ABILENE, Texas – The eighth-ranked Trinity University baseball team earned an 8-5 road win over Hardin-Simmons University on Wednesday evening.
The Tigers improved to 9-1 this season with the win, while the Cowboys fell to 3-10 to start off the year. Trinity is now 20-9 in the series against HSU, having won 15 of the last 16 meetings and four consecutive matchups after losing the first game of a three-game series in 2023.
Paul Nathanson (Long Lake, Minn. / The Blake School) got the start for the Tigers and struck out four batters, but left after three innings in favor of
Jack Briese (Danville, Ky. / Boyle County). Briese (2-0) earned the win after striking out three batters over a four-inning appearance.
Brandon Morio (Austin, Texas / McNeil) pitched around an error and a walk for a scoreless eighth, and
Wes Hellings (Summit, N.J. / Summit) struck out two of the final three batters he faced to earn his third save of the year.
Maddox McDonald (San Antonio, Texas / Antonian) and
Michael Lustina (Austin, Texas / Westlake) both homered for the Tigers, while
Nicholas Lazzara (Carrollton, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) had a pair of hits and two RBI. The Trinity trio combined for five of Trinity's 12 hits, scoring five runs and driving in five as well. McDonald went 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) reached base three times with a hit and two walks, scoring a pair of runs for the Tigers.
The Rundown
The game started off with a bang as Woodward singled ahead of a two-run homer to right field for McDonald. Lustina followed with a solo shot of his own just two batters later and the Tigers held a 3-0 lead despite just four players coming to the plate at the time.
Kai Tinker (Simi Valley, Calif. / Grace Brethren) kept the inning going with a two-out double, then
Max Milligan (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) made it a 4-0 Trinity lead with the sixth hit of the inning.
Hardin-Simmons singled with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Nathanson needed just 12 pitches to put the Tiger offense back on the field. Woodward started the inning with a walk and then came around to score two batters later as Lazzara delivered an RBI single up the middle for a 5-0 lead. Nathanson retired six straight batters before giving up three hits with two outs in the third and Hardin-Simmons made it 5-1 to break up the shutout. Trinity's answer was to load the bases to start the fourth, reaching on a hit batter and two walks.
Will Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) then drove in a run after he was hit by a pitch and Tinker followed with a sacrifice fly to take the lead to 7-1.
Briese came on in relief in the fourth after the first two batters reached base for the Cowboys. Hardin-Simmons got a run on a double steal during which the runner was thrown out at second, making it a 7-2 game after four innings. McDonald and Lazzara hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the fifth to get the run back and push the lead up to six heading into the bottom half of the inning. Neither team had more than one baserunner until HSU came out of the seventh-inning stretch with back-to-back hits. Briese got the next batter out with a strikeout, but a two-run double followed to make it an 8-4 game. The Cowboys got another run with a two-out hit that cut the lead to 8-5 with two innings to play.
The Tiger offense was again limited to just one runner in the eighth and the score remained the same, then Morio came in to pitch the bottom of the inning. An error and a two-out walk put runners on the corners and the tying run at the plate, but Morio got the groundout to end the threat.
Callen Singhania (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) singled, stole second, and advanced to third on an error to start Trinity's half of the ninth, but a double play derailed the inning and the game was down to just three outs. Hellings got a groundout and a strikeout to start, then followed a base hit with another strikeout to complete the road win and get the save.
Up Next
Trinity returns home this weekend to host a three-game Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference series against McMurry University (TX). The teams get the series started Friday night at 7:00 p.m., followed by single games on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
