Four Home Runs Propel Bulldogs to Win Over No. 25 ETBU

SEGUIN, Texas -- Junior shortstop Joe Jimenez (San Antonio/Johnson) continued his hot start to the season hitting two two-run home runs Friday night to pace Texas Lutheran to a 12-10 win over No. 25 East Texas Baptist at Katt-Isbel Field.

The ball jumped off the bats of both teams Friday night in what made for a cold and windy night in Seguin at Katt-Isbel Field. Texas Lutheran would hit four home runs and match a program record with three triples in Friday's contest. All nine of the Bulldogs hits would be extra base hits.

TLU (7-6) jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning with two runs courtesy of Joe Jimenez's first two-run home run of the night. Randy Huerta (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) hit a two-out double to right field - taking full advantage of the windy night - to set up the two-run home run by Jimenez as he gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

ETBU answered in the next half inning with three runs of their own on three hits. The Tigers picked up two more runs on four hits in the third inning to jump out to a 5-2 lead.

An RBI double from Holden Philippus (San Antonio/San Antonio Christian) ignited a Bulldogs rally in the bottom of the third as the Bulldogs answered with three runs in the third. Randy Huerta would hit a two-run home run of his own in the third to tie the game 5-5 entering the fourth inning.

ETBU would scratch across a run in the fourth inning to regain the lead at 6-5 and would keep the Bulldogs offense silent until the sixth inning.

Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis) got things going in the sixth with a leadoff triple, the first of three triples in the inning. Payton Dahl (Round Rock/Cedar Ridge) would score Vasquez on an RBI triple and Philippus would cap the inning with the third and final triple of the inning scoring Blake Cappadona (Mont Belvieu/Barbers Hill) as the Bulldogs took an 8-6 lead. The record three triples in a game is the seventh occurrence in program history.

The Tigers would score another run in the top of the seventh, but the Bulldogs would immediately respond via a two-run home run from Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) in the bottom of the seventh, his second of the season, taking a 10-7 lead.

The Tigers would claw back into the game in the top of the eighth - scoring three runs in quick succession to begin the half inning to tie the game 10-10.

The bottom of the eighth began in controversy as a presumed double from Blake Cappadona that was lost in the wind and lights at Katt-Isbel was called an out, but that did not deter the Bulldogs. With two outs in the inning, Randy Huerta would draw a walk to set up the game-winning two-run home run from Joe Jimenez that gave the Bulldogs a 12-10 lead. Jimenez now leads the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) in home runs (5) and RBI (18). With five home runs, Jimenez also moves into the top ten in all of Division-III in the category. Texas Lutheran currently leads the SCAC with 11 home runs as a team.

Junior right-hander Blade Strzelczyk (San Antonio/East Central) picked up his first win of the year, tossing two innings in relief.

The Bulldogs have won six in a row and seven of their last eight games and are now 3-1 on the season when scoring 10 runs or more.

Texas Lutheran will face East Texas Baptist again on Saturday, March 12, in a 7-inning/9-inning doubleheader at 12 PM and 3 PM at Katt-Isbel Field. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

All updates on game status and more can be found on tlubulldogs.com as well as all official Texas Lutheran Athletics accounts. For more information on Texas Lutheran baseball and all TLU athletics, you can find updates on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics and @TLU_Baseball on Twitter, @tlubulldogs on Instagram and Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on TikTok).