APPLETON, Wis. - After a terrific week of baseball that saw the Trinity University baseball team score 49 runs in five games, the Tigers saw their season come to a close in the semifinals of the NCAA Basbeall Championship, falling short to Wisconsin-La Crosse, 10-7. Interview with Coach Scannell, Beau Attyah, and Jeremy Wolf
The Tigers fell just short of the National Championship Series as the Eagles go on to face Cortland in a three game series. The Tigers finish the year as the third place team at the NCAA Baseball Championship.
It was all Trinity early on, as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings of play. After back-to-back singles by Jeremy Wolf and Drew Butler with two out in the bottom of the first, Carter McEachern stepped into the box and ripped a single up the middle to score Wolf for a 1-0 lead.
In the second, Austin Singer led the inning off with a triple to right followed by a RBI groundout to second by Nick Jewett to extend the lead. Singles by Brody Fehmel and Connor Moore kept the Tigers in business and after tagging up on a long fly ball, Fehmel would score on a wild pitch to move the lead to 3-0.
La Crosse battled at the plate though, making starter Mike Walker work for every out. The Eagles would load the bases in the top of the second, but Walker would get out of the inning unharmed.
In the second, La Crosse put runners on second and third with nobody out. Walker proceeded to get a lineout and groundout back to the pitcher to keep the runners at bay. However, with two outs, what seemed to be a routine fly ball fell for a hit as the right field slipped on the slick field, and cut Trinity's lead to 3-2.
La Crosse seized all of the momentum from there, scoring two in sixth to take a 4-3 lead and five in the seventh to move out to a 9-3 lead. Walker would be chased after 6.0 innings of work, allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits while striking out one and walking three.
After seven complete innings, mother nature came into the picture and cause a 5:04 rain delay. The game would resume at 6:23 in the evening.
La Crosse added another run in the ninth to move to a 10-3 lead. Trinity would not go down easily though, getting RBIs from Singer, Jewett, and Moore to make it a three run game. However, it would not be enough as the Tigers fell just short.
Moore led the way, going 3-for-6 with a RBI while Butler added a 3-for-5 day. Wolf, McEachern, Fehmel, and Jose Santos all had two hits while Jewett drove in a pair of runs. Six of the nine starters crossed the plate for a run on the day.
On the mound, Nick Griffith came in releif but only pitched 0.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits. Teddy Turner pitched the remaining 2.1 innings, allowing on run on four hits while striking out two.
The Tigers finish with a 40-14 record and were SCAC Tournament Champions as well as champions of the West Regional. Trinity finished 3-2 at the NCAA Baseball Championship with wins over Salisbury, Emory, and La Crosse. They were the first team in SCAC history to make the Division III Baseball Championship.
