The No. 1 Tigers won two of three games at home against Babson College over the Feb. 27 weekend to secure their second series victory of the season. Trinity won their first game on Feb. 27 at 6 p.m., 8-5. Saturday’s first pitch was at 2 p.m. and the Tigers won 9-4, improving their record to 5-1 for the season. The final game of the series went to Babson, 6-5, as Trinity’s comeback bid came up just short in the ninth inning.
“The whole group learned how difficult college baseball is and how tough a weekend really is,” Tigers’ pitching coach Dave Smith, class of ‘02, said. “We earned that loss, and Babson earned that win. I think we just needed to play better, and maybe that was their day and not ours.”
Friday, Feb. 27
The Tigers began the first inning with an early run as sophomore first baseman Will Baker drove in junior outfielder Callen Singhania with a double to left field. The run started Trinity’s offensive pressure, and they ended the first inning up 3-0.
Trinity came out swinging in the second inning as well. Senior infielder Khalfani Coney opened the frame with a double. Next, Singhania singled, advancing Coney to third. Singhania then stole second, allowing Coney to steal home and score a run. Trinity kept the pressure on, and it led to a throwing error by Babson shortstop Gabe Harmon, allowing Singhania to score the Tigers’ fifth run.
Babson hit a home run in the top of the third to put themselves on the board, but it wasn’t enough. Trinity kept scoring as graduate student third baseman Michael Lustina became the second Tiger of the game to steal home in the bottom of the third. Junior catcher Mattias Rytting hit an RBI single to left and drove in sophomore right fielder Will Dixon. Trinity scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth, with senior outfielder Nick Jones up to bat. Jones drove in Baker for the Tigers’ eighth run.
Graduate student starting pitcher Will Hellings earned the win, with a career high 11 strikeouts over seven innings. Junior Brandon Morio entered in the eighth for a relief outing, holding Babson scoreless, but the Beavers tried to come back in the ninth with a four-run rally. Sophomore Will Taylor closed out the game for the Tigers and earned his first save of the season. Smith said Hellings has stepped into a greater role as a starter.
“I think he’s just going to keep getting better and better as the year goes on, because he’s learning a great deal right now of what works and what doesn’t,” Smith said. “I just think it’s because you face a hitter four times and they learn a lot about you.”
Saturday, Feb. 28
This time, Babson scored the first run of the game off a first-inning walk and a double. Then sophomore shortstop John Ramsey put the Tigers on the board with a solo home run to left-center field. Babson responded in the second inning with three hits, earning another run, but sophomore starting pitcher Jake Beck delivered two strikeouts to end the inning. Trinity took back the lead with four more runs in the bottom of the frame. Babson didn’t score another run until the top of the ninth and Trinity took the second game of the series.
After the series against Wisconsin-Whitewater, head coach Tim Scannell worked with the team on hitting the ball “hard and low” to combat windy factors the Tigers faced last week. According to Jones, the strategy allowed the team to simplify their approach to hitting, and it translated very well into the first two games.
“I feel like baseball is such an analytical sport where there are so many different things you’re trying to do in different situations,” Jones said. “You can get into a mode of overthinking, and so just simplifying that, to just executing a job of hitting the ball hard on the ground.”
Sunday, March 1
By winning the first two games, Trinity secured a series win regardless of the final game’s outcome — but the Tigers fell short of the sweep on Sunday. According to Jones, the Beavers put a “slow leftie” pitcher and the Tigers offense couldn’t fully adjust. At the plate, the team left 15 runners on base, and their pitching gave away 11 free passes.
“It’s not exactly a recipe for success starting that way,” Jones said. “We still competed, which is the theme of the team so far,” Jones said. “Even when we’re not completely on, hitters are struggling a little bit, pitchers are on. If our pitchers are struggling a little bit, hitters are on. It’s just finding that balance of competing.”
Three hits and a sacrifice fly gave Trinity its first two runs in the bottom of the second. Babson answered with four runs on three hits and three walks in the third to take the lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Singhania earned his second RBI of the game by driving in the third run, and sophomore infielder Grant Anderson drove in the fourth to tie the game 4-4. However, Babson responded and took the lead back off of a double and a sacrifice bunt in the top of the sixth.
In the next half inning, Trinity loaded the bases, but were unable to bring home a run. Leaving runners on base was a common plague for Trinity in the back half of the game, as the Tigers stranded six runners between the sixth and eighth innings. Their final chance came in the bottom of the ninth down 6-4. With two outs in the inning and the bases loaded, sophomore outfielder Will Dixon walked to make the game 6-5, but the Beavers struck out Anderson looking to end the game.
The Tigers also played a mid-week game on March 3 as they faced Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. Trinity lost 10-8 and will host the No. 7 Kean University this weekend for three games.
