Baseball
 

March 22, 2008

Trinity Takes SCAC Series Win From Southwestern

San Antonio - The Tiger baseball team won its third straight game over Southwestern University on Saturday, winning the SCAC weekend series.

Trinity (17-8, 6-2) won 15-11 in an offensive showcase by both teams.  The Tigers hammered out 16 hits in the game, but were actually out-hit by the visitors 17-16.  Trinity did rip four home runs in the game - three of which were hit by first-year players.

The win gave Tiger head coach Tim Scannell his 300th career victory.  Scannell, in his 10th season at Trinity's helm, is just the second coach in school history to reach the milestone - joining Trinity Hall of Famer Houston Wheeler.

Southwestern opened up a 5-0 lead in the game, highlighted by four straight hits to open the top of the first inning - including a two-run homer by catcher Michael Murphy.  Trinity was finally able to get on the board in the bottom of the second when John Prato Matthews cracked his fourth homer of the year to lead off the inning.  Prato Matthews finished 2-5 in the game, driving in two runs and scoring two more.

The Tigers were back on the board again the next inning, scoring on a two-out homer by Evan Jones that drove in two runs, and made it a 5-3 game.  In the fourth, Trinity tied the game with a two-run double off the bat of John Paillet that was just fair past the third base bag. 

After the five unanswered runs by Trinity, Southwestern was finally able to respond with runs in the fifth and sixth to make it 7-5.  In the bottom of the inning, though, two more Tiger long balls turned the game around in a big way.  After a leadoff walk, the Tigers tried a hit-and-run with Steven Ramos, but the hard line drive to first was right at the first baseman, who casually stepped on the bag to get the stealing runner without much effort.

First-year Logan Spiers then hit a stand-up double to left-center, sending Paillet back up in a big spot.  Paillet got his second hit of the day, driving a home run over the left field fence to tie the game at 7-7.  Kevin Jackson, another first-year player, followed that up with another double to left-center, chasing Southwestern's starter from the game.  Finally, just to keep it all in the same class, first-year Dominick Robusto sent another homer to left field to give Trinity back the lead at 9-7 through six innings.

Jackson and Jordan Pennington then drove in two more runs in the seventh, and the Tigers pulled ahead 11-7 with just two innings left.  To their credit, Southwestern continued to fight, plating three runs in the third with three consecutive hits.  Trinity was not done scoring either, though, sending home four more runs in the bottom of the eighth to take command 15-10.  The Pirates added a run in the ninth, but it was not enough in this slugfest.

Kevin Calbick (1-0) took the win for Trinity, giving up one hit in his one inning of work.  Zach Bukowski had a solid outing, giving up two runs over three innings in the middle of the game and striking out six batters. 

Jackson finished 3-5 in the game, while Ramos was 3-4 with three runs scored.  The only time Ramos was retired was on the double play lineout that he hit into that sparked Trinity's comeback in the sixth.  Paillet drove in four runs total to lead the team, while Robusto was 2-4 with two runs and two RBI.  Robusto also stole his team-best 12th base of the season.

Trinity will finish up its home stand with an afternoon game against McMurry University on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.  The Tigers will then embark on a four-game SCAC series at Austin College.  Austin College is the defending SCAC champion, and is currently tied with Trinity for the SCAC West Division lead.