Baseball
 

March 21, 2009

Trinity Holds off Dallas to Open Weekend Series

San Antonio - The Tiger baseball team held off a rally by the University of Dallas to beat the Crusaders 7-5 Saturday in the opening of a two-game non-conference series at E.M. Stevens Field.

Trinity (11-13) scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Designated hitter Jordan Pennington singled to first base and drove in catcher Kyle Felix, who had a base hit. Pennington batted 3 for 4 with one RBI and scored one run. Second baseman Jeff Claydon singled to right center and shortstop Stosh Hoover scored. Claydon hit 2 for 4 with an RBI and scored one run.

The icing on the first-inning cake was a three-run homer by left fielder Kevin Calbick, his second round-tripper of the season. Claydon and Pennington crossed the plate off Calbick’s shot over right field. Calbick went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and scored a run.

Dallas (12-5-1) scored three runs in the fifth inning, on two RBI singles and a wild pitch.

The Tigers took a 7-3 lead with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded, first baseman Evan Jones drew a walk and Felix scored his second run of the game.

The Crusaders produced two runs in the top of the ninth inning, as first baseman Zach Atkins singled down the left field line. Atkins batted 2 for 5 with three RBIs. Left fielder Michael Fattaleh went 1 for 2, with a triple and one run.  The game ended as Dallas had two players on base.

Tiger pitcher Ben Klimesh started the game, and hurled 4 2/3 innings. Mike Hunter entered in the fifth and pitched 3 1/3 innings. Hunter, who picked up the victory, allowed two hits, no runs, three walks and struck out four batters. He improved to 2-1 after the win. The Crusaders’ Philip Carkhuff (0-1) was the starter and took the loss.

Trinity scored one earned run, smacked 10 hits, made no errors and left eight players on base. Dallas scored five earned, scattered six hits, committed two errors and left nine players on base.

The two teams will conclude their series with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.