Baseball
 

May 16, 2008

Ninth-Inning Comeback Falls Short at West Regionals

Abilene, Texas - Trinity's baseball team fell one run short in a ninth-inning comeback bid in the NCAA West Regionals against top-ranked Chapman University on Friday afternoon.

Trinity (34-14) and Chapman battled back and forth all game, but Chapman held a 10-7 advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, with the winner advancing to tomorrow's championship game.

After a pair of runners reached base with one out, a fielder's choice put runners on the corners with two outs.  Jordan Pennington and Dylan Early then hit back-to-back RBI singles to cut Chapman's lead to just one.  A sharp grounder back to the mound was fielded by the pitcher, Kurt Yacko - the team's regular shortstop - and the rally was finished.

Chapman opened the game with a run in the first, but a two-run homer with two outs by Trinity's Evan Jones, followed later by another RBI single from Pennington, and the Tigers took a 3-1 lead after the first.

Neither team scored in the second, then Chapman exploded for five runs in the third - most of which came on a three-run home run by Mike Voss - to take control of the game 6-3. 

In the bottom of the inning, Trinity showed it was not going to roll over for the number one team in the nation, following back-to-back doubles by Jones and Kyle Felix with an RBI from Jeff Claydon.  Early followed that RBI with a three-run shot of his own - his fourth long ball in three games at the tournament - to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead.

Vass came up in the fourth for Chapman, though, and tied the game with an RBI double - his fifth RBI of the game.  That was followed by a two-run homer by Stuart Hyman to give Chapman the lead once again at 9-7.  Neither team scored over the next four innings, then Chapman's Matt Pearson hit a solo homer to set up the dramatic bottom of the ninth for Trinity.

Jones finished 2-4 with three runs and two RBI, while Pennington was 2-4 with one run and two more driven in.  Early was 2-4 with four RBI - driving in four runs for the second time in three games.

Britton Horn came on in relief of Trinity starter Ryan Poffenroth, who fell to 2-4 with the loss.  Horn gave up just one run on four hits through 2.2 innings of work.  Drew Bignall finished off the final three innings, allowing a run on three hits and striking out three batters.

Trinity will play later tonight against the winner of LaVerne and Cal State-East Bay.  The winner of tonight's game will advance to face Chapman in the NCAA West Region Championship game tomorrow at noon.