SAN ANTONIO – The seventh-ranked Trinity University baseball team had its six-game winning streak snapped in a 4-3 loss to DeSales University (PA) on Wednesday night.
The Tigers (13-2) had also won eight consecutive meetings against the Bulldogs (4-4), who earned their first win against Trinity since the 2012 season. Trinity leads the series between the two schools with 14 wins in 17 meetings. The Tigers trailed the entire game and were down two runs in the ninth when the home team mounted a comeback bid that fell short, leaving two runners on base at the end of the game.
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) had two of Trinity's four hits on the day, going 2-for-3 with a two-run home run that accounted for the only runs of the game for the Tigers until the ninth inning. In fact, Lazzara had the only two hits of the night for Trinity until the ninth inning.
Paul Nathanson (Long Lake, Minn. / The Blake School) took the loss and fell to 0-1 this season, allowing just two earned runs (three total) over 5.0 innings, giving up three hits and striking out four batters.
Jack Bussard (Reisterstown, Md. / McDonough School) and
Jack Briese (Danville, Ky. / Boyle County) pitched two innings each in relief, with Bussard yielding a run on one hit and striking out a pair of batters, and Briese not allowing a hit and striking out four batters to close out the game.
DeSales paired two walks with two hits to score two runs in the top of the second inning, mounting a lead that it never relinquished the rest of the game. Trinity didn't have a hit over the first two innings and DeSales took advantage of two Tiger errors in the top of the third to make it a 3-0 lead. Lazzara put his team into the hit column with a towering two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the third, cutting the lead to 3-2. Trinity left two runners on base in the inning though and were unable to pull even.
Neither team had a hit in the fourth or fifth, with Nathanson mowing down six straight batters over that stretch. After allowing a leadoff walk in the sixth, he also induced an inning-ending double play. The Tigers put the first two runners on in the bottom of the inning and had both runners in scoring position with just one out, but were unable to put enough together to tie things up.
After another double play by the Tigers took the momentum away from DeSales in the seventh, Lazzara kept the offense alive with a two-out double to left-center.
Diego Gomez (Pharr, Texas / PSJA) followed with a pinch-hit walk, but Trinity left runners on base once again and the game remained 3-2 after seven innings. DeSales added what turned out to be a much-needed insurance run in the eighth, starting the inning with a walk and a hit to chase Bussard from the game. A ground ball to short brought in the run to make it 4-2, but Briese limited the damage with a pair of strikeouts.
Trinity stranded another runner after a two-out walk in the eighth and the game moved to the final inning. Briese got two more strikeouts in the ninth to give the offense a chance at a rally.
Maddox McDonald (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) drove a one-out single to right field to get the offense started, then
Grant Anderson (Austin, Texas / Vista Ridge) delivered a pinch-hit single to center. He moved to second on the throw to third to try and cut down McDonald, putting the tying run in scoring position with just one out. Gomez grounded to third to bring in McDonald to make it a 4-3 game, but DeSales got a pop-up to finish the game and seal the victory.
Up Next
Trinity will begin a four-game series with SUNY Cortland tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. The two teams will play four games over the next four days, including a Friday night tilt at 7:00 p.m., followed by afternoon matchups on Saturday and Sunday.
