SAN ANTONIO — Southwestern opened its baseball season with a gritty performance against No. 4-ranked Trinity, falling 3-1 to the SCAC favorite in non-conference action.
Starting pitcher Travis Harvey had a solid game, striking out nine in five innings with only one of the three runs earned, and the Pirates limited Trinity to five hits.
"For the first game of the year, after not really being able to practice for more than two weeks, I was very pleased," head coach JC Bunch said. It was a good college baseball game. I was proud of Harvey settling down after the first and giving us five innings. If we play every game like that, we'll be very pleased with the results at the end of the year."
Harvey struggled with his control early. After Trinity leadoff hitter Micahel Herrera reached on catcher's interference in his first at-bat, Harvey walked two of the next three hitters with a strikeout in between. After inducing a fly-out, Harvey walked Tyler Pettit for the unearned RBI.
Herrera added another run for Trinity in the second on a two-out, solo home run to left field for the 2-1 lead. Brian Schaub hit another Trinity solo blast in the bottom of the fourth for the 3-0 lead.
Southwestern got on the board in the top of the sixth with an RBI double to right-center from Preston Witt, scoring Lance Kruse, who reached on a leadoff single to center.
Trinity starter Garrett Aylor pitched five innings, striking out 11 with three walks and surrendering two hits to pick up his first win of the season. Harrison Durow went 1.1 innings, giving up two hits and an earned run, and Corey Cater pitched 2.2 innings, striking out three to pick up the save.
Skyler White pitched two innings in relief for Southwestern, striking out four and walking three. Trey Schwarz took the mound for the final inning, striking out one in a scoreless inning.
Herrera hit 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI to lead Trinity. Four different hitters went 1-for-4 for Southwestern, with Witt scoring Kruse on the double.
With the win, Trinity improves to 2-0. The two teams will resume play tomorrow with a doubleheader in the Pirates' home opener.