SAN ANTONIO – The #6/9 Trinity University baseball team finished off a four-game series against #1 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater by erasing a 4-0 deficit and earning a walk-off 6-5 win in the ninth on Saturday morning.
The Tigers (3-1) took the final three games of the series after the Warhawks opened the matchup with a 6-2 win on Thursday. Trinity followed the season-opening loss with a doubleheader sweep on Friday, winning 12-1 and 5-4 to ensure at least a series split at the time. UW-Whitewater was in control for most of the game, leading 4-0 heading into the seventh-inning stretch, but Trinity scored all six runs in the final three innings, finishing with a game-winning single by catcher
Mattias Rytting (Houston, Texas / Bellaire) to drive in pinch-runner
Evan Kuhl (Boerne, Texas / Champion) with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Rytting went 3-for-5 in the game, including the final hit of the day, scoring once and driving in the final run.
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) had a monster day at the plate, going 5-for-5 in the game to become just the fourth Tiger player ever to have at least five hits in multiple games.
Paul Nathanson (Long Lake, Minn. / The Blake School) came on in relief and got the final out of the ninth to earn the win and improve to 1-0 this season. Starting pitcher
Jace Clay (Missouri City, Texas / Strake Jesuit) lasted 4.2 innings, allowing three runs (only one earned) on four hits, and striking out three batters.
Brandon Morio (Austin, Texas / McNeil) also had three strikeouts in 2.0 innings of relief.
The Rundown
Despite allowing two baserunners in the first inning, Clay had the Tigers fired up after recording a pair of pickoffs to erase each runner. Trinity also had a couple of runners in their half of the first, but a double play kept them from striking first. The home team missed more chances in the third and fourth innings by stranding two runners in each frame. Whitewater broke through in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with just one out, and scoring the opening run with a fielder's choice. Two batters later, the Warhawks delivered a two-run single with two outs to make it a 3-0 lead.
After stranding two in the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers came back with two more runners to start the fifth. Rytting and Woodward had back-to-back hits to set the table, but the Warhawks got three straight strikeouts and the game remained 3-0. The visitors took advantage of a single to start the sixth, eventually scoring on a groundout to short that made it a 4-0 lead.
Trinity's offense came to life in the bottom of the seventh, stringing together three singles to load the bases with two outs.
Pierce Matthews (Carrollton, Texas / Hebron) stroked a two-run single to center to get the Tigers on the board and cut the lead to just 4-2. Whitewater got one of those runs back in the top of the eighth, which proved to be a crucial run at the time. Trinity's first three batters in the bottom of the eighth all reached to load the bases for Woodward at the top of the order. He slashed his fifth hit of the day to bring in the first run of the inning, then
Jack Spenst (Corpus Christi, Texas / Ray) made it 5-4 with a sac fly on the next pitch. Both runners moved up on a groundout from
Will Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point), then Rytting scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. The Warhawks got away without losing the lead, setting up a dramatic ninth.
A one-out walk in the ninth was followed by a stolen base, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Jack Bussard (Reisterstown, Md. / McDonogh School) got a strikeout for the second out, then gave way to Nathanson. Despite giving up a walk to his first hitter to put two runners on base, Nathanson stopped the momentum with an inning-ending strikeout to give the Tigers a shot to win it in the ninth.
Grant Anderson (Austin, Texas / Vista Ridge) was hit by the second pitch of the inning, then gave way to Kuhl. The Tiger pinch-runner moved to second on a groundout to third, which brought Rytting to the plate. After fouling off the first pitch, Rytting pounded a single up the middle past a diving shortstop to bring in Kuhl for the game-winner.
Up Next
Trinity will host Babson College (MA) in a three-game series next weekend, beginning Friday night at 6:00 p.m. Game two will be Saturday at 2:00 p.m., followed by Sunday's series finale that begins at 10:00 a.m.
