No. 10 Trinity baseball continued to roll along in conference play on April 11 and April 12, sweeping the Centenary College Gents in three games. The Tigers dominated, winning each game by five runs or more and run-ruling the Gents twice. With the sweep, the Tigers have officially secured a spot in the SCAC tournament, and currently hold the top record in the conference.
“We kind of have a rivalry with Centenary, so the team was really itching for a sweep,” sophomore pitcher Brandon Morio said. “We heard some rumors that if they were to win one against us that series, they would have a chance to be in the SCAC [tournament] and we weren’t letting that happen.”
The quest for a sweep got off to a good start in game one. Trinity scored seven runs in the second inning, chasing Centenary’s ace starting pitcher Tyler Herrera with only one out in the frame. The Tigers’ starter, first-year left-hander Jace Clay, on the other hand, finished his start with five innings pitched and surrendered no runs, working his way around four walks. Trinity’s offense gave Clay plenty of run support, adding on to their seven run second inning by scoring 13 runs in the game in total. This was enough to secure a 13-2 win in a seven inning run-rule.
Trinity’s offense continued to sizzle in game two of the series, the first game in a Saturday doubleheader. They scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, two of which were driven in by senior second baseman Michael Lustina.
The Tigers strong first frame was enough to win the game, as Brandon Morio kept Centenary off the scoreboard in six innings of work. In his start, Morio allowed only two hits and two walks, while collecting eight strikeouts.
“I felt amazing. I got a really good breakfast that morning,” Morio said. “I got out there and everything was working, the curveball, the fastball, the changeup, even the slider, all four pitches were on that day and I felt really, really good.”
Morio’s strong outing helped the Tigers hold their lead late into the game, before he eventually gave way to senior relief pitcher Jack Briese, who came in to secure the final nine outs of the game. The final score was 6-1.
Game three of the series proved to be the most eventful. Centenary, with their SCAC tournament hopes on the line, struck first by scoring two runs in the top of the first. However, Trinity quickly responded in the bottom of the frame with four runs of their own, including a home run from senior designated hitter Brandon Nelson.
“I had a rough game the first game. I think I was one for four or something like that.” Nelson said. “I had a talk with [Coach] Scannell about my swing. We made a small adjustment, and I was able to apply it. He threw me a hung curveball, and I hit it out to right center.”
Despite the home run, Centenary bounced back. The Gents were effective against Trinity’s starter, senior Trajan Lee, as they plated four more runs in the next two innings to take a 6-4 lead. It was up to first-year reliever Will Taylor to hold the deficit. Taylor pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief, and only allowed one hit and one unearned run.
“It was good. I feel like in these last two outings I’ve found my groove. In both of them I’ve gone more than three innings,” Taylor said. “Overall, it just felt great.”
Trinity’s offense was then able to gain the lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs. In the fifth inning, the Tigers had two runners on with Brandon Nelson coming to the plate once again. Nelson crushed his second homer of the game to give Trinity their largest lead to that point.
Nelson’s homer gave the Tigers a 10-6 lead, but the scoring did not stop there. Trinity scored three more runs in the fifth and added five in the sixth to run the score up to 18-7. That would be the final score, as the SCAC’s run-rule came into effect in the seventh inning, ending the game early.
The sweep maintained Trinity’s position at the top of the SCAC, and — in addition to their 15-3 rout over Mary Hardin-Baylor on April 15 — set them up for an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. To earn that, they will need to collect wins over the next two weekends against the University of St. Thomas and Southwestern University.
