MOUNT BERRY, Ga. – The Trinity University baseball team opened a three-game Southern Athletic Association weekend series with a 13-4 win over Berry College (GA).
The Tigers (14-10, 5-2 SAA) out-hit the Vikings (14-9, 4-3 SAA) 17-5 in tonight's game, which puts Trinity alone in second in the SAA standings. Trinity jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings and never looked back, scoring at least once in all but two innings, and mixing in six extra-base hits.
Thomas Moss (Sugar Land, Texas / Kempner) led the hit barrage with a 4-for-4 performance to go with one run and five RBI.
Sawyer Haynes (Waco, Texas / Midway) went 3-for-3 with four runs scored and
John Ramsey (Austin, Texas / Westwood) also had three hits, three RBI, and two runs scored.
Anthony Suscha (Indianapolis, Ind. / Brebeuf Jesuit) picked up two hits – a double and a triple – while also scoring once and driving in another run.
Will Baker (Missouri City, Texas / Ridge Point) collected two RBI and both
Grant Anderson (Austin, Texas / Vista Ridge) and
Michael Lustina (Austin, Texas / Westlake) both scored twice.
Brandon Morio (Austin, Texas / McNeil) allowed three runs on four hits over 5.1 innings to earn the win and improve to 2-1 this season.
Will Hellings (Summit, N.J. / Summit) earned his second save of the year by pitching the final 3.2 innings, giving up just one run on one hit and striking out three batters.
The Rundown
After both teams went down in order in the first inning, Trinity got the scoring started with a four-hit second inning. Anderson reached on an error to start the game, then Haynes doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Moss picked up his first hit of the day to bring in Anderson and then stole second base to put runners at second and third again.
Mattias Rytting (Houston, Texas / Bellaire) produced a sac fly to make it 2-0. Two batters later, Ramsey hit a two-run homer to double the score to 4-0. Though Berry got out of the inning without any more damage, the Tigers were far from done scoring. Baker singled with one out in the third, then Haynes also reached with a two-out hit and stole second. Moss drove in both runners with a single to left to make it a 6-0 lead.
Berry got its first two hits of the game in the fourth, capped by a two-run homer to also break up the shutout. Haynes and Moss singled to start the Tiger fifth, then the Vikings went to the bullpen and promptly got a double play. Lustina then walked on four pitches – the last of which was a passed ball that allowed Haynes to score and make it 7-2 Trinity. Suscha tripled with one out in the sixth and Baker drove him in three pitchers later to make it 8-2. Berry got that last run back in the bottom of the sixth, which eventually led to Morio giving way to Hellings in the Trinity bullpen. Hellings got the next two hitters out and the score remained 8-3 after six.
Haynes walked to lead off the seventh and Moss doubled him home to jump-start what would be a three-run inning and an 11-3 lead for the Tigers. After Lustina walked to put runners on the corners, Ramsey dropped down a bunt single to score a run. Suscha then reached on a fielder's choice that accounted for the last run of the inning. Berry added what turned out to be its final run of the game on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the inning, but Trinity still had two more insurance runs to add. Anderson doubled to lead off Trinity's eighth, then scored on a sac fly from Moss. Baker finished off the scoring in the ninth with a sac fly to score Ramsey and make it a 13-4 game. The Vikings put two runners on in the ninth, but Hellings finished off the game with a strikeout to seal the win.
Up Next
Trinity and Berry will finish off the series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon, beginning at 1:00 p.m. (ET).
