SAN ANTONIO – The seventh-ranked Trinity University baseball team earned a Spring Break series split against #24 SUNY Cortland with a 7-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers (15-4) won the last two games of the four-game series against the Red Dragons (7-7) and now have won six times in eight meetings between the two schools. Trinity scored six runs in the first two innings and never looked back in today's series finale.
Jace Clay (Missouri City, Texas / Strake Jesuit) earned the win to improve to 3-0 this season, giving up two runs on six hits, and striking out eight batters in 7.1 innings on the mound.
Jack Briese (Danville, Ky. / Boyle County) came out of the bullpen in the eighth, retiring five straight batters to finish off the game and recording a pair of strikeouts.
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) crushed a two-run homer in the bottom of the first that put the Tigers in front 2-1 at the time.
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) was Trinity's only player with a multi-hit game going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
John Ramsey (Austin, Texas / Westwood) scored two runs to match Lazzara for the team lead in today's game.
The Rundown
Clay started the game with a strikeout but the second hitter of the day for Cortland knocked a solo homer over the wall in left to put the visitors in front 1-0. Clay shook that off and quickly retired the next two batters to keep Cortland from putting up big numbers early, which was its recipe for success in the first two games. Trinity got three straight hits to start the bottom of the inning and only a baserunning mistake kept Lazzara's long ball from being a three-run shot.
The second inning featured two more strikeouts by Clay after allowing the second hit of the game, quickly putting the game back in the hands of the Tiger hitters. Tinker and Ramsey both singled early in the inning and Trinity soon had the bases loaded with two outs. Tinker scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1, then Lazzara walked to reload the bases. That prompted Cortland to go to the bullpen, but the result was more of the same.
Brandon Nelson (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) drew a pinch-hit walk to drive in the next run, then
Michael Lustina (Austin, Texas / Westlake) did the same to pick up another RBI and send the Red Dragons back to the bullpen again.
Khalfani Coney (Los Angeles, Calif. / Crossroads School) made it four consecutive walks for Cortland pitchers – including three straight with the bases loaded to put the Tigers up 6-1. Cortland finally escaped the inning after Trinity sent 10 batters to the plate, but the damage was already done.
The five-run lead was plenty to put Clay's mind at ease and he cruised through the lineup over the next several innings. Cortland got another solo homer in the third to make it 6-2, but the visitors didn't get another runner to second base until the top of the sixth. Just before that, Trinity made it a 7-2 game after
Pierce Matthews (Carrollton, Texas / Hebron) got an infield single to start the bottom of the fifth, and
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) stroked an RBI single to center field in his first at-bat of the day. Neither team threatened again and Briese sat down five straight batters to close out the game in less than two-and-a-half hours.
Up Next
Trinity will have its first day off since last Monday, but will return to the field on Tuesday night to take on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (TX) at 7:00 p.m.
