Baseball
 

February 23, 2008

Offensive Outburst Leads Trinity Past Rutgers-Newark

San Antonio - The Tiger baseball team exploded for a 17-4 victory over Rutgers-Newark on Saturday night, scoring more runs than the team had scored since early in the 2006 season.

Trinity (3-3) fell behind after allowing a run in the top of the first, but the home team quickly erased that deficit with back-to-back extra-base hits in the bottom of the inning.  The Tigers scored three runs in that first inning, then answered another Rutgers-Newark run by scoring three more times in the second. 

A pair of runs in the fourth made it 8-2, then Trinity more than doubled its run total with nine runs overall in the fifth and sixth.  Jordan Pennington's three-run homer in the fifth highlighted that inning - an inning in which four unearned runs crossed the plate.  The following inning, Evan Jones hit a grand slam to complete his team's scoring for the night.  Both homers came with two outs in the inning.

Pennington finished the game 2-4 with one run and four RBI.  He also hit a double and walked to reach base a total of three times in the game.  Jones was 2-5 with a career-high four runs scored and a career-best seven RBI.  The seven RBI are tied for the fifth-most in school history, missing the Trinity record by just one. 

Dillan Early and Dominick Robusto had three hits each for the Tigers, and both players cracked first-inning doubles.  Early finished 3-6 with four runs and an RBI, while Robusto was 3-4 with one run and two RBI.  Kyle Felix and Jeff Claydon also had two hits, while Kevin Calbick scored twice.  Stosh Hoover drew three walks in the game and scored a career-high three runs.

Brian Oates (1-1) took the win for the Tigers, giving up just two runs on four hits and striking out five batters.  After giving up single runs in the first and second, Oates finished his outing with four shutout innings.

Drew Bignall made his 2008 debut, striking out three batters in two innings, while John Prato Matthews saw his first action on the mound, finishing off the game with an uneventful ninth inning.

Trinity and Rutgers-Newark conclude the three-game weekend series tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.  The Tigers will then face Schreiner on the road on Tuesday, March 26, at 2:00 p.m.