Baseball
 

April 17, 2007

Tigers Score in the Ninth to Upset Texas Lutheran Tuesday

San Antonio - Trinity's baseball team scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to upset eighth-ranked Texas Lutheran University 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Trinity (18-20) fell behind 2-0 early in the game when Texas Lutheran scored single runs in the third and fourth innings, but the Tigers answered with a four-run explosion in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead.  It marked the first time that Trinity had scored against the Bulldogs this season, after being shut out 5-0 earlier in the year.

The nationally-ranked Bulldogs were very resilient, though, scoring in the sixth and seventh to tie the game 4-4 on a pair of unearned runs.

In the ninth, Trinity put a runner on with one out as Blake Holman was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game.  Ricky Welch then executed a hit-and-run with a solid single into right-center field, with Holman advancing to third base on the play.  Texas Lutheran brought in a new pitcher after the single, and Trinity pinch-hitter Richie Smith stepped in with the chance to win the game. 

On the first pitch, Holman scored on a wild pitch as the catcher Josh Moreno was unable to grab a wild pitch that was way inside on the left-handed hitting Smith.  Holman was able to score easily on the play, securing the upset victory.

Bobby Zabor and Eric Samulski had two hits each in the game, while Andreas Verrios hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the team's only extra-base hits.  The homer was the second of the season for Verrios.

Trinity, which finished fourth in the SCAC West Division, will next play this weekend in the SCAC Divisional Playoffs, which will be a best-of-three weekend series against the East Division's top seed in Rhodes College.  The series will be played at Millington, Tennessee.