Trinity Wins 2013 SCAC Baseball Title

Trinity Wins 2013 SCAC Baseball Title

(Photo courtesy of Joshua Moczygemba)
(Portions of this story courtesy of the Trinity University website)

GEORGETOWN, Texas
- Seventh-ranked Trinity University won its third conference baseball title in four years as the Tigers defeated Centenary College 9-3 in the championship game of the 2013 SCAC Baseball Championships Sunday afternoon on the campus of Southwestern University. Box ScoreTournament Website | Photo Gallery

Trinity improves to 36-7 with the victory and advances to the NCAA Tournament as the SCAC's automatic qualifier. Centenary ends its first season in the conference with an impressive mark of 26-15.

The SCAC title is the eighth overall for Trinity baseball - which ties the program with Centre and Millsaps for the most all-time championship in conference history (CAC/SCAC).

Trinity jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two runs in each of the first two innings of today's game, and never looked back. The Tigers beat the Gents twice in the SCAC Tournament, after losing four of five regular season meetings in the series.

The Tigers led 6-0 before Centenary finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, but Trinity promptly answered with a run of its own in the next frame to make it 7-1.  Kevin Francke crushed a two-run homer in the ninth for an additional cushion. Centenary scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, but it was not enough to catch up to the Tigers.

Francke finished 3-4 with three runs and three RBI to lead Trinity's offense, which finished with 12 total hits in the championship game. Connor Moore scored four of the team's nine runs, meaning the duo scored seven of the team's nine runs from the top two spots in the batting order.

Jonathan Hall went 2-5 with two RBI, while Pat Hirschberg and Kevin Clements also nabbed two hits each. Hirschberg and Moore both drew three walks in the game, and Centenary issued a total of eight walks to Trinity batters.

Zack Speer improved to 8-0 on the season, scattering six hits over eight innings of work, allowing just one run, and striking out five batters. Speer leads the Tigers with an ERA of 1.47 in 10 appearances this season.

Trinity won its eighth overall SCAC Championship (as well as a CAC title in 1990), and its seventh under Head Coach Tim Scannell. With the win, the Tigers qualify for the NCAA Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

The 2013 SCAC All-Tournament team will be selected by the coaches who participated in the event and announced early next week.

Happy Holidays from the SCAC!
December 25, 2012 Happy Holidays from the SCAC!