bases loaded and opened the door for Trinity's offense. Jones doubled home a pair of runs to give the Tigers the lead and they never looked back. Trinity also left the bases loaded in its half of the inning, but managed to score five runs before ending the inning with a 12-8 lead. After getting the strikeout to end the threat in the sixth, Briese retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth to squash any comeback bid. In the bottom of the eighth, Trinity started rolling again and loaded the bases with no outs. With three runs already across and two runners on base, Nelson crushed a home run into the night sky to push the lead past double digits and end the series with a bang.
Up Next
Trinity will be back at home next week to take on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) on Wednesday, beginning at 7:00 p.m. The Tigers will continue SCAC play next weekend, traveling to Seguin, Texas, to face Texas Lutheran University for a three-game series.
