After an eight month offseason, Trinity baseball started their season with three wins against Austin College. Trinity won game one of the series on Feb. 14 by a score of 10-2, and then proceeded to sweep a Saturday doubleheader winning 27-4 and 19-8 in the two games.
Trinity, ranked 15th in the nation coming into the weekend, now owns a 3-0 record both overall and in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Austin College, on the other hand, fell to 0-6, as the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor swept them the previous week.
Friday’s season opener proved to be a battle early on. Senior pitcher Trajan Lee got the opening night start, but ran into trouble in the first two innings, allowing multiple runners into scoring position. Despite that, Lee only surrendered one run in those frames.
“I was upset with the amount of walks I had, but in the grand scheme of things, I thought I made competitive pitches,” Lee said. “Overall, it was a decent first outing, but I definitely look to improve from there.”
Despite the early traffic, Lee was able to settle in and work a quick third inning. His offense picked him up in the bottom of the third, as senior outfielder Maddox McDonald stole home to tie the game at one. Then, graduate student and third baseman Kai Tinker came through in the fourth inning, delivering an RBI triple to give Trinity the lead.
“I got every stitch of that baseball,” Tinker said. “I knew it was going, I knew it was in the gap, I knew I had to run.” Tinker’s hustle was rewarded with a safe call at third along with a run of his own, which extended the lead to two.
Austin College had opportunities with the game in reach. However, Trinity’s bullpen rose to the occasion. In particular, sophomore pitcher Brandon Morio had a strong outing, pitching 2 2/3 innings and allowing no runs in relief of Lee.
“Brandon did awesome,” Lee said. “I know this summer he went up to Vermont and got to pitch in front of four to five thousand fans, so coming back here at Trinity, you can just tell it’s a different Brandon Morio on the mound.”
Morio kept the Kangaroos off the board, allowing Trinity’s offense to put the game away with back-to-back three run innings in the seventh and eighth. Trinity would win 10-2, with senior pitcher Clayton Jackson pitching a scoreless ninth inning to finish the game.
Game two of the series was much less dramatic, as Trinity soared to a 12-0 lead in the first inning. Every single Tiger batter came up to the plate twice in the first inning, and they all reached base at least once. It was a hitting party and everyone but Austin College was having fun.
The bats did not slow down, scoring 27 runs in only six half innings due to SCAC’s mercy rule. While every batter had notable offensive statistics, first-year infielder Grant Anderson stood out with his six RBI and three run performance. 27 runs is the most Trinity has scored since since Tim Scannell became the head coach in 1999.
Game three showed the Roos’ ability to battle adversity, as they took an early lead. Austin College — who had not beaten Trinity in their last 39 tries — had two different three run leads: a 5-2 lead in the third inning and a 7-4 lead in the fifth.
However, Trinity’s offense proved to be too strong, as the Tigers scored eight runs in the next two innings, taking a 12-8 lead. Senior pitcher Jack Briese stepped up for a pitching staff that struggled early in the game, pitching 3 1/3 innings in relief and allowing only one run.
The offense continued to roll, scoring seven more runs in the next two innings. The night ended with an exclamation point from senior first baseman Brandon Nelson, who hit a towering three-run bomb all the way to the right field parking lot.
“I was honestly just trying to put the ball in play, so the fact I hit the ball that hard was kind of surprising to me and everybody else. But, that was a great moment,” Nelson said.
Nelson’s home run gave the Tigers a ten-run lead in the eighth, activating the run rule and ending the game early. Trinity’s record is now 3-0 as they approach a difficult stretch in their schedule. The Tigers will travel to Seguin to play Texas Lutheran University, and then to Austin to play Concordia University Texas, two teams projected to be in the SCAC tournament.
