SAN ANTONIO – The #16 Trinity University baseball team finished off its opening Southern Athletic Association series of the year with a 10-0 run-rule shutout win against Millsaps College (MS) on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (12-7, 3-0 SAA) scored seven runs in the third inning against the Majors (7-12, 0-3 SAA), which proved more than enough to pick up the win that sealed a weekend series sweep. Trinity held Millsaps to just two hits in the game and those came on consecutive batters in the sixth inning. Pitchers
Joey Hagen (San Clemente, Calif. / Santa Margarita Catholic) and
Will Taylor (Greenwood Village, Colo. / Cherry Creek) combined for the two-hit shutout and went 5.2 innings before allowing a hit. Taylor (3-0) earned the win with 4.1 innings pitched, striking out five batters and giving up both hits.
Kaleb Woodward (San Pedro, Calif. / Palos Verdes Peninsula) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored, while
Will Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) cleared the bases with a three-run triple in the pivotal third inning.
Grant Anderson (Austin, Texas / Vista Ridge) finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI.
Khalfani Coney (Los Angeles, Calif. / Crossroads School) ended the game with a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh, finishing 1-for-2 with two runs, two RBI, and also drew two walks.
The Rundown
Neither team had anything going in the first two innings and the only baserunner was a walk to Millsaps that ended up getting erased on an inning-ending double play in the second. The Majors had a batter hit by a pitch to reach in the third and the Tigers wasted no time going to Taylor out of the bullpen, who got out of the inning with just one pitch.
Nicholas Jones (Southlake, Texas / Carroll) walked to lead off the third and that was the first baserunner of the game for the Tigers. That led to a six-hit inning that flipped the game into a blowout.
John Ramsey (Austin, Texas / Westwood) singled after the Jones walk and then Coney also walked to load the bases for the top of the Trinity order. Woodward started with an RBI single, then
Anthony Suscha (Indianapolis, IN / Brebeuf Jesuit) was hit by a pitch to bring in another run for a 2-0 lead. That's when Baker delivered his three-run triple, which was followed by a double by Anderson to make it a 6-0 game.
Mattias Rytting (Houston, Texas / Bellaire) had a sac fly after
Sawyer Haynes (Waco, Texas / Midway) also singled, finishing off the scoring and staking Taylor to a 7-0 lead.
Only one hitter reached base over the next two innings as both pitchers settled in. Taylor got the first two outs of the fifth before allowing back-to-back hits that gave temporary life to the Millsaps dugout. Taylor ended the threat with a strikeout, though, and the Majors didn't get another runner on base in the game. Coney walked with two outs in the Tiger sixth to give Woodward a chance to hammer an RBI double to left-center, but Trinity left two runners on in the inning and the game remained 8-0. Anderson and Rytting both had singles in the seventh for the Tigers, then a walk loaded the bases with one out. After Millsaps got the second out and looked like it might extend the game, Coney smashed a 2-0 pitch into the gap for a game-ending double that enacted the run-rule and a 10-0 win for Trinity.
Up Next
Trinity will be on the road for just the second time this season, heading to Atlanta, Ga., for a three-game SAA series at Oglethorpe University (GA) next weekend. The Tigers and Stormy Petrels open with a game on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. (ET), then will play a doubleheader on Saturday that begins at 1:00 p.m. (ET).
