SAN ANTONIO – The seventh-ranked Trinity University baseball team lost its third straight game as #24 SUNY Cortland held on for an 8-5 win in Friday night's second game of the series.
The Tigers (13-4) lost yesterday's series opener 11-3 to the Red Dragons (7-5), while also dropping a narrow 4-3 game against DeSales University (PA) on Wednesday night. Trinity once again fell behind early to Cortland and the late rally by the Tigers wasn't enough to overcome a slow start. Cortland had just one more hit than Trinity, but also drew nine base on balls and left 13 runners on base in the game.
Brandon Morio (Austin, Texas / McNeil) was solid after being called into the game in the first inning. He threw 3.2 shutout innings, striking out four batters and allowing just three hits.
Jake Beck (Austin, Texas / Austin) was saddled with the loss and fell to 1-1 after giving up three runs in the first inning – though all three runs were unearned, as Cortland took advantage of an error that led to a 3-0 lead.
Will Taylor (Greenwood Village, Colo. / Cherry Creek) held Cortland hitless over the final 1.1 innings.
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) went 3-for-4 to lead Trinity's offense, while
Callen Singhania (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) also had a pair of hits for the Tigers.
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) delivered a pinch-hit two-run triple in the eighth, helping to spark Trinity's rally.
Cortland put together three hits and three walks – including two with the bases loaded – to score five runs in the top of the seventh, taking an 8-0 lead at the time. Cortland went to the bullpen for the first time in the bottom of the inning and
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) promptly drew a leadoff walk to get the wheels moving. After Cortland got the first out of the inning,
Max Milligan (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) came up with a pinch-hit single to put runners at the corners. Milligan stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch that also allowed Tinker to score Trinity's first run of the game. An error put two runners on and also brought in Milligan as
John Ramsey (Austin, Texas / Westwood) collected an RBI on the play. Two batters later, Woodward hit a rocket into the corner down the right field line with two outs, bringing in two more runners to make it an 8-4 game. Lazzara followed with an RBI single of his own and Trinity had matched the five runs put up in the top half of the frame by the Red Dragons to make it 8-5. Unfortunately, the rally ended there as Cortland wound up with its third strikeout of the inning, and the Tigers were retired in order in the eighth and ninth to finish off the game.
Up Next
Trinity and Cortland will square off for game three of the four-game series on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The final game will be at Noon on Sunday, March 16.
