(Photo courtesy of Joshua Moczygemba)
(Portions of this story courtesy of Trinity University)
McMINNVILLE, Ore. - The fourth-ranked Trinity University baseball team was eliminated in a 4-1 defeat against tournament host Linfield College in the McMinnville Regional on Thursday.
Trinity finishes its season with a 33-10 record, and was eliminated by the Wildcats for the second consecutive year. Linfield, the top-ranked team in the nation and defending NCAA Champion, improves to 35-7 overall.
Linfield opened the scoring with a three-run third inning to take control of the game. Three consecutive walks loaded the bases with one out in the inning, then after the Tigers recorded the second out, the Wildcats delivered a two-run single. The hit came after a dropped foul ball by Trinity's defense that would have ended the inning. Linfield then collected another run-scoring single to make it 3-0 before the inning was over.
Trinity finally got on the board in the seventh, as Connor Moore executed a safety squeeze with runners on the corners and just one out.
Julian Cronk and Christian Muscarello delivered the only hits of the game for the Tigers, though the team also drew five total walks. Jeremy Wolf drew a pair of walks and scored Trinity's only run. Cronk was 1-2 with a walk, while Muscarello finished the game 1-4 at the plate.
After Trinity's lone run, Linfield pushed the lead back to three with a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh.
Mike Walker (4-3) was charged with the loss for the Tigers, allowing three runs on 2.2 innings. Matthew Tindall and Kyle Bogese finished off the game, giving up a run on five hits, and striking out four batters.
Trinity reached the regional tournament after winning its eighth Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship under the direction of Head Coach Tim Scannell, who has now finished off his 16th season at the helm of the program. The Tigers have competed in the NCAA Playoffs for five consecutive seasons.