GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Pirates defeated the Tigers 6-2 and 9-7 in Friday's double header. Trinity entered the game ranked #1 in the country by D3Baseball.com before Southwestern handed them their first two conference losses on the year. It was the first time Trinity has lost in back to back games all season. Southwestern played disciplined baseball and capitalized on opportunities when they had them to earn the victories.
Southwestern got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Zach Lynch hit a one out double to begin the attack. Jeff Glasgow followed with a full count walk. Later with two outs, Colby Dutton took first on a catcher's interference call to load the bases. Then Cruz Luna hit a bloop double to shallow right center field to bring home two runs for the 'Bucs.
The Pirates strung a couple more hits together in the third. Nate Shipp hit a one out double off the wall in left center field. Then Zach Lynch hit a single to center field to score Shipp on a close play at the plate to give Southwestern the 3-0 lead.
The Tigers trimmed the Southwestern lead in the fourth and fifth innings. Woodruff led off and reached base by getting hit by a pitch. A batter later, Muscarello hit a one out double down the left field line and advanced Woodruff to third base. Then Clements hit a single to center field to bring in Woodruff to cut it to a 3-1 game. In the fifth inning, Francke hit a one out solo home run for Trinity to make it 3-2.
Jeff Glasgow led off the bottom of the sixth with a double over the center fielder's head. Jake Balderama came in to pinch run for Glasgow. Then Tyler Herriage hit a single through the left side to advance Balderama to third. Cruz Luna reached on a throwing error by the second baseman and ended up on second base. Balderama scored on the play and Herriage appeared to score as well, but was called back to third base. Herriage later scored and Luna advanced to third after a balk by Trinity pitcher Barron. Then Heath Spencer lined a single over the shortstop's head to drive in Luna from third to bolster the Pirate lead to 6-2.
In the top of the seventh, Hirschberg led off with a single up the middle. Griffith hit a ball back to pitcher Chris Webber for the ensuing 163 double play. Then Webber got Francke to ground out and earned the complete game win for Southwestern with a 6-2 final score.
The Pirates were led offensively by Cruz Luna who went 2-4, had three RBI, with a double and scored a run. Chris Webber and the Pirate defense combined to hold the country's top team to two runs on six hits in the first game.
*****
In the second game of the afternoon, Schweers led off with a full count walk. He advanced to second on a ground out to the second baseman. Then Pappas hit a double down the right field line to bring in Schweers. A batter later, Clements hit a single through the left side to bring in Pappas for the early 2-0 Trinity lead.
The Tigers added to their lead in the fifth inning. Francke took a one out walk to get things going. He advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Schweers. Then Woodruff singled through the right side to bring home Francke to extend their lead to 3-0.
In the Pirates half of the fifth, Zach Lynch led off with a single up the middle. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Herriage. Then Lynch scored on a single to center field from Colby Dutton to get Southwestern on the scoreboard, 3-1.
Southwestern changed the face of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Garrett hit a ball deep into the left side gap and outran the throw from the shortstop for a single to begin the rally. Shipp was hit by a pitch and then Betts beat out a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Lynch followed with a single to left field to bring in a run and keep the bases loaded for the Pirates. After a pitching change, Glasgow walked to score the tying run. Next, Herriage reached on a fielder's choice with Betts scoring to give the 'Bucs the lead. Glasgow was out at second on the play. Then Dutton singled to drive in another run and push Herriage to second base. Following another pitching change, Luna reached on an error by the shortstop to load the bases for the third time in the inning. Heath Spencer hit an RBI ground out for the fifth run in the frame. In Garrett's second plate appearance in the sixth, he was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Pirates. Shipp brought in the last run by getting hit by a pitch for the second time in the inning and the Pirates took control with a 7-3 lead.
Southwestern gave themselves some more breathing room in the seventh. Lynch led off with a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on a wild pitch with Glasgow at the plate. Glasgow later walked on four pitches and Jay Sterling entered the game as a pinch runner for him. After a third pitching change for Trinity, Lynch scored and Sterling advanced to third on a single up the middle by Herriage. Dutton loaded the bases on a catcher interference call with no outs. Then Luna hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Sterling to extend the lead to 9-3.
Trinity made things interesting in the top of the ninth. Cronk led off with a walk for the Tigers. Hirschberg singled to the shortstop and advanced Cronk to second with no outs. Then Bianchi hit a pinch hit double to the wall in left center to score both runners. The Pirates starter Max Stuart was relieved by Cody Lovas after eight strong innings of work. Bianchi then advanced to third after a flyout from the pinch hitting Frasier. Woodruff and Pappas drew consecutive walks to load the bases for Trinity. Southwestern made another pitching change and brought in reliever Derek Fleischman. Then Muscarello singled home two runs to cut it to a 9-7 game. Both remaining runners advanced to second and third base on a wild pitch from Fleischman. Robusto drew a full count walk to load the bases with two outs and represented the possible winning run for Trinity. With the game on the line, Donnan entered the game as a pinch hitter and hit a ground ball to first baseman Lynch for the unassisted final out in the 9-7 Southwestern victory.
The Pirates were led by Zach Lynch in game two who went 3-4, with one RBI, a double and scored three times. Matt Stuart earned the win and Derek Fleischman got the save in the late game of the double header.
At the conclusion of the day, the Pirates are now 10-19 overall and 6-7 in conference and Trinity moves to 24-6 overall and 11-2 in conference.
The two teams conclude the series tomorrow, March 7th, at Southwestern in Georgetown, Texas at 1:00pm.