SEGUIN, Texas – The 15th-ranked Trinity University baseball team swept a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Texas Lutheran University on Sunday evening, winning 21-7 and 6-5 to clinch the three-game series.
The Tigers (5-0, 5-0 SCAC) remained unbeaten with the two wins, while Texas Lutheran (4-2, 3-2) suffered its first losses of the year. Trinity won the regular season series with the Bulldogs last year by taking two out of three games, but Texas Lutheran beat Trinity in the SCAC Tournament to split the overall series between the two schools last year. Trinity holds a slight edge overall in the series with a 47-42 record.
After a runaway win in game one that featured a 19-0 lead at one point, Trinity fought back from a three-run deficit in game two by scoring four runs in the ninth inning to earn the win.
Khalfani Coney (Los Angeles, Calif. / Crossroads School) delivered a pinch-hit double to bring in the tying and winning runs with just one out in the top of the ninth.
Jake Beck (Austin, Texas / Austin) picked up the victory in game one to improve to 1-0 this season, allowing two runs on three hits over the first four innings of the run-rule game.
Ryland Rangel (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) closed out the game with two shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out a trio of TLU hitters. After Texas Lutheran opened the second game with three runs on four hits in the first inning,
Jace Clay (Missouri City, Texas / Strake Jesuit) came on in relief to earn his second win of the year. He fanned nine batters across seven innings of work, allowing two unearned runs and just one hit.
Will Hellings (Summit, N.J. / Summit) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first save of the year in game two.
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) was 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the second game, while
John Ramsey (Austin, Texas / Westwood) picked up two hits and two runs as well. Game one was an offensive showcase for the Tiger lineup, led by
Maddox McDonald (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian),
Brandon Nelson (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point), and
Nicholas Jones (Southlake, Texas / Carroll). Jones and Nelson drove in four runs each with Jones also scoring three times and collecting three hits. McDonald also had three hits – all doubles – and scored four runs while driving in three more in the game.
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) also had three RBI to go with two hits, while
Max Milligan (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) and Ramsey added two runs each. Lazzara also had two hits, three runs, and two RBI in the first game, finishing the day going 5-for-7 with five runs scored.
The Rundown, Game 1
A leadoff walk in the top of the first of game one led to a pair of runs that jump-started the Tiger offense. McDonald doubled home
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) with the first run of the game, then Jones picked up an RBI ground out to close the scoring for the first inning. Beck allowed two runners in the first but pitched around the trouble to keep his team in the lead. He then retired the side in order in the second to set up Trinity's best inning of the night.
The 10-run third inning for the Tigers featured 10 hits and a pair of walks. McDonald had two doubles in the inning and the second drove in a pair of runs to make it 10-0 at the time. Nelson drove in two with a single earlier in the inning and both Jones and Tinker had two hits in the inning. Tinker's second hit of the inning gave Trinity a 12-0 lead and finished off the prolific inning.
Nelson doubled home two more runs as part of a five-run fourth inning for the Tigers, pushing the lead to 17-0. Lazzara and Tinker added two more RBI to their total to help the cause of piling up numbers. Meanwhile, Beck limited the Texas Lutheran offense to just one base runner in the third and fourth to allow the lead to go as high as 19-0 after the Tigers scored two more times in the fifth. Lazzara doubled in a run to start the scoring, then Jones singled in his teammate before the Bulldogs escaped further damage with another pitching change.
Texas Lutheran broke up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth by taking advantage of the Trinity bullpen. The Bulldogs scored a whopping seven runs on just three hits, but two Tiger errors helped the cause as well. Trinity got two of those runs back in the seventh to make it a 21-7 lead that was also the final score in the game. Texas Lutheran put two runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to try and keep the game alive, but Rangel finished off the game by inducing a line drive out to second.
The Rundown, Game 2
Trinity started the second game the same way as the first with Woodward drawing a leadoff walk, but this time Texas Lutheran worked around it and got three quick outs to avoid any damage. Not only that, but the Bulldogs offense jumped in front quickly with a three-run first inning.
Texas Lutheran scratched across another run in the bottom of the third on a Tiger error to take a 4-0 lead before Trinity's offense was able to get on the board. Lazzara drew a leadoff walk to open the fourth inning, then a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs. Tinker broke up the shutout with a sac fly to right, but TLU limited the trouble to just one run and still lead 4-1.
Both teams missed opportunities with base runners in nearly every half-inning, and it wasn't until the seventh that Trinity was able to make it a 4-2 game after Ramsey tripled to lead off the inning. Woodward drove in the run to make it a two-run game, but Texas Lutheran got that run back in the bottom of the inning after the Tigers made two more errors that lead to a 5-2 game heading into the final two innings.
Trinity went down in order in the eighth and Texas Lutheran had just a two-out walk for a runner in the home half, setting up a dramatic comeback in the ninth. Ramsey picked up an infield single to start things off, then Woodward walked to bring the tying run to the plate. After a pitching change that led to a strikeout, Lazzara walked to load the bases with just one out. Jones singled in the first run to make it 5-3 with the bases still loaded, then a passed ball took the lead down to just one. That led to Coney's game-winning double down the right field line that plated a pair of Tigers and put Trinity in front for the first time in the game. Texas Lutheran stopped Trinity's scoring after that, but the damage was done, and Hellings slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the save.
Up Next
Trinity and Texas Lutheran will close out the series with a single game on Monday, February 24, at 7:00 p.m. in Seguin. The Tigers remain on the road next weekend as well with a three-game series against Concordia University (TX) that begins on Friday, February 28, at 6:00 p.m. in Austin, Texas.
