Posted: May 03, 2019
CLEBURNE, Texas - Trailing late, top-seeded Texas Lutheran University needed three runs in the bottom of the eighth to overtake fourth-seeded Southwestern University, 4-2, in the opening game of the 2019 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Championship on Friday night. Official Website l Bracket l Photo Gallery | Postgame Interview w/ Head Coach Greg Burnett and Thomas Varner
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Texas Lutheran dented the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third after a Thomas Varner single scored Trey Albaugh who had led off the inning with a single of his own.
- Southwestern took the lead with two runs in the top of the fifth. A ground-rule double by Ted Lobkowicz scored Seth Sparks and then a Hayden Craig double that fell just out of the reach of a diving Austin Colon scored Lobkowicz to give the Pirates a 2-1 advantage.
- That margin held until the bottom of the eighth when the Bulldogs mounted a two-out rally, culminating with an RBI single by Albaugh to tie the game and another RBI single by Varner to give TLU the lead. The Bulldogs plated another run - an unearned one - and took the lead and eventual win by the 4-2 margin.
- The game was a pitcher's dual for most of the afternoon as Southwestern's Austin Smith and TLU's Nathan Malinovsky went 7.2 and 8.1 innings, respectively.
TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Thomas Varner: 3-3, 2 RBI
- Trey Albaugh: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 run
- Nathan Malinovsky: 8.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 1 BB
SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Hayden Craig: 2-4 1 2B
- Daniel Montgomery: 2-4, 1 2B
- Ethan Hallmark: 2-4
- Ted Lobkowicz: 1-4, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Austin Smith: 7.2 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 10 K, 8 BB
NOTABLES
- With the win, Malinovsky picked up career victory No. 33 and became the league's all-time leader in wins. He had shared the top spot and previous mark of 32 with Doug Garner of Millsaps College (2001-05). He also became TLU's career wins leader with the victory.
- Texas Lutheran, the defending champion, is now 4-2 in first round SCAC tournament games.
- Texas Lutheran and Southwestern have now faced each other six times in the SCAC Tournament with the Bulldogs holding a 4-2 record.
UP NEXT
Texas Lutheran will move on to face the winner of No. 2-seed Trinity University and No. 3-seed Centenary College at Noon CT on Saturday afternoon, while Southwestern takes on the loser of that matchup in the following game.
