Austin, Texas - The Tiger baseball team jumped ahead early, then held on late for a 3-2 win over Concordia (TX) University on Saturday night, finishing off the Rudy's BBQ Tornado Classic.
Trinity has opened the year with a 5-0 record, which is the best start for the Tigers since winning six games to begin the 2005 season. The 2004 Trinity team began 10-0, which is the best-ever start under Head Coach Tim Scannell.
Ryan Lucero (2-0) earned the victory with another outstanding effort by a Tiger pitcher. Lucero gave up two runs on just four hits through 7.1 innings, striking out 10 batters. Earlier in the day, Ben Klimesh tossed a five-hit shutout to beat Louisiana College 1-0.
Michael Bentz came on in relief, yielding just one hit over the final 1.2 innings to earn his first save of the season. Bentz came on in the eighth inning, and promptly forced Concordia to leave the bases loaded in a one-run game. In the ninth, he pitched around a walk and a one-out double that put the winning run at second with just one out.
Christian Muscarello collected two of Trinity's six hits in the ball game, driving in one run, and scoring two more to account for the Tiger offensive output.
Trinity got on the board first with a two-run third inning. Muscarello cracked a two-out, RBI double to open the scoring, then Will Donnan followed with an RBI single.
Concordia broke up Lucero's shutout bid in the fourth, snapping a string of 22 consecutive scoreless innings for the Tiger pitching staff. In the inning, Lucero got in a jam early with the bases loaded and no outs, but he pitched his way out of it with a pair of strikeouts, giving up just one run, and preserving the lead.
Both teams scored runs in the eighth, and both teams also stranded the bases loaded to keep from getting even more runs.
Nick Pappas drove in Trinity's third run on a bases-loaded walk in the eighth, while Kevin Clements went 1-4 with a run scored.
Trinity returns home on Tuesday afternoon, taking on Centenary College in a doubleheader that begins at 4:00 p.m. The two teams will finish up a three-game series on Wednesday at noon. The Tigers open SCAC play next weekend, hosting Hendrix in a two-game series on Saturday and Sunday.