San Antonio, Texas - No. 1 Trinity Baseball put together a complete offensive effort with timely hitting and aggressive baserunning, building an early lead and holding off a late push from Babson to secure an 8-5 victory on Friday night.

The Tigers wasted no time setting the tone in the first inning. Callen Singhania (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Cam Champness (Katy, Texas / Taylor) before Will Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) drove him in with a double down the left-field line. Just a few pitches later, Will Dixon (Houston, Texas / Memorial) stretched the inning with an RBI triple to left-center, and Michael Lustina (Austin, Texas / Westlake) followed with a run-scoring single to center, giving Trinity a quick 3-0 advantage after one.

Trinity kept the pressure on in the second. Khalfani Coney (Los Angeles, California / Crossroads School) opened the inning with a double, and after Singhania reached base, the Tigers executed a daring sequence on the bases—Singhania swiped second while Coney broke for home, successfully stealing a run. Moments later, Singhania came around to score on a Babson throwing error, extending the lead to 5-0.

Babson answered with a solo home run in the top of the third to make it 5-1, but Trinity responded immediately. Lustina reached to start the bottom half and worked his way around before capping the inning with a steal of home, pushing the margin back to five runs at 6-1.

After a couple of quiet innings, the Tigers added on again in the fifth. Dixon drew a walk and Lustina was hit by a pitch to set up the inning, and after Lustina moved into scoring position, Mattias Rytting (Houston, Texas / Bellaire) delivered with an RBI single through the left side to bring him home and make it 7-1.

Trinity added its final run in the sixth. Baker reached and advanced into scoring position before Nicholas Jones (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) lined a double to left field. With runners in scoring position, Dixon came through once again, sending an RBI single into right field to stretch the lead to 8-1.

On the mound, Will Hellings (Summit, New Jersey / Summit) turned in a dominant performance, striking out 11 batters over seven strong innings while limiting Babson's offense, leading to his first win of the season. Brandon Morio (Austin, Texas / McNeil) followed with a scoreless eighth to keep the Tigers in control. Babson made things interesting in the ninth with a four-run rally to trim the deficit, but Will Taylor (Greenwood Village, Colorado / Cherry Creek) came on to secure the final outs and close out the win.

Final: Trinity 8, Babson 5.

Up Next

The Tigers will be back for game two against Babson tomorrow with first pitch set for 2:00 PM.