Baseball
 

March 20, 2008

Tigers Fall in SCAC Series Opener Thursday

San Antonio - Trinity had its four-game winning streak snapped on Thursday night, as Southwestern won the opening game of a four-game SCAC series with a 6-5 victory.

Trinity (14-8, 3-2) fell behind early as Southwestern's offense exploded for five runs in the third inning.  The Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the inning after Stosh Hoover and Evan Jones hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the inning. 

Southwestern added an unearned run in the fifth to go back ahead by five, but would not be able to score again for the remainder of the game. 

The Tigers, however, were far from finished offensively, adding another run in the seventh on a two-out double from Kevin Calbick, scoring Dominick Robusto.  Robusto opened the inning with a pinch-hit single to center field. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Trinity put two runners on with one out, and sent John Prato Matthews to the plate.  Prato Matthews came on in the sixth inning, flying out to left-center his first time up.  In this at-bat, though, he would electrify the team with a towering homer to left field, bringing the Tigers to within one run.  Robusto then smashed a single to left, chasing Southwestern's starting pitcher from the game.

The inning ended in controversy, though, and the momentum was sucked away from Trinity by an umpire's call of interference on a ground ball by John Paillet.  Paillet, who had come on in the seventh, hit a grounder to third and Southwestern would shoot for the inning-ending double play.  Paillet, though, hustled down the line and appeared to be on his way to beating any potential throw.  Robusto, sliding hard into second, was called for interference, though, and the inning - as well as Trinity's rally - was over.

Although Trinity got a double play of its own the end the top of the ninth, the offense went in order in the bottom of the inning, ending the game one run short.

Robusto was 2-2 off the bench, while Jones finished 2-4 with one run and one RBI.  Calbick was also 2-4 with one RBI in the game.

Ryan Poffenroth (2-1) took his first loss of the season, giving up five earned runs - six runs total - on nine hits in his 7.1 innings, striking out four batters.  Britton Horn pitched the final 1.2 innings without allowing a hit to give the Tigers a shot at the comeback.

Trinity and Southwestern resume the four-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon.  Game one, scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start, will be seven innings in length, and the finale will be a nine-inning contest.  The series concludes on Saturday afternoon.