Baseball
 

May 16, 2008

Trinity Beats Cal State-East Bay Again to Avoid Elimination

Abilene, Texas - The Tiger baseball team fought off elimination by defeating Cal State-East Bay for the second time in the tournament on Friday night at Walt Driggers Field.

Trinity (35-14) won 9-5 in the game, holding off a late-inning rally by East Bay.  The Tigers led 9-2 heading into the eighth inning, but East Bay rallied for three in the eighth and looked to have scored again in the ninth with one out. 

With the bases loaded and nobody out, East Bay hit a possible double play ball to shortstop Stosh Hoover, who flipped to Jeff Claydon at second.  Claydon was taken out on the slide as he released the throw, but interference was called on the runner bearing down on second base.  The double play was allowed, and the runners - one of whom had come in to score - had to return to second and third.  The next pitch was a flyout to center, and just like that, the game was over.

Kyle Felix and Steven Ramos collected three hits each in the game, while Ramos and Jordan Pennington also scored a pair of runs.

Jeff Claydon went 4-4 with two runs and three RBI in the game.  His four hits was not only a career-high, but also tied for the most hits in a single NCAA Playoff game. 

Kevin Calbick went 3.1 innings to open the game for the Tigers, giving up just two runs on four hits, but it was Ryan Poffenroth (3-4) who earned the win with his relief performance.  Poffenroth, who also pitched earlier today against Chapman, gave up just one earned run - three runs total - on five hits in 4.1 innings, striking out four batters.

Trinity advances to face Chapman in a rematch of this afternoon's game.  This time, it will be for the West Region Championship, though, and an appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series will be on the line.  The Tigers must win twice to eliminate Chapman.