Baseball Drops Season Opening Double Header to Pacific Lutheran

SEGUIN, TX -- Texas Lutheran Baseball dropped its season opening double header to Pacific Lutheran 8-2, 13-2 on Saturday at Katt-Isbel Field in their first non-conference action of the season.

AJ Gonzalez (Kingwood/Kingwood Park) collected his first collegiate RBI for the Bulldogs, driving in a run scoring Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) in the bottom of the 9th to ruin the Lutes shutout attempt. Joe Jimenez (San Antonio/Johnson) would score the Bulldogs second run by advancing on a wild pitch.

After three scoreless innings to begin the campaign, the Lutes were able to grab a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning off of starter Joe Burch (Geronimo/Navarro). The Lutes would score in five of the final six innings to capture an 8-2 victory in both team's season opener.

In Game 2, Matthew Hickey (Klein/Klein Collins) shut down the Lutes through three innings with the left-hander fanning seven batters through three innings. The Lutes finally got to Hickey in the fourth inning as the Bulldogs starter would give up two runs in his final inning of work. 

The Lutes would score at least one run in the next four innings stretching out to a 13-2 lead before shutting the door in the ninth inning. The Bulldogs showed signs of life in the 7th and 8th innings with Gonzalez and Payton Dahl (Round Rock/Cedar Ridge) driving in runs. Cole Trotignon, who hit two home runs for the Lutes in game one, kept the Bulldogs at bay on the mound only allowing two hits in seven innings of work.

The Bulldogs will be back in action against No. 25 Texas-Dallas on February 18th in Richardson, Texas, with first pitch slated to take place at 2 PM. 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).