Baseball
 

February 14, 2009

Jackson's Walkoff Lifts Trinity Past Austin College

San Antonio - Trinity's Kevin Jackson, a sophomore third-baseman, cracked a walkoff homer with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Tigers past Austin College by a final of 9-8.

Trinity (1-4, 1-0) won its first game of the year in the team's SCAC and home opener on Saturday.  The game featured five lead changes and two ties as both teams fought for the victory.

Jackson was 4-6 with two runs and two RBI in the game, hitting two singles, a double, and the home run - the first four-bagger of his career. 

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead after scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first, but Austin College answered immediately with a two-run second to take its first lead of the day.

The lead held until the fifth inning when Jackson and Jordan Pennington each cracked two-run doubles.  Austin answered again in the sixth with a run, but Trinity again pushed the lead back to three runs on another RBI from Jackson.

Austin College then tied the game 6-6 with a three-run seventh inning, but the Tigers reclaimed the lead with a pair of runs in the eighth.  The visitors then scored a pair of runs with one out in the top of the ninth to tie things up and send the game to the bottom of the ninth.

Evan Jones nearly ended the game on a home run with two outs in the ninth, but his fly ball to right field fell just short of the fence.  In the 10th, Trinity had two men on with one out, but a double play crushed the rally and sent the game to the 11th inning.

Michael Panozzo (1-0) retired six of the seven batters he faced in the 10th and 11th innings to get the win, allowing only a two-out walk in the 10th.  After he retired the side in the 11th, Jackson came up and finished off the victory.

Pennington finished 2-4 with two RBI, while Kevin Calbick also had two hits and two runs scored.  Jeff Claydon was 2-5 with a run and two RBI, while Dylan Early scored twice. 

Bennett Herrick went 4-6 with three runs and two RBI for Austin College, while Bobby Schleizer was 2-3 with three runs scored.

Trinity and Austin College finish off the weekend series with a single game tomorrow afternoon.  The Tigers will then hit the road for a mid-week game at Mary Hardin-Baylor and a three-game weekend series at Sul Ross State University.