SAN ANTONIO — Southwestern baseball and the No. 18-ranked Trinity Tigers lit up the scoreboard, combining for 24 runs on 29 hits, with Trinity prevailing for the 13-11 victory in the conference opener for both teams.
The Pirates struck first in the top of the second inning, scoring on a two-out Christian Melillo RBI-double down the right-field line to score Jacob Tanner, who led the inning off with a walk.
Trinity broke through against Southwestern starter Gregory Ferguson in the bottom of the third. Jack Peterson opened the inning with a double through the right side, and Tanner Haney drove him in with an RBI double to left field. Ferguson hit three of the following four batters, allowing another run by hitting Brian Schaub with bases loaded for the 2-1 lead.
Southwestern got back-to-back doubles from Henry Fisher and Landon Durdin in the fourth inning, scoring Tanner, who singled up the middle, and Fisher. Then, Trent Raschke drove in Durdin with an RBI single through the left side, continuing a streak of at least one RBI for a seventh consecutive game.
Preston Witt hit his second home run of the season on a solo blast to start the fifth inning. Then, after James Vaquero went down swinging, Tanner drew his second walk of the game. Fisher moved Tanner over to third with a double to left-center, then Fisher scored on a wild pitch.
The Tigers scored two runs off reliever J.J. Slack in the bottom of the fifth. Ezra Gore singled up the middle to start the inning, MJ Metz drew a walk, and Slack hit Jack Vonderhaar to load the bases. After Brian Schaub struck out swinging, Gore scored on a passed ball, and Jack Wisniewski followed with a two-RBI single to center field to cut Southwestern's lead to 6-5.
Southwestern's Raschke and Lobkowicz walked to start the sixth inning, and Maxwell Mims followed with an RBI single to right-center. Mims stole second, and Lobkowicz scored on a passed ball, then Vaquero hit a two-out RBI single to right-center.
Trinity overtook Southwestern by scoring four runs each over the sixth and seventh innings. Gore hit a solo home run, Wisniewski walked with bases loaded, and Colt Harris hit a two-RBI single up the middle in the sixth.
Metz hit a two-RBI triple to right-center, Vonderhaar followed with an RBI single up the middle, and Wisniewski added another RBI to give the Tigers a 13-9 lead after seven innings.
Fisher cut into the deficit with an RBI single in the eighth inning, scoring Vaquero, who singled to left field. Lobkowicz scored Melillo on a groundout to shortstop in the ninth before Mims lined out to right field to end the game.
Fisher led the Pirates with a 4-for-5 performance with two doubles for two RBIs and a run scored. He is now 9-for-16 over the past three games. Witt, Vaquero, and Melillo each hit 2-for-5.
Ferguson started and pitched three innings for Southwestern, striking out four while surrendering two runs on three hits. Slack allowed seven runs in 2.2 innings, striking out five and walking four with five hits allowed. Trey Schwarz picked up the loss, throwing 0.2 innings and surrendering four earned runs on six hits. Bryan Meissner closed the game out for the Pirates, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings.
Southwestern drops to 7-6, and Trinity improves to 8-5. The series will conclude with a doubleheader tomorrow that starts at 1:00 p.m.