(Story Courtesy of Trinity University Sports Information Department)
MARSHALL, Texas – The Tiger baseball team advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals after splitting its games on Saturday at East Texas Baptist University.
Trinity (30-15) lost its opening game to hosting East Texas Baptist 9-4, then bounced back with a resounding 11-2 victory over California Lutheran University in the final elimination game of the day. Trinity earned a rematch with East Texas Baptist in tomorrow's tournament finale and would need to win twice in order to win the regional.
Cade McGahan took the loss in the opening game and fell to 6-2 this season, allowing two earned runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings, and recording five strikeouts.
Ty Preston went 3-for-3 with one run and one RBI, while Colt Harris was the only other Tiger with more than one hit in his 2-for-4 afternoon at the plate. Michael Montrezza drove in a pair of runs with his only hit of the game.
Cristian Holloway paced Trinity's offensive attack in the second game, going 4-for-4 with three runs scored, while Harris added three more hits and two RBI in the nightcap. Montrezza collected two more hits and scored twice against Cal Lu. Tyler Pettit drove in three runs and hit his second homer of the weekend against the Kingsmen, and Brandon Nelson also went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Jack Baker had three hits and two runs scored across both games.
Jack Briese picked up the game two victory to improve to 2-2 this season, striking out six batters across 5.2 scoreless innings during which he allowed just three hits. Jack Schmitt pitched in both games, earning the save in the win over CLU after allowing just two runs on three hits over the final 3.1 innings of the game.
Trinity and East Texas Baptist will face off again at 11:00 a.m. in the NCAA Regional Championship on Sunday. Game two would be approximately 30 minutes after game one ends, if Trinity wins the opener.
The Rundown, East Texas Baptist
McGahan started the game by retiring the first seven batters he faced and his teammates staked him to a 2-0 lead by scoring twice in the bottom of the second. Preston opened the inning with a single through the left side of the infield and Nelson followed two batters later with a double to right. Montrezza pushed a single up the middle to score both runners and the Tigers had the early lead.
After getting the first out of the third inning, McGahan had his streak interrupted by a pair of singles from the potent East Texas offense. The Tigers escaped any damage, though, by turning an inning-ending double play to keep it to a 2-0 advantage.
East Texas Baptist stranded two more runners in the fourth, then finally broke through in the fifth with three runs on four hits to take a 3-2 lead. Four of the first five batters got hits to chase McGahan from the game, then ETBU scored the go-ahead run on a double steal play with runners on the corners.
A leadoff homer in the sixth got East Texas Baptist going again, leading to another three-spot and a 6-2 lead. Two doubles and an error led to the other two runs, which came as Trinity's bats were held in check by ETBU ace Sayers Collins. The Tigers did load the bases in the bottom of the sixth via three walks, but Collins escaped with the four-run lead still intact.
The seventh marked the third straight run-producing inning for East Texas Baptist, extending the lead to 7-2 with a pair of early hits in the inning. Collins got chased from the game after allowing a hit and a walk with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Trinity still couldn't cut into the lead and stranded two more runners.
Trinity finally got a clean inning on defense and the offense took advantage in the bottom of the eighth. Baker singled to start things off, followed by a walk for Pettit. Preston singled to drive in the first of two runs in the inning, while Nelson grounded out to bring in another to make it 7-4.
Those runs were answered immediately as East Texas Baptist staged a two-out rally to score two runs of its own and push the lead back to five runs heading into the final half-inning. Trinity put the leadoff runner on base in the bottom of the ninth, but a strikeout and a game-ending double play ended any hope of a rally before it got started.
The Rundown, California Lutheran
After a 1-2-3 inning to start the game for Briese, Trinity got on the board just three batters into its lineup as Pettit crushed a two-run homer to left-center. After Cal Lutheran got the second out of the inning, Holloway and Nelson sparked a two-out rally with back-to-back singles. Montrezza and Harris followed with RBI singles of their own and the Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning.
Briese pitched around a pair of walks in the second and didn't allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth. Cal Lutheran stranded two more runners in the inning though and the shutout continued. A pair of singles and a hit batter in the sixth brought Schmitt into the game and he got a huge strikeout with the bases loaded to keep the Kingsmen off the board.
Trinity's offense was back in business in the bottom of the sixth as Holloway led off with a double and moved to third on an error. Nelson drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to right, then Trinity got two more hits and a walk to load the bases. Montrezza scored on a balk to make it a 6-0 Tiger lead, but CLU wound up getting out of any further damage as Trinity left the bases loaded.
Holloway and Nelson put together another scoring combination in the seventh. Nelson followed Holloway's single with a two-run homer to make it an 8-0 lead, then the Tigers went on to score three more runs to push the margin to double digits. Harris doubled home Montrezza for the next run, then Ezra Gore and Pettit both had RBI to finish off the productive inning.
Schmitt gave up a two-out single in the eighth that was the first hit he allowed in the game, then a two-run homer put Cal Lutheran on the board at 11-2. The Kingsmen got a two-out single in the ninth as well, but the lead was too much to overcome.
Up Next
Trinity and East Texas Baptist will meet for the Regional Championship tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Trinity must win to force a second winner-take-all game for the chance to advance to next weekend's Super Regionals. East Texas Baptist needs to win just once to advance.
