Bulldogs Beat Austin College, Win Ninth Straight

SHERMAN, Texas -- Riding 16 strikeouts from its pitching staff and timely hitting, Texas Lutheran defeated Austin College, 8-5, in the series opener Friday night at Baker Field in Sherman, Texas.

Texas Lutheran (20-7, 9-1 SCAC) collected its ninth straight overall win and tenth straight road win.

Joe Burch (Geronimo/Navarro) toed the rubber for the Bulldogs, tossing seven innings and striking out 14 batters, allowing five runs on eight hits. Burch would pick up his SCAC-leading fifth win of the season and move into first in the conference in strikeouts with 62 on the season. Joseph De Luna (Richwood/Boling) would relieve Burch in the eighth striking out two batters and allowing one walk in an inning of work. Blade Strzelczyk (San Antonio/East Central) would enter the game in the ninth inning, tossing a flawless inning to pick up his fifth save of the season.

Six Bulldogs starters got a hit in the game and three drove in a run, highlighted by a 2-for-4, four RBI game from Joe Jimenez (San Antonio/Johnson).

Texas Lutheran struck first, scoring four runs in the first inning. An RBI single from Randy Huerta (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) would get the Bulldogs started. Joe Jimenez would follow with a two-RBI double to left field to increase the Bulldogs lead to 3-0 before stealing home for the fourth and final run of the inning.

A three-run home run got Austin College on the board in the bottom of the first.

Jimenez would strike again in the second inning with yet another double to left field - this time down the left field line - scoring two more runs for the Bulldogs as they took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the second.

Austin College would score two runs in the bottom of the inning to cut the Bulldogs lead to 6-5.

Texas Lutheran got a pair of runs in the fifth via a two-RBI double from Holden Philippus (San Antonio/San Antonio Christian) to bring the game to its final tally of 8-5. The Bulldogs pitching staff would hold the 'Roos scoreless for the final four frames - only allowing two hits after the fifth inning.

Texas Lutheran will look to clinch a series win as they will face off in a doubleheader with Austin College on Saturday at Baker Field to wrap the weekend conference series. First pitch is scheduled for 1 PM and 4 PM. All streaming and live stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

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).