Posted: May 08, 2022
CLEBURNE, Texas -- Trinity's Michael Montrezza blasted a two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to give the Tigers a 6-4 victory over Centenary and force a winner-take-all game Sunday afternoon at the 2022 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament at The Depot at Cleburne Station. Official Website l Tournament Stats l Photo Gallery
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Trailing 4-2 heading into the seventh inning, a MJ Metz single scored Montrezza, giving Metz his eighth RBI of the tournament, and an Evan McDonald single scored Colt Harris with the game-tying run.
- The two teams were held scoreless the rest of the way, until the top of the 10th when, following a strikeout and a walk, Montrezza deposited the 1-1 pitch from Centenary's Parker Primeaux over the left centerfield wall to stake the Tigers to the 6-4 lead. It was Montrezza's third HR of the season.
- Trinity used the combination of Luke Pfeiffer (4.2 IP) and Harrison Durrow (5.1 IP) to get through the contest, as the two held Centenary to eight combined hits and four combined runs.
TRINITY UNIVERSITY STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Michael Montrezza: 1-5, 2 runs, 1 HR, 2 RBIs
- Evan McDonald: 2-4, 2 RBIs
- Ezra Gore: 3-4, 1 run, 2 2Bs, 1 RBI
- MJ Metz: 2-5, 1 run, 2 2Bs, 1 RBI
- Harrison Durow: 5.1 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 4 Ks
CENTENARY COLLEGE STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
- Brady Robinson: 2-5, 1 run, 1 2B
- Preston Ludwick, 1-4, 2 RBI
- Ben Bridges: 2-4, 1 2B
- Preston Ludwick: 5.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 5 Ks
NOTABLES
- There were 10 hit batters in the contest, with each team drawing a free pass five times via a HBP.
- Centenary's Ludwick, who made the start on the mound for the Gents, picked up his 150th career strikeout in the second inning.
- Trinity has now advanced to three consecutive SCAC Tournament Championship games, winning in 2019 and finishing runner-up in 2020.
- After finishing today's game with 11 hits, Trinity, dating back to the 2020 SCAC Tournament has cranked out 10-plus hits in eight of its last nine tournament contests.
- Trinity is the last team to pick up two wins out of the losers bracket on the final day. The Tigers defeated Texas Lutheran twice on Sunday (9-3 and 6-5) to pick up its last SCAC baseball championship in 2019. In the history of the conference postseason tournament, only four times has a team come out of the loser's bracket to win twice on the final day. Three of those times it has been Trinity pulling off the feat (1995, 2015 and 2019).
UP NEXT
Trinity improved to 32-9 with the win, while Centenary dropped to 26-16. Sunday's final game represents the third time Centenary and Trinity have squared off for the SCAC title with the Gents emerging victorious in 2017 and the Tigers claiming the 2015 title.
